…but why write about things like that when we can show you a giant Einstein head made out of Lego bricks!

Yes, the symbol of scientific intellectual rebellion is just as familiar these days as an icon of advertising. From giant posters on Broadway chiding passers-by to assert themselves, to giant adverts for real estate developers painted on the sides of inner-city tattoo parlours, Albert Einstein is indeed everywhere – and he’s here to sell!¹

For example, check out this fairly detailed mural of Einstein on a windswept beach on the side of this Sao Paulo surfboard shop. His Hawaiian shirt even gets painted different colours based on the season.

Quite strangely, Einstein is the mascot for a barber shop in Taipei, because if there’s one hairstyle anyone wants to emulate, it’s Albert Einstein’s. ‘Yeah, I’ll have the “just inserted my finger in an electrical outlet”, thank you.’

Then, of course, there are the businesses which have aped the man’s name entirely. In particular, Einstein seems to be popular with restaurants. A university cafe like this one at the University of Toronto? Makes sense. A pizzeria in Prague? Not so much.

The most unlikely Einstein-related business, however, may be this dance club in Muro del Alcoy, Valencia, which prominently features a mural of Einstein next to a DJ in the middle of a set. One can only wonder which side old Albie would have taken in the UK funky/two-step revival debate.

This Einstein Day, don’t get sucked in by all of this crass commercialism. When your family is gathered around the wormhole in the sitting room tonight to sing relativity carols and watch Yahoo Serious movies, remember the real reason for the season.

Locations: Alberta, Australia, Brazil, Czech Republic, New Jersey, New York, Ontario, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan / Categories: Monuments, Street Views, Weirdness

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Above is Estadio Lluís Sitjar in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Built in 1945, for over half a century the 18,000 seat stadium was the home of football club RCD Mallorca. The stadium has sat unused since 2007, but the word ‘Mallorca‘ can still be plainly seen spelled out in the seats. The field of play, however, is already in a sad state.

On another populous Spanish island, Gran Canaria, lies Estadio Insular, which was the home of UD Las Palmas. Built in the same year as Lluís Sitjar, the 21,000 seater was abandoned four years earlier. Grass and trees are already rooting themselves in the stands, and the walls are covered in graffiti.

Stade des Charmilles in Geneva was the site of five FIFA World Cup games in 1954. Much of the facility was dismantled in 2002 and the field is completely barren, but the grandstands remain in place. In the rival city of Zurich, the demolished Hardturm also hosted World Cup games. Satellite imagery shows the shells of the grandstand are still intact, and Street View shows the rubble surrounding it.

In Germany, Gelsenkirchen’s Parkstadion was the home of the Bundesliga’s Schalke 04 from 1973 to 2001. Since then, about one-half of the seating has been removed, but the rest remains.

The largest abandoned stadium seen on Google Maps is the Estadio Fonte Nova in Salvador, Brazil. Originally built to a capacity of 66,080, the stadium was expanded to a monstrous 110,000 seats in 1971. Tragedy struck Fonte Nova in 2007, when an upper terrace collapsed during a Third Division championship final, killing seven spectators and injuring forty. The stadium was immediately closed. Since this imagery was captured, Fonte Nova has been demolished.

At one point the largest arena in the Czech Republic, Brno’s Stadion Za Lužánkami has sat in state for the past decade. Not only is the old playing field easy to make out, but even the goalposts are still standing. Around the edges, though, trees up to 3 metres high have sprouted in the bleachers.

Not all abandoned stadiums are left to rot. The Dell, the former home of English side Southampton, was redeveloped as a housing estate after its 2001 closure. Not only does the estate retain the shape of the original stadium, but all of the apartment blocks are named for famous Saints players.

Naturally, there aren’t only modern abandoned arenas to be found on Google Maps. The Plaza de Toros in Cartagena, Spain has been abandoned for nearly a century. Built on top of an ancient Roman arena, the location is set to be the home of a new Roman museum. Over in Merida, this ancient amphitheatre dates all the way back to 25 BC. The gladiator pit is exposed in the middle of the arena.

