Madrid’s Plaza Mayor is a square completely enclosed in buildings, which makes it look very odd from above. Hidden from the surrounding streets, the square is accessed through archways and was historically the site of executions, tournaments, weddings, bullfights and inquisition trials.

Thanks: VincentD

Hurricane Katrina has torn through the United States causing untold damage and horrendous loss of life. Katrina has destroyed the eastern part of the I-10 bridge over Lake Pontchartrain (shown here before it was damaged), flooded 80 percent of New Orleans, and damaged the roof of largest domed structure in the world, the Louisiana Superdome.

The worst affected states, by this, the third most intense system to strike the United States in recorded history, are Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. It is believed that Katrina is, (in monetary terms) the most costly hurricane to affect the USA, and sadly may yet also become the most costly in terms of human lives.

For more information about these events, I recommend the Wikipedia page on Hurricane Katrina, which is updated continually as information becomes available.

Researching my recent Le Bourget Airport post I discovered a couple of Concordes on display and, seeing as there were only ever 20 of them built, I decided to see how many I could find on Google Maps.

Le Brouget houses the remains Aircraft 203 which disastrously crashed in July 2000 and Aircraft 211 which was scrapped for parts. Also in one of the hangers is the very first Concorde (001). The outside display features Aircraft 213 however the satellite photos are out of date so the Concorde cannot be seen.

Concorde 102 was the fourth plane built and the last of the preproduction aircraft. It has been on display at Orly Airport since the 1970s and replaced a full-size wooden replica Concorde that had been lost to a fire.

Outside the Aerospatiale HQ at Toulouse Airport (near where the Airbus 380s are assembled) is Concorde 201, the first “production” Concorde although this plane never went into service.

Also at Toulouse to the north is Concorde 209 which was the last of Air France’s Concordes to fly. After the disaster in 2000 the plane was stranded in JFK airport for three months while its safety was assessed so I’m pretty sure that the previously posted satellite photo of a Concorde in JFK is also Concorde 209 (although due to image updates it’s no longer visible on Google Maps or Google Earth).

Also missing due to the outdated photos in Aircraft 210 which is on display at the previously posted Intrepid Air and Space Museum, New York.

So I only managed to find 3 Concordes (one of them twice), the rest are either in parts of the globe where resolution is too poor to see them or they are stored indoors, for a full list of their locations see the Fleet overview.

Prague’s National Museum was founded as the “Patriotic Museum” in 1818 and sits at the south end of Wenceslas Square, which isn’t actually a square; it’s a 750 metre long road. Wenceslas Square has been the location for many important events in Prague’s history including when a student set himself on fire to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968.

Wenceslas Square is also where British stag parties descend every weekend to get really drunk and fall over, but we won’t be doing that!

Thanks: marcogh, Petr Ruzicka

Zizkov TV Tower in Prague is 219 meters high and apparently gives a great view over the city from the observation compartments and restaurant at 93 metres. More info on the official website.

Thanks: ecco & Jan Koubek

Don’t expect many posts over the next three days or so as all the Google Sightseeing admins are off to Prague for my Stag Weekend. We’ll be back to normal (although possibly a little hung over) on Monday.

This is the Asahi Beer Hall or, to give it its proper name, La Flamme d’Or building in Tokyo. Designed by Philippe Starck, the golden flame rises up from the roof of a solid black building which has gently curving edges. The flame is made of metal, weighs over 300 tons, and is covered in simulated gold leaf - making it gleam beautifully on sunny days.

None of this stopped the locals naming it the ‘golden turd’ of course…

Thanks to Simon M. and FeroG.

This is the Cirque du Soleil in Montreal. Well, it’s one of them anyway.. the ‘Circus of the Sun’ is an entertainment company founded in 1984 by former fire-eater Guy Laliberté, and actually consists of at least 11 different troups of performers (Wikipedia page).

Cirque du Soleil isn’t a circus in the traditional sense (because they don’t use any animals), but they do all sorts of stuff involving contortionists, jugglers, feats of strength, clowning, and trapeze artists. You can see one of their travelling set-ups in what is usually an empty car park in Minneapolis. Just north of here is Saint Anthony Falls, which also looks pretty cool from up here.

I saw one of their performances once in the Albert Hall, and I thoroughly recommened checking them out if you get the chance, it’s incredible stuff. As it happens, they’ll be performing permanently at the Tokyo Disney Resort beginning in 2008 if you’re planning a trip!

Thanks to Lowrent, Jean-Sébastien, Dauns, Robert Craig, Eric Veilleux and Andy.