If you’ve ever dreamt of travelling the world to see the world’s most famous landmarks, but couldn’t afford to finance the big trip, perhaps you might consider visiting one of the many not-so-famous sites that attempt to replicate those better-known originals.

Carhenge (Alliance, Nebraska USA) – As an alternative to the multitude of regular Stonehenge replicas, why not visit Carhenge? It’s a scale replica of the real Stonehenge, the only discernible difference being that instead of standing stones, it’s made from thirty-eight grey spray-painted cars.

Eiffel Tower (Paris, Texas USA) – When on a trip to Paris, you have to visit the Eiffel Tower right? Well, the folks in Paris, Texas must have thought so, as they decided to build their own 20m tall replica (65 feet). The twist however (in true Texas style), is that they topped it off with a giant cowboy hat.

Parthenon (Nashville, Tennessee USA) – One of the more impressive duplications¹ of a famous landmark has to be the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee. This scale replica of the original Greek structure was originally built in 1897. Today, it stands as the centrepiece of Centennial Park, a large urban park west of downtown Nashville. Inside the structure you can find a 13m (42 feet) tall statue of Athena Parthenos that is dressed in more than eight pounds of gold leaf.²

Minitalia Leolandia Park (Bergamo, Italy) – Aside from visiting the replica of one building, you can also visit a replica of an entire country! Miniature parks around the world offer visitors small versions of cities and countries, usually in a beautiful, landscaped setting. From the satellite view of Minitalia, you can see that as the name implies, it looks just like a small Italy! On the ground level, visitors can walk from one city to another visiting tiny facsimiles of Italy’s most famous landmarks.

Las Vegas, Nevada USA – Perhaps the one location that has more wannabes than anywhere else is Las Vegas. Built in the middle of the desert, just about everything you see in this town can be considered fake in one way or another. On one end of the strip you’ll find a replica of an Egyptian obelisk that stands in front of the Luxor hotel, and on the opposite end you’ll find a replica of Seattle’s Space Needle. In between there are volcanoes, roman columns, the Eiffel Tower, and more!

Las Vegas is also home to a half scale replica of the Statue of Liberty, which is actually one of the most reproduced monuments in the world. Here’s a 35m (115ft) version in Germany’s Heide Park.

Google Sightseeing visited the original Parthenon and the original Statue of Liberty back in 2005, and in 2006 we took a tour of some of the best known replicas of Liberty, and several Parthenon impostors. We’ve also visited the excellent Dutch Madurodam miniature park, as well as taken an extensive tour of many of the members of the International Association of Miniature Parks.

Thanks to Feel Glass and many others.

Another year is winding up here at Google Sightseeing, so here’s a look back at the most popular posts from 2009.

1. Top 10 Street Views, April 2009

Following an absolutely massive launch of Street View imagery across Europe in March, one particular image attracted a lot of traffic to the site. It has since been removed from Google Maps, but others from our roundup remain; like the brilliant depiction of British people’s astonishing ability to queue, even in the face of compelling evidence that it’s utterly pointless.

2. Naked Street View

Immediately after the European Street View rollout, this post also seemed to attract a lot of traffic. We’re unsure why, but we do now know that Italian prostitutes are not in the least bit shy.

3. Top 10 Rudest Place Names in Britain

We’re not sure what this post says about Britain and our place-naming methodology, but a lot of people seemed to find something amusing in places called Titty Ho, Crapstone, Sluts Hole Lane, Penistone, Dick Place, Minge Lane and Butt Hole Road.

Or was it just us that thought this was hysterical?

Earlier this month we also posted a follow-up featuring the Top 10 Rudest Place Names in America, featuring the brilliant Climax, Michigan.

4. UK Street View Has Arrived

Yet more Street View! There were a lot of Europeans interested in seeing the things on that we found in the new imagery, and subsequently we’ve gained reasonably large following on our Twitter account, where we regularly post funny Street View sights that don’t make it into full posts.

5. UK Celebs Caught on Street View

Yes, Street View really was popular this year… helped by comedian Dave Gorman, who quickly found himself in the new imagery. However it was a possible sighting of Top Gear’s Stig that got people really excited, sorry Dave. To add more insult to Mr. Gorman’s celebrity status, it actually turned out to be a cardboard cut-out of the Stig.

6. Never, Neverland

With the sad news of the death of the King of Pop, we posted another look Michael Jackson’s famous Neverland property.

7. Top Ten Confusing Place Names

This brilliant roundup of the most ridiculously confusing place names proved extremely popular, featuring such classics as Smile, Okay, Uncertain, Goodnight, Nameless, Yell and Why.

8. The Nonexistent Town of Argleton

Nestled in the Lancashire countryside, just to the south of Ormskirk, is the small town of Argleton. Or so Google would have us believe.

9. World’s Largest Ship Graveyard

An absolutely astonishing look at the scale of the environmental and social catastrophe that is the world’s largest ship graveyard in Mauritania.

