From Wikitravel

Discover is Wikitravel's heading for strange but true trivia about destinations and events.

[edit] Criteria

• Keep it short and snappy: no more than twenty words, please.
• [[Link]] any place names.
• '''Boldface''' the fact of interest.
• The articles don't need to be perfect, but preference should be given to those with a status of "usable" or higher.
• The article linked to must contain the fact in question.
• Relevant images are optional but welcome, ideally once for every three facts. They should be placed above the fact in question, with the following formatting:

[[Image:imagename|right|100px|description]]
The interesting fact linked to this image goes here.

[edit] Now displayed

This selection, as presented by Template:Discover, is updated every day automatically by DiscoverBot at 01:00 EDT, at least when the bot works (it isn't working as of March 2009). Please don't edit the template directly. Older entries can be found in the archive.

Last updated on 04 Nov 2008 01:00:09

DiscoverBot is not currently operational. All updates are now performed manually. If it's been a few days, feel free to rotate in a new entry.

[edit] Upcoming

Add your entries to the end of this list. The list is read by an automated bot, which simply reads lines off the top, so please do not leave any space or other commentary between entries. However, feel free to rearrange the list, because geographic variety in what's displayed is good (e.g. if the next three items are all from Asia, it's good to intersperse something from Africa, Europe or the Americas).

• Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam has the busiest Burger King in the world with 1.3 million visitors a year. It has never closed since its opening in 1993.
• The Brazilian national flag flown in the Square of the Three Powers in Brasilia is the largest flag regularly hoisted in the world.

• The touristy way to see Taketomi is from cart pulled by a water buffalo (pictured) (水牛車 suigyūsha), complete with guide telling folk stories (in Japanese) and twanging on a sanshin while at it.
• A sandwich filled with ice cream is a popular afternoon snack in Thailand.
• Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center is the tallest all-hotel skyscraper in the Western hemisphere.

• Königsallee, the main shopping street in Düsseldorf, is divided by a canal (pictured) and sometimes referred to as the German Champs-Élysées.
• The Palais Royal du Roi Toffa in Porto-Novo, Benin, is a museum in a former royal residence and a gives the visitor a nice look into how African royalty really lived.
• The three largest artificial islands in the world are the Palm Islands located just off the coast of Dubai.

• Because the Earth is not a perfect sphere but a little bit "thicker" near the Equator, the peak of Chimborazo (pictured) in Ecuador is the point farthest away from the Earth's center.

[edit] On hold

The articles linked in from the entries below need to be improved before they're ready to go. Plunge forward, edit them, and move to the main queue. If you move trivia to this list, please provide a reason for doing so.

• The small principality of Andorra is probably the only country in the world ruled by two princes: the Bishop of Urgell and the President of France. (red-link article needs to be created and de-outlined)
• All the houses in Piódão, Portugal have their doors painted in blue because that's the only ink the village shop had. (de-outline)
• Devon Island, in Nunavut, Canada, is the largest uninhabited island in the world although it does have a cemetery...thee world's northernmost.
• The world's largest pool is located at San Alfonso del Mar, Algarrobo. (de-outline)
• The anchor of Christopher Columbus' ship, the Santa Maria, is on display at the Musée du Panthéon National Haïtien in Port-au-Prince. (must verify the anchor and museum were not destroyed in the earthquake—museum is half buried and so it was only moderately damaged per French Wikipedia [1], should wait until it reopens before displaying)
• The town of Kristinestad, Finland has a road called Kattpiskargränden, which means Cat Spanker Alley.
• Hebron in Northern Kentucky is home to the Creation Museum, which teaches the Book of Genesis as literal truth. (de-outline)
• The name of the Japanese town of Shiojiri means "Salt Butt". (destub)
• Mt. Angel recently built the largest glockenspiel in the United States. Also hosts a Bavarian-style "Oktoberfest" complete with traditional German bands every September (de-outline, wait for September, 2008 dates are Sep.11-14)
• A street in Lancaster, California was modified for a Honda commercial so that all cars driving over it at 55 miles per hour would hear the William Tell Overture due to grooves cut in the road.
• Taï National Park, in Cote d'Ivoire, contains the largest tropical rainforest in West Africa. (fact does not appear in any of the mentioned articles, and the Tai article itself is hardly even a stub)

The following calendar-related items are "ready-to-go" criteria-wise and should be moved to the main queue at a date appropriate to the trivia featured:

[edit] Archives

• Wikitravel:Discover/Archive