Anchorage, or the Municipality of Anchorage as its formally known, is a city located in the American state of Alaska. It is the largest city of the state and it makes up over forty percent of the entire state’s population. This city covers an area of nineteen hundred square miles and has a population of almost three hundred thousand resident. Prior to the nineteenth century, Alaska belonged to the Russians. In 1867, the United States Secretary of State, William H. Seward bought the region from Imperial Russia for the sum of seven million dollars. The deal was laughed at by fellow American politicians and was called “Seward’s Folly”. That is until 1888, when gold was discovered in the region. In 1912, Alaska became an official U.S. possession. In 1914, city planners began working on the layout of Anchorage. The city was established as a construction port for the Alaska Railroad. The following year, President Wilson allowed federal funds to be used for the construction of the railroad. It wasn’t long before a tent city sprung up at the railroad’s headquarters, Ship Creek Landing. The population of the town soon swelled to over two thousand people. In 1920, Anchorage was incorporated as a city.

in 1923, the Alaska Railroad was finished and it would become the heart of the city’s economy through the rest of the decade. Starting in the 1930s, air transportation became an ever increasing part of the city. Merril Field was built in 1930, and within five years it was the busiest civilian airports in the U.S. The 1940s saw an increase in military activity in the state of Alaska. Two military bases, Fort Richardson and Elmendorf Air Force Base, were built and increased military investment began in the region. During the 1940s and 1950s, Anchorage began to resemble an actual city. In 1951, the Anchorage International Airport began operations and the Seward Highway was opened to the public. Not long after, the population of the city had exceeded forty-seven thousand residents. In January of 1959, Alaska became the forty-ninth state of the United States.

In the 1960s, oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay. A year after the discovery, oil rights were sold and brought billions of dollars into Alaska. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline was started in 1974 and it was finally completed in 1977 at the cost of more than eight billion dollars. The discovery of oil and the pipeline brought an economic boom to the state. As a result, oil and construction companies set up their headquarters in Anchorage. All during the 1980s, the city experienced a period of sustained growth. This period of prosperity would end by the end of the decade due to to a drop in oil prices which caused the city to go into a recession.

Today, Anchorage has an economy that depends on the military, transportation, resource extraction and tourism. Tourism in the city is fueled by its beautiful topography and by its unique collection of attractions. A popular attraction in the city is the Imaginarium Discovery Center. The Imaginarium is a science museum that is situated in the downtown area of the city, inside the Anchorage Museum. It contains eighty hands on exhibits and a planetarium. This museum handles about five thousand visitors a year.

Other attractions in the city of Anchorage include SegTours of Anchorage, Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Alaska Native Heritage Center, Prince William Sound, Alaska Railroad Depot, Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Alaska Law Enforcement Museum, Alaska Zoo, Portage Glacier, Kincaid Park, Lake Hood Harbor and Wildride Sled Dog Rodeo. The city is also home to a number of restaurants, cafes and hotels.

Fort Myers is the seat of Lee County, Florida on the Southwestern Gulf Coast of the United States of America. It covers an area of forty square miles and has a population of almost seventy thousand people. The educational needs of the city is handled by a collection of fine secondary schools and institutions of higher learning. Secondary schools in Fort Myers include Canterbury, Dunbar High School, Fort Myers Senior High School, Cypress Lake High School and Bishop Verot High School. Colleges and universities in the city include Barry University, ITT Technical Institute, Nova Southeastern University, Edison State College, Southwest Florida College, Hodges University, Florida Gulf Coast University and Rasmussen College.

Fort Myers was built in the mid-nineteenth century as a military installation to defend the settlers in the area from the Seminole tribes. It was named after Colonel Abraham C. Myers, who was stationed in Florida for seven years. In 1858, the Seminole Indians surrendered and moved west. The fort was then subsequently abandoned. It would remain empty until 1863, when a small force of Union troops occuppied the fort during the Civil War. In 1865, a group of Confederate soldiers attacked the fort, but their attempt to take it was unsuccessful. After the war, the fort would once again become deserted. During the 1880′s, settlers moved into the area and the city gained a signifigant boost in population. In March of 1886, Fort Myers would become incorporated as a city. By the end of the nineteenth century, Fort Myers became known across the United States as a winter resort. It was during this time that the Royal Palm Hotel was built. In 1924, the Tamiami Trail Bridge was built across the Caloosahatchee River. This sparked an increase in the growth of the city, and as a result Fort Myers experienced its first real estate boom.

