"Been There" Virtual Travel Quiz? Round #60
See Round #20 for info about and rules for the contest.
Round #49 won by Portolan
Submitted by BKMD. Axel Towers, Copenhagen, Denmark. Copenhagen, which was my favorite city on the Scandinavia tour has bike trails/lanes throughout the country, not only in the city.
Round #50 Unoffically won by AlanS (playing behind the scenes via PM and doesn’t count)
Submitted by Smiling Sam. Gold Funerary Offering, Chimu, Imperial Epoch (1300 AD - 1532AD) found in the mud brick city of Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimu kingdom of NW Peru. The picture was taken at Lima’s Rafael Larco Herrera Museum during the Peru and Galapagos tour.
Round #51 won by Portolan
Submitted by JohnS. We are in Chitwan National Park on the river Rapti in the Terai lowlands of Nepal. This was on the first day of our Safari on the Northern India and Nepal trip.
Round #52 no winner!!!
Submitted by SueMS. This shot was taken during a walking tour of Old Town Warsaw of the Castle Inn. The inn is set in the sixteenth century townhouse of the Kościelski family in the heart of Warsaw’s picturesque Old Town, and is in itself a true work of art. Its rooms dreamt up from concepts of exquisite visionaries like Rene Magritte, Maurits Escher and Lewis Carroll.
Round #53 won by Smiling Sam
Submitted by BKMD. Hosier Lane, Melbourne, Australia "The town is a graffiti capital in Australia apparently. Recently it has been attracting the world-wide attention to its street art: the city attracts people from all around the globe, therefore they develop a really unique style."
Round #54 won by Smiling Sam
Submitted by AlanS. Bunratty Castle, Bunratty, Ireland. Best of Ireland, Small Groups
Round #55 won by Derek
Submitted by Sealord. Mosi oa Tunya National Park, Livingstone, Zambia. The deck bar at the Royal Livingstone- sunset over the Zambezi.
Round #56 won by Smiling Sam
Submitted by BobHamburger. River Rafting on the Snake River just outside Jackson, Wyoming, part of the Yellowstone & the Tetons: American Safari tour. The Tetons are in the background.
Round #57 won by JohnS
Submitted by Smiling Sam. Petros the Pelican, Mascot of Mykonos (the current Petros.) Pelicans can live 15 - 25 years!
Round #58 won by JohnS
Submitted by Kathy M. Kampana tower in Kotor, Montenegro. Tour?
Round #59 won by Portolan
Submitted by JohnS. Katmandu, Nepal. It is the capital and largest city in Nepal. Historic areas of Kathmandu were severely damaged by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in April 2015. Some of the buildings have been restored and some remain in the process of reconstruction.
Round #60 is officially open. Submit your photo in a reply [Leave a Comment] to this announcement.
Comments
What is this a picture of?
Where is it located, city and state.
What is an interesting fact about this room?
Civic Center, Bucharest, Romania.
Room is in the Palace of Parliament (I think it was originally the Palace of the People in typical communist regime double-speak). the second largest building by volume in the world...after the Pentagon.
Scott
Oooops, meant to say City and Country, not state. Sorry.
travel maven - nice ploy saying city and state!!!!
Portolan nailed it, even with the deceptive ploy used.
Well, yes, I suppose it is called the Civic Center but is more famously known as the Parliament's Palace or People’s House in Bucharest, Romania. I will wait awhile to see if someone can tell me an interesting fact about this room.
HaHa, I guess my "ploy" didn't stump you professionals. I can't get anything by you!!
Travel Maven: See my edited answer above (changed before your posts).
Yes, I see now. You are correct with your answer about where the room is located and the fact that it is the second largest building by volume in the world...after the Pentagon. However, that is not the interesting fact that I am after. It involves another aspect of the building and directly relates to Nicolae Ceausescu .
How about this?
The building was constructed almost entirely of materials of Romanian origin. The only exceptions are the doors of Nicolae Bălcescu Hall. These were received by Ceaușescu as a gift from his friend Mobutu Sese Seko (Joseph Mobutu), the longtime President and similar dictator of Zaire in Central Africa (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
No, Mr. Smiling Sam, interesting fact but not the response I am looking for.
How about this one.