We end the first part of our tour in South Africa, where in Cape Town, Greenpoint Stadium was torn down to make way for the neighbouring Cape Town Stadium in advance of the 2010 World Cup¹. Here we see demolition crews working to dismantle the arena. The north grandstand, however, remains standing.

Read part two of our abandoned stadium tour: Abandoned Stadiums of the United States.

Locations: Brazil, Czech Republic, England, Germany, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland / Categories: Abandoned, Stadiums and Sport

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The Lötschental (Lonza Valley) is the longest valley in Valais north of the Rhone River. The Lonza travels 27 km (17 mi) through a valley surrounded by peaks well over 3,000 metres.

The trike gives us great views of meadows on the slopes of hulking mountains such as the Breitlauihorn.

With the trike, we get to see places not accessible by car. Many alpine villages in Switzerland are only accessible by trail or tramway, such as Weissenried, a very traditional-looking hamlet comprised of chalets that are often centuries old.

The trike also navigates through larger¹ villages with some road access such as Blatten, but even here most of the houses and chalets are quite condensed. As the trail above Blatten climbs into the Firtwald forest, one gets an aerial view of Blatten.

At the north end of the Street View trike’s Lötschental journey is Tellistafel, where a small group of cabins are framed by the glaciers of the mountain known as the Tellihorn.

Crossing over the Nesthorn from the Lötschental, we enter the resort area of Belalp, another village accessible only by trail or tram. East of the main village, we get a close-up view of the Bruchegg ski lift.

Along the Belalp trail are numerous houses and chalets clinging to the mountainside hundreds of metres above the valley bottom.

At the east end of the Belalp trail, the journey ends at the Hotel Belalp, a luxury hotel and restaurant which dates back to 1906.

Next door to the hotel is the Church of Aletschbord. A quick turn to the right, and the view opens up toward the valley of the Massa River.

Both Belalp and the Lötschental lie at two ends of the largest glacier in the Alps, the 120 km2 (46 sq mi) Aletsch. At the top of the glacier is the Jungfraujoch ridge. At 3,471 m (11,388 ft), the ridegetop is accessible from the north side by a railway built entirely inside mountain tunnels, but those coming from Belalp and the Lötschental must hike the massive glacier² to reach the Jungfraujoch. At the top, a small observatory sits alone, from which visitors can enjoy a 360-degree panoramic view. Lush green valleys reach out to the north; a stark contrast to the massive Aletsch, whose icefields stretch into the horizon.

Locations: Switzerland / Categories: Buildings, Natural Landmarks, Street Views, World Heritage Sites

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While the Street View car drove both sides of the Saint John River, it unfortunately did not take the small side road which crosses the 391m Hartland Bridge. It was originally built in 1901, though it has suffered damage from ice and fire at various times. You can learn more at the town’s website.

The longest covered bridge in the United States is the Smolen-Gulf Bridge in Ohio, which measures 187m. While covered bridges are generally perceived as historical icons, this structure was only built in 2008, at a cost of almost $8million.¹

This time we do get a good look at the interior of the bridge.

There are many theories about why covered bridges became popular in North America starting in the 19th century. Some believe that they prevented herds of animals from being disturbed by the sight of rushing water or that they protected travellers during inclement weather (which surely wouldn’t be any worse over a river than the rest of the road?). However, the more likely explanation is that covering a bridge structure quite significantly extended the life of the wooded decking.

Because not every bridge can be the overall longest, tourist officials come up with a variety of other superlatives to try to draw attention to their local landmarks. For example, the 71m long bridge in Blenheim, New York, which is the world’s longest single-span covered bridge. It’s also notable for being one of only a few ‘double-barelled’ bridges – having a separate laneway for each direction of traffic.

