Ludger Sylbaris: The man who survived a volcanic eruption because he got arrested for being drunk and got into a fight
Paulownia is also known as the ‘princess tree’ because it was once customary to plant a tree like that when a baby girl was born, and then to make it into a dresser as a wedding present when she married
Moritzburg Castle: the remarkable castle that lies in the middle of an artificial lake was the favorite hunting area of the kings and electors of Saxony
A Victorian theory that Mars was once artificially irrigated by a desperate advanced civilization
“The tree that owns itself” is a white oak in Athens, GA, which is widely assumed to legally own itself and the eight feet of land surrounding it
Hitler saw China and Japan as equals to Germany and even wrote admiringly: “I admit freely that their history is superior to our own”
In the 18-th century, one could pay admission to the zoo in London by bringing a cat or a dog to feed the lions
The Leaning Tower of Pisa was once a Nazi observation post; the allies abstained from ordering any strikes because of its beauty
The Leistler Bookcase: a 19th-century masterpiece described as “a cathedral in wood“
The Crown of Princess Blanche is the oldest surviving crown of England and has been described as one of the finest achievements of the Gothic goldsmiths
