Opened in 1936, renovated in 2004, 68 metres high, with 113 VIP stands, 2 underground garages and 76,000 seats, this is the fantastic looking Olympiastadion in Berlin.

None of it matters tonight of course – not if you’re a French or Italian football fan – as this is where the 2006 World Cup final is being played in just under half an hour.

Really cool stadium though!

Thanks to Giampaolo Bellavite and Bene.

This is the small city of Madurodam in the Netherlands. They have an airport, canals, stadiums, boats, gardens, windmills and bridges with… giant people on them? And there’s some giant cars too! Waaaait a minute…

Madurodam is actually a truly small city – in fact it’s a 1:25 scale model of a Dutch city, which features traditional Dutch buildings, famous landmarks from around the country, and the world’s largest miniature railway! (I know. Just don’t even go there.)

More history and ground level shots of this great sight at Wikipedia and the official site.

Thanks to Mickey Mau.

Quick, somebody fetch Neo, as it would appear that The Matrix is leaking into Canada.

Thanks to nousagi and Mark.

If I told you that this tall shadow in a car park in Berwyn, Illinois was cast by a huge sculpture made from eight real cars impaled on a massive metal spike, would you believe me? I know it sounds ridiculous, but if you’ve seen Wayne’s World you might remember this artwork, which was created by Dustin Shuler in 1989 and is entitled ‘Spindle’. If you look closely you can just make out the red Volkswagen Beetle at the top of the pile.

Thanks to Brian Schlosser and Joel Roller.

The marble tomb of the Taj Mahal is supposedly the ultimate symbol of love, being built by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, for his second wife.

I always believed the story that he planned to build a second Taj made of black marble just across the river to the north but those pesky historians say that this is in fact a myth! I’ll have to try and find something that’s true…

Apparently the whole thing was designed to be perfectly symmetrical, with the deceased buried at the centre of the building. The symmetry was later spoiled though, as the emperors son decided to bury the deceased emperor alongside his wife.

There’s a large gallery of ground level pics at this site, a 360 panorama here and loads of info at Wikipedia.

Thanks: Jens Kilian, Fero Gunic, Matthew, Ashutosh Rajekar, gauri, vivek iyer, Tim, Mark Ross & Simone