Covered bridges are also found in many European countries, and they are often much older than those found in North America. The oldest is claimed to be the Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge) in Lucerne, Switzerland, which was first built in 1333. Street View gets a very picturesque look at it from a nearby road bridge.

This isn’t entirely the original structure, much of which – including 17th century paintings which adorned the interior – was destroyed in a fire in 1993. The brick tower at the mid-way point has been used by the city for many purposes – its thick walls and defensible position making it ideal as a treasury and watchtower, though it was also a prison at some point in its history.

Additional entrants for ‘most picturesque’ covered bridge are the town of Bassano Del Grappa in Italy, and Chateau Chenonceau in France, which was one of the chateaux recently visited by the Street View trike.

Not all covered bridges cross waterways. In Oxford the Bridge of Sighs² connects two buildings in the famous university.

Returning to the US, the state of Pennsylvania claims the largest collection of covered bridges, having more than 200! Many of these are found on streets creatively called Covered Bridge Road (or Lane, or Avenue, etc). One example is the Dreibelbis bridge. With such a large number of similar addresses, you have to wonder if people’s mail is prone to going astray.

Many covered bridges around the US are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and it is encouraging that efforts are made to preserve them even when they are replaced by more modern road bridges. The McDermott Bridge in New Hampshire is one such example.

Covered bridges enjoyed a period of fame with the success of the book Bridges of Madison County, and the film of the same name. There are six bridges in Madison County, Iowa, though only one of them is visible on (a rather hazy) Street View, the Imes Bridge.

The satellite images allow us to see Cedar Bridge and Holliwell Bridge, both of which were used as filming locations for the movie.

As with so many of these historic wooden bridges, the original 1883 Cedar Bridge was destroyed by fire, though it has been rebuilt to the same design.

There are also many covered bridges in Asia, though we have yet to find any good images on Google maps. Please link to them in the comments if you know of any.

We’d also love to hear of your own personal favourite covered bridge, as there are many hundreds that we weren’t able to include in this post!

Locations: England, France, Iowa, Italy, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Switzerland / Categories: Bridges, Movie Locations, Street Views

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10 – The Bridge Suite, The Atlantis, Bahamas

Situated on Paradise Island, the Bridge Suite is located in the Royal Towers, sixteen stories up between two other buildings. It comes with a staff of seven, your own private entrance, and will sleep four adults. All for only $22,000 per night.

Customer rating: 70% (#51 of 170 hotels in the Bahamas)

9 – The Ritz-Carlton Suite, Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo

Situated on the 53rd floor (somewhere near the top of the picture), the Ritz-Carlton Suite overlooks the Imperial Palace as well as most of Tokyo. You’ll have access to an indoor pool, fitness suite, and the Ritz-Carlton lounge. You’ll also get a dedicated concierge for your $25,000 per night.

Customer rating: 90% (#8 of 613 hotels in Tokyo)

8 – The Penthouse at The Setai, South Beach, Miami

The Penthouse has four bedrooms (two of them kingsize), four bathrooms, two living rooms, a music room, and on the terrace there’s a pool and jacuzzi. It can be yours (for a night) for just $30,000 (and if you really like it, you can buy one for a cool $15 m).

Customer rating: 72% (#7 of 199 hotels in the Miami Beach area)

7 – Villa La Cupola Suite, Westin Excelsior, Rome

Located over the 5th and 6th floors the Villa La Cupola Suite claims to be the largest suite in Italy. For your $31,000 per night you get use of six bedrooms, a jacuzzi, rooftop terrace and balconies, private wine cellar, butler service and much more.

Customer rating: 71% (#274 of 1271 hotels in Rome)

6 – The Royal Villa at the Grand Resort Lagonissi, Athens

On the coast south of Athens, the Royal Villa offers you a living room packed with home entertainment, an office, a personal chef, heated indoor and outdoor pools, a gym, and a private beach. Not bad for $32,000 per night.

