The Online Geography Game
Despite the NZ visible in the image and the fact that the chalk figure is a kiwi, this location is in England.
It was created by soldiers of the New Zealand Expiditionary Force while they waited to go home after WW1. There are quite a few chalk figures in this area but this is the only one not a white horse or military badge.
Found before the hint:
Often mistaken to be a parsonage, the house where Dr. King was born was owned by the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, not the church itself. Reverand Williams and his wife bought the house in 1909. His daughter Alberta married Dr. King’s father (then named Michael King) in 1926, and the couple moved into this house. His son Michael was born in 1929. Michael King Sr took over the church when Reverand Williams died in 1931. In 1934, he travelled to Berlin for the Baptist World Alliance Congress in 1934, and while there, ended up studying the life and works of Martin Luther. When he returned home, he legally changed both his name, and his son’s, to Martin Luther King.
The home is now a part of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park and is administered by the US National Park Service. Tours of the home conducted by Park Rangers are sometimes available.
Those who figured out that we dumped the New Years theme and went here before the hint were:
And those who cursed our name once the read the hint:
It’s a new year, and with it, a staggering number of people setting out to new year’s resolutions, among the top of them to “get into shape”. Lots of people all over the world flocking to gyms, so we thought we would include one.
Here is the largest commercial gym in the world as of posting. Gold’s Gym Khalda in Amman is 6 stories tall (3 reserved for women only) and over 140,000 square feet of space. There are 4 swimming pools and 2 cycling studios. As several of our contestants noticed, there is also a full padel court.
Those who “worked it out” (sorry, just couldn’t avoid the pun) before the hint:
and after the hint:
No, the French monk Dom Pierre Pérignon did NOT invent sparkling wine. He improved the process and made it viable (or as viable as he could for the time), but Méthode Champenoise was invented by a British scientist known as Christopher Merritt 30 years before Dom Pérignon set foot in Hautvilliers.
Nevertheless, his contributions were enough to the industry that he is imortalized by a statue at the Moët & Chandon location in Eperney in the heart of the Champaign region of France. Also, his name is attached to the single most famous brand of Champaign produced.
In addition to the winery shown here is Hôtel Moët & Chandon. Built as a private residence in 1793 by Jean-Rémy Moët, it hosted Napoleon and Josephine among many other distinguished guests.
Those who drank from this location’s flutes all before the hint:
Is it the largest Christmas tree in the world? Somehow, I think that might be hyperbole. Regular player Bas van Limpt pointed out that there is one in the Netherlands that measures 367 M tall (which would be about 3 times the size of this one), and I’m not convinced that we couldn’t find even taller somewhere out there.
Nevertheless, it is a pretty cool site.
Those who embraced the spirit of this contest before the hint:
And after the hyperbolic hint:
The charmingly touristy villiage “North Pole, Alaska” is actually closer to Fairbanks and slightly south of the middle of Alaska, about 2800 KM from the actual North Pole. Nevertheless, a reasonable facsimile of The Big Guy’s house and workshop are set up here, along with a 15 M statue of the man in red (and white):
Those who found it — all before the hint:
Home to the largest Christmas Market in Europe, the Wiener Christkindlmarkt, the Rathausplatz sits directly in front of the Rauthaus, which is Vienna’s town hall. For Christkindlmarkt, the square is marked with lights in all the trees, a skating rink, and hundreds of booths selling everything from hot cocoa, punch and gingerbread to handmade arts and crafts.
Those who found the holiday spirit before the hint:
And after the hint:
Drangarnir is one of those places that you can go see, but you REALLY have to want it. The Faroe Islands tourist agency says “The hike to Drangarnir is difficult. It takes a whole day to hike to the attraction. You will traverse steep slopes in quite challenging terrain when hiking to Drangarnir. There is no marked path to the attraction.”
That said, once you get there, you are treated to the view above.
Those who made the trek (all before the hint):
And this concludes series 831-840. Our three highest scoring players this series, all with perfect 20 scores, are one of our longest running players (Phil Ower), one who has been around for a bit (Graham Hedley) and one of our newest players (Angie CF). A hearty congratulations to all of you!!
The Trans-Canada Highway runs through Banff and Yoho National Parks in the Canadian Rockies. This area has a lot of wildlife and four wildlife bridges were built between Banff, AB and Golden, BC – fences along the highway prevent wildlife accessing the highway and direct them towards the bridges to allow safe access across the highway.
It’s built with one arch for each direction of traffic.
Before the hint:
After the hint:
Black Star Square in Accra Ghana has two main entrances – the main obe with Independence or Black Star Gate in the north and a second building/gate with three thin arches in the south. Both would fit the arch theme of the series – but one was less obvious.
The square was completed in 1961 to coincide with a visit by Queen Elizabeth II, visiting to encourage the newly independent Ghana to remain within the Commonwealth.
It hosts all the major national public gatherings, national festivals, military parades, concerts and occasional fashion shows. Seating for 30,000+ surrounds the square.
The image below shows Independence or Blaxk Star Arch in the foreground, Black Star Square full of people and in the background the building we were looking for in front of the Atlantic Ocean.
Found before the hint:
After the hint: