Cities

While most people in China do not speak English, most inhabitants of Shanghai know at least the basics.

Drinking water is obtained by desalinating seawater.

The southern coast of the Gulf of Finland was inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes as early as the 2nd millennium BC.

Bruges has a nearly 100-kilometer-long network of active canals, by which it is connected to Ostend, Zeebrugge (a port built by the Germans during World War I for U-boats), and Ghent.

In 1867, San Francisco passed America's first "restrictive ugliness law."

The city center is situated on the Weser dune.

From 1934 to 1963, there was a famous maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island.

In the 16th century, Jesuits arrived in Olomouc.

On the section of the Elbe between Hamburg and the North Sea, in the town of Wedel, lies the Willkomm-Höft, the welcome point for ships arriving or leaving the port of Hamburg.

Olomouc has many historic townhouses and palaces.