Customer rating: 67% (#51 of 411 hotels in the Attica Region)

5 – The Presidential Suite, Hotel Cala di Volpe, Costa Smeralda, Sardinia

A Bang & Olufsen stereo system, flat screen TVs, high speed internet, wine cellar, steam room and jacuzzi are just some of the luxuries available in the Presidential Suite. Just $34,000 per night.

Customer rating: 75% (#114 of 794 hotels in Sardinia)

4 – Penthouse Prestige Apartment, Hotel Martinez, Cannes, France

Overlooking Cannes bay the Penthouse Prestige Apartments provide you with a first class butler service for the duration of your stay. Fitted with the usual luxuries this apartment also comes with a Hammam (turkish steam bath). You’ll be able to book for about $35,000 per night.

Customer rating: 68% (#24 of 114 hotels in Cannes)

3 – Ty Warner Penthouse, Four Seasons Hotel, New York

Ty Warner Penthouse in the Four Seasons New York offers 360⁰ views of Manhattan from the 52nd floor. It has TVs tuned to every station in the world, so you’ll never miss your favourite show from home. You’ll also have use of a chauffeur to take you sightseeing in a Rolls Royce Phantom or a Mercedes Maybach. Excellent value for $35,000 per night.

Customer rating: 84% (#86 of 428 hotels in New York city)

2 – Hugh Hefner Sky Villa Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas

Stay where Kanye West partied after the MTV awards. The Skyvilla has a cantilevered jacuzzi pool with glass end wall overlooking the Vegas strip. If you get really lucky at blackjack, now you know where you can spend $40,000 on one night’s accommodation.

Customer rating: 63% (#100 of 284 hotels in Las Vegas)

1 – The Royal Penthouse Suite, President Wilson Hotel, Geneva

The Royal Penthouse Suite overlooking Lake Geneva will cost you an unbelievable $65,000 per night. This suite will sleep you and five of your friends – and nobody with have to sleep in any of the marble bathrooms, or the hot tubs. This suite also boasts the absolute pinnacle of decadence: an “iPod docking station”.

Customer rating: 69% (#11 of 111 hotels in Geneva)

And before anyone asks, no, I’ve never stayed in any of these!

Thanks to Business Insider, and Tripadvisor for the reviews.

Locations: Florida, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Nevada, New York, Switzerland, The Bahamas / Categories: Buildings, Street Views

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Glasgow airport in Scotland have their fire training centre conveniently located next to a road, giving us a great look at it from Street View.

From this we can clearly see that, while some airports may use abandoned or decommissioned planes for training, in many cases it is merely a ‘plane-shaped object’ that can withstand repeatedly being set on fire – though convincing enough to upset a nervous flyer, particularly if it happened to be ablaze as you taxied past! Nearby is a small collection of old and wrecked cars – perhaps used to practice extractions?

At Zurich Airport there is an old DC-8 which looks to be in relatively good shape, so is probably used for evacuation exercises rather than fire training (which likely happens at the smaller object just to the east).

Another ‘plane-shaped object’, complete with a couple of fire trucks can be found at Leeds-Bradford Airport, a mere 150m from a runway!

The sprawling airport in Denver has 4 fire stations and the impressively titled Denver International Airport/Denver Fire Department Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) Training Academy, with a full-size plane mockup.

A similar training school can be found at Durham Tees Valley Airport which has a veritable array of old planes and ‘plane-shaped objects’.

Recently, the trend has been for airports to invest in expensive training systems that can challenge firefighters with a range of different situations. At Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam there is a full-size mock up of a 747, in an area clearly marked Fire Training, which has 20 computer-controlled fire training settings. There is also a very similar system at London’s Gatwick Airport.

Manchester Airport has a high-tech system from a different manufacturer, that also resembles the front two-thirds of a 747.

We previously covered some of these “Fat Planes” back in 2006, but let us know what other training locations you can find on Google Maps or Street View. Bonus points if you can find one that is actually on fire!