A popular attraction in the city of Fort Myers is Hammond Stadium. Hammond Stadium is a baseball field that is situated in the Lee County Sports Complex. It was erected in 1991 and can hold over seventy-five hundred people. It is where the Minnesota Twins have their Spring Training. The stadium was named after Bill Hammond, a Lee County Commissioner who managed to talk the Minnesota Twins from their previous Spring Training home, Orlando. The agreement between Fort Myers and the Minnesota Twins runs through 2011. Hammond Stadium is not the only Spring Training facility in the city. City of Palms Park hosts the Boston Red Sox and Terry Park Ballfield once was Spring Training home to the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals, Philadelphia Athletics and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Another popular attraction in Fort Myers is the Edison and Ford Winter Estates. These estates contain a historical museum and a seventeen acre botanical garden on the adjacent sites of the winter homes of Henry Ford and Thomas Alva Edison. The site dates from the nineteenth century, when Thomas Edison visited Florida and purchased the property to build himself a home for the winter. It was finished in 1887 and called Seminole Lodge. It served as his winter retreat until his death in 1931. Henry Ford bought the adjacent property in 1916. In 1947, Mrs. Edison deeded the property to the city in memory of her husband. In 1988, the city bought the Henry Ford estate. The botanical gardens on this site contain more then a thousand different plant varieties taken from all over the globe. The collection includes African Sausage Trees, Parmentiera cereifera, Chorisia speciosa, Tabernaemontana corymbosa, Tibouchina semidecandra, Cattleya hybrid, Acalypha hispida, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Spathoglottis plicata, Ixora chinensis, Dendrobium, Tecoma stans, Hibiscus schizopetalus, Epidendrum ciliare, Bougainvillea glabra, Arenga pinnata, Ficus auriculata, Kigelia africana, Malvaviscus arboreus, Blighia sapida, Cordyline terminalis, Ficus saussureana, Clerodendrum speciosissimum, Ficus benghalensis, Thunbergia erecta, Bougainvillea spectabilis, Plumbago auriculata, Holmskioldia sanguinea, Calliandra haematocephala, Leea coccinea and Cananga odorata.

Other prominent attractions in the city of Fort Worth include Magic Wind Adventure Sailing, Lakes Regional Park, Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve, Fort Myers Historical Museum, Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium, Fort Myers Princess, Port Sanibel Marina, Manatee World, Centennial Park, Sun Harvest Citrus Tour, McGregor Boulevard, Southwest Florida Symphony, Seminole Gulf Railway’s Dinner Train Theater, Broadway Palms Dinner Theater, Edison Park, Thomas Edison Congregational Church, Burroughs Home, Fort Myers Country Club, Shell Factory & Nature Park, Bunche Beach, Lee Island, Harborside Event Center, Bonita Beach Park and Scuba Quest Pro Dive Centers. The city is also home to numerous restaurants and hotels. Restaurants in Fort Worth include Veranda Restaurant, Farmers Market Restaurant, Oasis Restaurant, Iguana Mia Mexican Restaurant, Joe’s Crab Shack, Red Lobster and Mr Mee’s Sushi & Fine Asian Dining. Hotels in the city include La Quinta Inn, Clarion Hotel, Ramada Fort Myers, Fort Myers Hotel, Hotel Indigo, Sanibel Harbour Resort and Spa and the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

The city has also been home to many famous people and celebrities. People who have come from Fort Myers or who have lived there at some point in time include Thomas Edison, Diamond Dallas Page, Peggy Schoolcraft, Henry Ford, Patty Berg, Beverly DiRenzo, Amanda Dunbar, Kimberly Page, Gerard Damiano, Denise Masino, Harvey Firestone, Jason Bartlett, Stacy Carter, Mario Henderson, Deion Sanders, Cliff Williams, Earnest Graham, Bill Davey, Julio Zuleta, Terrence Cody, Terri Kimball, Bert Blyleven, Mike Greenwell, Sara Hildebrand, Ivy Box, Anthony Henry, Randy Hand, Elissa Steamer, Mindy McCready, Vonzell Solomon, Tommy Watkins, Jevon Kearse, Seth Petruzelli, Nolan Henke and Walt Wesley.

Austin is the county seat of Travis County and capital of the state of Texas. It is the fifteenth largest city in the U.S. and the fourth largest in Texas. Austin covers an area of two hundred and ninety-seven square miles and has a population of over seven hundred and fifty-seven thousand people. The city of Austin is a high tech center and its universities produce thousands of engineering and computer science graduates each year. The city also has a large concentration of high tech companies which include IBM, Dell, Apple Inc., Cirrus Logic, AMD, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung Group, Google, Applied Materials, PayPal, Cisco Systems, Intel and Sun Microsystems.

Austin can trace its history back to the nineteenth century. This is when Anglo American pioneers entered the area. The state of Texas was still a possession of Mexico back then and the pioneers founded the village of Waterloo. The third president of the Republic of Texas nominated Waterloo to be the republic’s capital. It was decided that it would become the capital and several hundred acres of land was purchased to establish the city. It was then renamed to Austin, in honor of Stephen F. Austin. In 1845, Texas was annexed by the United States and Austin became the capital of the state.

Today, Austin is a lively city that is bustling with history, culture and entertainment. The city has several annual events that visitors may want to take part in. These include Annual O, Spamarama, Eeyore’s Birthday Party, Pecan Street Festival, Austin Reggae Festival, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Trail of Lights, Carnaval Brasileiro, Halloween night and Art City Austin. The city is also home to a ton of prominent attractions.

A popular attraction in Austin is Zilker Botanical Garden. This botanical garden was founded in 1955 and sits on thirty-one acres of land. It contains a number of gardens which include Green Garden, Cactus and Succulent Garden, Pioneer Village, Isamu TaniguchiI Oriental Garden, Hartman Prehistoric Garden, Doug Blachly Butterfly Trail and Garden, Mabel Davis Rose Garden and Herb and Fragrance Garden. The Zilker Botanical Garden is a jewel of the city and provides a much needed respite from the urban landscape.

The Elisabet Ney Museum is another key attraction of the city. This museum was founded in 1893 and is situated in the former studio of a sculptor named Elisabet Ney. The museum is also dedicated to her work and memory. In 1902, it was enlarged and in 1907, it was bought by Joseph B. Dibrell. In 1941, Austin purchased it and opened it as a museum. In 1972, it was added to the roll of the National Register of Historic Places. Works by Elisabet Ney that are housed here include “Anna Elisabeth Wernze Ney”, “St. Sebastian Martyr”, “King George V of Hannover”, “Franz Friedrich von Furstenberg”, “Baron Justus von Liebig”, “King Ludwig II”, “Lady Macbeth”, “Sam Houston as Older Man” and “Dr. David Thomas Iglehart”.

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum is another attraction not to miss during a visit to Austin. This is one of the thirteen presidential libraries that is administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. The museum has over forty-five million pages of historical documents pertaining to the presidency of Lyndon Johnson. The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum was founded in May of 1971, with both Lyndon Johnson, and president at the time Richard Nixon. This presidential library is adjacent to the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public affairs and is seated on fourteen acres of the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. This museum has the highest visitation of any current presidential library and the top floor contains a 7/8 scale of the Oval Office as it existed during the time of his presidency.

Another popular Austin attraction is the Harry Ransom Center. The Harry Ransom Center is a archive and library that is housed at the University of Texas at Austin. It contains a diverse collection of cultural and literary artifacts that cut across literature, theater and film, history and art. It contains over thirty-six million manuscripts, five million pictures, one million rare books and over one hundred thousand art works. It also houses a reading room and galleries which have a rotating display of works from the collection. Contained in the center are works such as the First Folio of William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe’s writing desk, manuscript of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Kraus Map Collection, love letters of the Mexican Emperor Maximilian I and his wife Carlotta and props designed by Salvador Dalí. The center also contains the personal libraries of many famous people including Evelyn Waugh, Aleister Crowley, Carson McCullers, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Norman Mailer, Alice Corbin Henderson, Graham Greene, Lewis Carroll, Don DeLillo, D. H. Lawrence, T. E. Lawrence and Anne Sexton.

Also in the city is the South Austin Museum of Popular Culture. This museum has as its core purpose collecting, exhibiting and preserving art that is reflective of the city’s contribution to popular culture. Artists featured here include Sam Yeates, Kerry Awn, Gilbert Shelton, Ken Featherston, Micael Priest, Jim Franklin, Bill Narum, Henry Gonzalez, Gary McElhaney, Danny Garrett, Guy Juke, Nels Jacobson and Jack Jackson. The exhibits rotate on a regular basis, but some that were featured at the time of this writing include “Fandango de los Muertos”, “Carnaval Brasileiro 2009″, “Mike “Rollo Banks” Malone” and “Emma’s Yearly Pie Social”.

Other popular Austin attractions include Austin Bats, The Driskill Hotel, Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, Austin Children’s Museum, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum, Zilker Metropolitan Park, Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Emporium at The Old Bakery, O. Henry Home & Museum, Austin History Center, Hippie Hollow Park, Zilker Zephyr Miniature Train, French Legation Museum, Roy Kizer Golf Course, Deep Eddy Pool, Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge, Austin Zoo, McKinney Falls State Park, Fall Creek Vineyards, Mexic-Arte Museum, Sixth Street, Philosophers’ Rock and Beverly S. Sheffield Zilker Hillside Theater.