The building has eight underground levels, the last one being a nuclear bunker, linked to the main state institutions by 20 km of catacombs.[27] Nicolae Ceaușescu feared nuclear war. The bunker is a room with 1.5 m thick concrete walls and can not be penetrated by radiation. The shelter is composed of the main hall – headquarters that would have had telephone connections with all military units in Romania – and several residential apartments for state leadership, in the event of war.
Getting warmer, Mr. Smiling Sam. However, there is an interesting fact in the room itself.
It has a round Circular table.
Derek, no , it has nothing to do with the table.
The small engravings on the wall which appear to depict a Romanian person or persons.
Derek, no, not the engravings, but you are getting warmer.
I have to break for dinner but will return in about an hour.
The spaces designed for huge portraits of Ceaușescu and his wife, one at each end of the hall, are blank.
The carpet on the floor mirrors the pattern around the chandelier above.
Or could it be there are 200,000 square metres (2,200,000 sq ft) of woolen carpets of various dimensions (machines had to be moved inside the building to weave some of the larger carpets);
No, these answers are not correct. I will give you a hint. Derek and Smiling Sam were very close. The interesting fact about this room and the purpose it served involves the walls in the room and the tunnels below the building.
The walls in the room provide access to the tunnels below. These were designed by Nicolae Ceausescu so he can get from the building to the airport below ground in case of a Revolution.
Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner. Travel Guy hit the nail on the head!
This room contained a secret door behind the chair of Nicolae Ceausescu which led to a series of tunnels hidden beneath the Palace of the Parliament. The tunnels were designed by Nicolae Ceausescu so that he could get from the building to the airport below ground in case of a Revolution. He was very cautious, but unfortunately this did not help him much when the actual Romanian Revolution started.
I would highly recommend the "Budapest to the Black Sea River Cruise". The itinerary was extremely interesting and varied and the Tour of the People's Palace was amazing.
Some additional interesting facts about the People's Palace:
Some additional information:
The massive building, which was built at the order of late communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, is a landmark for the Romanian capital.
Most people are impressed by its size, as it is the world’s largest administrative building (for civilian use) and the second-largest building in the world after the Pentagon in the US. It is also the world’s heaviest building, as it was made from 700,000 tons of steel and bronze, plus 1 million cubic meters of marble, 3,500 tons of crystal glass, and 900,000 cubic meters of wood. It has some 1,000 rooms and is 12 stories tall.
About 100,000 people worked to build this huge building, with some 20,000 people working in three shifts 24/7 in the peak periods. A few thousand workers died on the construction site, according to unofficial reports. Moreover, between 1984 and 1990, some 12,000 soldiers have participated in the construction, according to data posted on cic.cdep.ro. The building was constructed almost entirely of materials made in Romania.
Although the initial project had 80,000 sqm, People’s House has a total area of 365,000 sqm. Some 20 churches and 10,000 houses were destroyed and more than 57,000 families were moved in the late 1970s so the authorities could make room for the giant building. At the time of the Romanian Revolution in 1989, 60% of the building was completed. The work continued between 1992 and 1996.
The total construction costs have been estimated at up to EUR 3 billion, according to a valuation made in 2006.
Portolan and Travel Guy will share the win on this one. Portolan had the correct answer for the People's Palace Bucharest, Romania. Travel Guy had the correct response for the additional question about the secret door in the room connecting to the tunnels below the building.
And the largest municipal building in the US is....? (no googling please)
Philadelphia City Hall (I Googled
)
Cheater! Yes, beautiful and massive building. I did a tour there about 15 years ago when I lived in the area.
Largest by what measurement, square feet, volume, ...?
Sq ft, I presume.
From https://www.visitphilly.com/things-to-do/attractions/city-hall/
An architectural treasure inside and out, City Hall is the largest municipal building in the United States, with over 14.5 acres of floor space.
Topped with an iconic statue of William Penn, the 548-foot tower is the tallest masonry structure in the world without a steel frame; it was the tallest building in Philadelphia until 1987.
The public rooms are among the most lavish in the city; the City Council Chamber, the Mayor’s Reception Room, Conversation Hall and the Supreme Court Room are the most ornate.
Visitors can join guided tours to learn about the building’s history and view the city from above from the open-air observation deck.
By volume, the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington is the largest building in the world.