(I shall now sit quietly and wait to see if spending a couple of hours browsing maps and street views of airport security perimeters has attracted the attention of the government’s online monitors).

Locations: Colorado, England, Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland / Categories: Aircraft, Street Views

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The Swiss city of Basel is home to one of the most spectacular tripoint monuments at the location where it borders Germany and France.

Basel’s dreiländereck (literally “3 lands place”) is home to a soaring metal three-sided spiral which bears the flags of the 3 countries. It is located on a quay in the river Rhine, near a restaurant of the same name. The actual tripoint is located just to the north-west, in the middle of the river.

Germany also has a significant tripoint where it meets Belgium and the Netherlands. Vaalserberg features a number of tourist attractions including a viewing tower, cafes and a maze.

While Google Maps seems to show the tripoint in a tree, I believe the actual location is marked by the 3 small monuments visible by their shadows in the upper-left of this image.¹

Not all tripoints are marked as cohesively. The one where Austria, Hungary and Slovakia meet has a number of monuments scattered across the different borders – all quite small, so check Panoramio to see them in detail.

Where is your favourite location with one foot in one country, one foot in a second, and … perhaps your nose in a third?

For more like this, see our 2008 post about Complicated Borders. Thanks to AndrewAnorak and David Grenewetzki.

Locations: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Slovakia, Switzerland / Categories: Mazes, Monuments, Towers

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The 11,674 steps run alongside the Niesenbahn funicular which travels from the side of the Kander river in Mülenen (altitude 693m) to the terminus near the 2362m summit of Mount Niesen.

During the 28 minute ride, the funicular – which opened in 1910 – travels through lush Alpine woods, passes through several tunnels and across some elevated sections.

While the staircase is only used by service personnel, it is opened to 200 people for one day a year for the Niesenlauf stair run. The Galerien pages of the race’s German site give you some idea of what an ordeal this must be – running through cloud, rain or even snow, though the race takes place in June.

The record for the event is 1h2m for men and 1h9m for women, which I find remarkably fast considering the number of steps is equivalent to climbing the CN Tower 4.5 times, or Taipei 101 almost 6 times or the Empire State Building more than 7 times, though it does look like some sections are somewhat less steep than others.

There appears to be a more conventional hiking trail for public use, with the number of switchbacks along the way giving some sense of how steep this pyramid-shaped mountain really is.

The mountain’s visitor guide has some great pictures and information, and YouTube has a fast-forward trip up the funicular and a high-speed stroll to the summit.

Locations: Switzerland / Categories: Natural Landmarks, Other Vehicles, Structures

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What’s really interesting is that in summer the Lac des Dix can be up to 284 metres deep¹ – thanks to the fact that at 285 metres tall, the Grande Dixence is the world’s tallest dam.

Update: It turns out that this is actually the world’s 2nd tallest dam. See my comment for more info. Thanks to Gary for the correction.

Thanks to Joel.

Locations: Switzerland / Categories: Structures, Watercraft

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• The entire country of Switzerland at 50cm and many Swiss cities at 25cm. This of course means the Swiss Alps are now high-res, including the Matterhorn – which is incredible seen in Google Earth.

• The entire country of Denmark at 50cm
• The French cities of Lyon; LeMans; Lourdes; Riems; Nancy; Limoges; Lille and Arles
• Potsdam and Magdeburg, Germany
• Barcelona, Belem, CapeTown, Galapagos (Isabella Island), Manaus, Mt Saint Helens, Recife, Rio, Venice)
• Whistler, British Columbia
• The whole states of Wyoming and Utah

It seems here’s also been loads of other Digitalglobe updates too, so what on earth are you waiting for? Get exploring already, and send us what you find!

Thanks to Google Maps Mania and the Google Earth Blog!

Locations: Switzerland / Categories: Natural Landmarks, Site News

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