Curious Traveler

Explore New York and ask: why are the constellations backwards in Grand Central? Why does the Great Hall at the Met look like the Baths of Caracalla? Why is there a golden Diana statue in the middle of the Metropolitan Museum of Art? Why is Rockefeller Center's Atlas statue permanently grimacing at St. Patrick's Cathedral?

Join us in London and ask: why is St. Paul's Cathedral such an iconic symbol? Why do so many London neighborhoods end in -gate? Why is Temple Church round? And what did the secretive Knights Templar do here? And what does all of this have to do with Magna Carta - and why has a copy remained at Salisbury Church for 800 years?

Why is there a dragon on the Welsh flag? Why does the man next-in-line for the British throne hold the title the "Prince of Wales"? What are the Walls of Constantinople doing here in Wales? Who is King Longshanks? Where is Britain's smallest church? And how the heck do you pronounce the 2nd longest place name in the world: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch?

Why did the French settle here? Why is there a Paris Metro Stop in the middle of the city? Why is Notre-Dame Basillica bathed in blue? Why does the Hotel de Ville look like DC's Eisenhower Building? And is there really an archaeological dig going on under your feet at Place Royal?

Why is there a French Loire Valley castle in the middle of the American Deep South? Did you know that the name "Biltmore" is completely made up? Why did the most famous architects put their stamp on this small town? Why did Henry Ford, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Edison all stay in the same hotel? And how did Scots-Irish immigrants create American country music?

Who is "Gassy" Jack? Who was "A.B.C. Architect"? Why isn't there a sign above the main entrance to The Empress Hotel? How did an 11th and 12th century French, Spanish & Italian Romanesque-style castle, built for a Scottish self-made millionaire, become 'Canada's Castle'?