10. News on the Google Street View UK Launch

People’s appetite for new Street View just didn’t let up did it? Many of these were immediately removed from Google’s servers, but that didn’t stop them getting into most of the UK Red Tops.

Judging by this list, it would seem that we wrote about nothing much but Street View this year, but in fact we posted over 220 new articles, which covered loads of really interesting sights. We hope to post a roundup of some of our favourites before the end of the year, and we’ll be back in full swing early next year.

Happy/merry culturally and/or religiously appropriate festival/holiday!

To get us in the holiday spirit, let’s pay a visit to the world’s largest Christmas shop – Bronner’s in Frankenmuth, Michigan.

Officially named Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland (including the emphasis on “Christ”), the statistics are mind-boggling:

• The building is 29,700 square metres
• Parking for over 1,000 cars
• More than 2 million visitors each year¹
• Annual sales of 50,000 different products, including more than half a million glass ornaments, 161 km of garlands, and 850 km of lights!²

After opening his first store in downtown Frankenmuth in 1954, Wally Bronner saw business grow to the point where – in the 1970s – he had to hire bouncers to control the crowds. A larger facility was constructed to the south of the city in 1977 and given the address 25 Christmas Lane.

Street View shows us that the huge grounds (or at least the parts that aren’t given over to parking) are stuffed full of seasonal decorations.

While Bing Bird’s Eye View captures Santa Claus red-handed, during one of his many seasonal housebreaking attempts.

There’s also an elaborate display of angels, who are depicted celebrating the birth of Christ (see closeup on Panoramio). While this may seem a little odd in the midst of such extreme commercialism, it does demonstrate Mr. Bronner’s original intent, which he claimed was to show his faith through the creation of a business dedicated to the celebration of Christmas.

This religious aspect of the business is also evident in the Silent Night Chapel on the edge of the property, which is a replica of the Silent Night Memorial Chapel in Oberndorf, Austria.

The Silent Night hymn has been transcribed onto multiple plaques here in over 300 languages, which are displayed on the walkway towards the Chapel, and inside the story of Christ’s birth has been translated into 30 languages.

Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland on Wikipedia.

With the expansion of Street View coverage in Canada, we can continue our exploration (see parts one & two) of historic Grand Railway Hotels.

Travelling again from east to west, we begin in Winnipeg, location of the magnificent Fort Garry Hotel.

Constructed in 1913¹ in the now familiar Chateau style, it was the tallest building in the city at the time. The hotel was named after the nearby Upper Fort Garry, which was a prominent trading post in the 1800s.

The hotel was, for a while, totally self-sufficient – with heat, food, water and laundry all being taken care of on-site. There was even a working printing press, which was lifted into place before a room was constructed around it (it’s still there but currently unused). Unlike the majority of railway hotels which are today owned by Fairmont, the Fort Garry is independently operated.

Another non-Fairmont hotel is in Saskatoon, The Bessborough.

Named after the then-Governor General, the Bess was built in 1932 but the great depression meant it didn’t receive its first guest until 3 years later. This hotel is noted for its extensive private gardens which stretch down towards the South Saskatchewan River.

Following the route of The Canadian to the west, we get to Edmonton and the Hotel Macdonald, which brings us back into the Fairmont properties.

Named for Canada’s first prime minister, The Mac was constructed in 1915 in the Chateau style, though the use of Indiana limestone gives it a different appearance to many of the other hotels. This hotel was in poor condition and closed for a while in the 1980s. Heritage designation from the city saved it from demolition, and it reopened in 1991 after a major renovation.

Finally, we go beyond the reach of the railway, to Victoria and the unmistakable ivy-covered walls of The Empress, which opened in 1908 to serve passengers from Canadian Pacific’s steamships.

Perhaps most famous for its afternoon teas, The Empress has a storied history of Royal and celebrity visitors. Similar to The Mac, a period of decline almost saw its destruction, but local sentiment was strong enough to save the building. That same civic pride forced Fairmont to abandon plans to alter the iconic sign on the hotel’s exterior.

There are many more railway hotels across Canada, but this concludes our look at the majority of the grandest and most historic properties.

Far out in the Atlantic Ocean, the easternmost point of North America is Cape Spear, a few kilometres south-east of St John’s in Newfoundland.

A scenic drive through moorland and stunning coastal scenery brings visitors to the Cape Spear parking lot, from where footpaths lead to historic sites and cliffs – the latter being somewhat dangerous due to high winds and waves.

Near to the most easterly point of the continent, bunkers and a pair of rusting 25cm guns are stark reminders of WWII, when this was a key location for the defence of St John’s harbour.

A short distance away stand a pair of lighthouses. The southern structure is the original, and dates to the 1830s. Over the years oil and gas were both used to light its warning lamp, but it was eventually converted to electricity almost 100 years after it was built. It was replaced by the new automated lighthouse in 1955, but the original building today serves as a museum, as it’s the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland.