According to submitter “Roberto” this house is owned by a local butcher who had his swimming pool built in the shape of his company’s logo, a Scimitar sword.

I checked our submissions database and there were no other custom-made pools in recognisable shapes. I’m sure there must be loads out there so if you can find any then please leave a comment on here

Here at Google Sightseeing HQ in Edinburgh, we’ve been having a mini heat-wave of late, which got us in the mood for sunbathing

Here’s some people, lots of people in fact, sunbathing on a beach in Barcelona. Not enough people? Here you go: even more people on another Barcelona beach.

Perhaps you prefer your sunbathing a little more au naturel? Try Wreck beach, a nudist sunbathing spot in Vancouver, Canada (careful you don’t strain your eyes at those pixels too much!)

Not enough sunbathing opportunities for you? How about Rimini beach in Italy? The link goes to the top of the high-resolution bit, scroll south to see the tens of thousands of parasols and sun loungers! It literally goes on for miles and miles.

Thanks to Quinn Kuiken, davide, Personne and woowoowoo.

This is the Vatican City, within Rome, Italy. The home of the popes, it is the smallest independent state in the world in terms of area (0.44 km²) and population (just over 900). The Vatican City is separated from Rome by a wall (the entire border is only 3.2 kilometres long), and if your monitor is big enough, you should be able to see the entire country within one frame… at the maximum zoom level!

In our first thumbnail is St. Peter’s Basilica (Wikipedia entry). Michelangelo designed it’s famous dome, and of course the Sistene Chapel is also in the Vatican. St. Peter’s is considered to be the largest church in Christianity, covering an area of 23,000 square meters and with a capacity of over 60,000 people. Check out this stunning image of the interior.

In front of the Basilica is St Peter’s Square, which is actually quite far from square! It was designed so that the greatest number of people could see the Pope give his blessing. Note the Egyptian obelisk in the centre of the square (ground-level shot). The obelisk is 25.5 metres tall, and actually dates back to the 13th century BC in Egypt, although it has been in Rome since the 1st century.

Suprisingly the Vatican has it’s own radio station, satellite TV channels, and even it’s own country code, ‘.va’ (naturally, there’s an official website too).

There’s a useful map of the city on the lonely planet website, and the Wikipedia entry has lots more fascinating information.

Thanks: Bill Kendrick, Scott, Thomas, Adam Parker, André Jodoin, cacafuego, Kevin, Ben Singleton, Blitz, Jeff Vinocur, Salinga, Patrick, Nelson, troy, mesmart, Brad, Lars Thygesen, Bricke, Gerhard, ringo, Keith Frost, Max, Jeff Vinocur, Jeff, Nick, Jason, Luke, Justin Mancinelli, Patrick Kent, TOMHTML, Matt, Marc Armstrong, Susan, Billy, Caleb, John Hartnup, Daniel Jibouleau, Gerhard, Mark Ross, James Edmunds, Chris Davis, Bill and many, many more! Thanks everyone

This is the beautiful Venice, city of canals. Venice is built on more than a hundred islands in a shallow lagoon, with the canals serving the function of roads – every form of transport is on water or on foot. In fact, Venice is Europe’s largest car-free zone, unique in Europe in remaining a sizeable functioning city in the 21st century entirely without cars or trucks.

I can’t spot any gondolas from up here though, can you?

In our next thumbnails we’re also featuring St. Mark’s Basilica (you can also see the bell-tower) and the Rialto Bridge. St. Mark’s Basilica overlooks the Piazza San Marco (you know, that square with all the pigeons that’s in all the movies), and the Rialto Bridge is the oldest and most famous bridge which crosses Venice’s Grand Canal. There’s heaps of info over at Wikipedia, and there’s tons of good ground level photos there too

Thanks: Philip R, morinox, Drew Mills, Andy Kaplan-Myrth, Daniel, Troy Fuqua, GS, Simon Sutcliffe, Bennet Langlotz, Michele, Jan Fabry, jupap7, Martin Willey, Thomas, Mike Krus, Kevin, Ben Singleton, TROY, ray hollis, Vaclav Papousek, Jens Kilian, Bryan Robson, Frederic Argazzi, Max, David Fink and James Edmunds.

The Colosseum (or Coliseum) was built in 72 AD and is 160 ft high with 80 entrances. It held more than 50,000 spectators and was actively used for gladiator fights for 400 years.

The Colosseum obviously featured in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, although was digitally recreated to its former glory.

Thanks: A whole heap of people called things like John, Jason, Ben, Paul & Jeff