Innsbruck is located in the western portion of Austria and is the capital of the federal state of Tyrol. It covers an area of forty square miles and has a population of over one hundred and seventeen thousand people. It is situated at the Sill River in Inn Valley. Innsbruck is flanked by two mountains, the Patscherkofel and the Nordkette. Patscherkofel Mountain rises over seven thousand feet above the city and Nordkette Mountain rises over seventy-six hundred feet above the city. Innsbruck is a city that can trace its historical roots all the way back to the fourth century when the Roman Empire erected the Veldidena fortiication. This military encampment was used to defend the road from Verona to Augsburg which was an economically vital road to trade in the area. During the fourteenth century the city became the capital of Tyrol and was also the residence to Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. As a result it was considered to be the political and cultural center of Europe. During the sixteenth century the Archduke of Austria received the city, as well as other possessions in Austria. It was during this time that the Scloss Ambras was erected.

During the Napoleonic wars, the entire region of Tyrol was ceded to Bavaria. The peasants of Tyrolean rose up and their army defeated the Bavarian and French forces on the Berg Isel. Andreas Hofer, the leader of the impromptu peasant army, then made Innsbruck is administrative center. However, this didn’t last long as the Tyrolean army was eventually defeated by French and Bavarian forces in 1814 and the city of Innsbruck was returned to Bavaria. As a result of the uprising, Andreas Hofer was executed and his remains were housed in the Franciscan church located in the city.

Today, Innsbruck is considered to be the economic and cultural hub of Austria. It is also one of the most visited cities in Austria and boasts an impressive one million hotel bookings each and every year. Tourism is therefore its most important economic activity and is driven by the historic buildings, the cultural diversity of the city and the large number of sport facilities located there. One of the most popular attractions in Innsbruck is the Golden Roof. The Golden Roof was constructed in the fourteenth century by Archduke Friedrich IV to be uses as the residence of Tyrolean royalty. The name ‘Golden Roof’ refers to the three story balcony located on the central plaza. This balcony was built by Emperor Maximilian I to be used as a royal box where he could enjoy sporting tournaments in the square beneath it. The balcony is covered with over twenty-six hundred copper tiles.

Another popular attraction in the city is Hofkirche Church. This Gothic church was built in the mid sixteenth century by Ferdinand I as a tribute to his grandfather Maximilian I. The main feature of this church is the large black onyx cenotaph that is located in the center of the nave. Surrounding the cenotaph is twenty-eight bronze statues which are approximately eight feet tall. The statues depict famous people of the time and include such historical figures as Queen Juana of Spain, Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy, Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy, Theoderic the Great, Count Albrecht IV of Habsburg, Kunigunde of Austria, King Ferdinand the Catholic of Spain, King Arthur, Duke Albrecht II, King Albrecht II, King Rudolf I, Godfrey of Bouillon, Queen Elisabeth of Hungary, Queen Maria of Burgundy, Queen Elizabeth of Tyrol, Emperor Frederick III, Albert I of Germany, Archduchess Margarethe of Austria, Empress Maria Bianca Sforza, Duchess Cymburgis of Masovia and Saint Leopold III among others. A beautiful and historic attraction in Innsbruck is the Schloss Ambras. This Germanic castle was the residence of Archduke Ferdinand II in the mid to late sixteenth century. Today its a museum that houses many important collections of weapons, armor and historical items.

The Innsbruck University Botanic Garden is a two hectare botanical garden that was established in 1911 and is currently run by the Univesity of Innsvruck. Though it was originally constructed in the beginning of the twentieth century, it has been redesigned several times. The garden now contains over five thousand species and is divided into several key sections. The first key feature of the garden is the Alpinum. The Alpinum covers six thousand square feet and is the alpine portion of the gardens. It also contains over one thousands plants from the alpine regions of Europe. Other key features of the Alpinum is an area for ferns, a moor and four ponds. The next section of the garden is the Arboretum. The Arboretum contains plants such as perennials, Angiosperms and Gymnosperms. The next section of the garden is the Cactus Houses. This area of the garden covers nine hundred and ninety square feet and contains over five hundred species of cacti. The Cactus-Succulent-Mediterranean House covers an area of eight hundred and forty square feet and houses plants from the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean and New Zealand. The Succulent House contains over five hundred and fifty succulent plants from the Canary Islands, South America and Africa. Other sections of the Innsbruck University Botanic Garden include the Fern House, Fragrance and Touch Garden, Medicinal & Poisonous Plant Garden, The Systematic Garden and the Tropical Greenhouse.

Other attractions in the city of Innsbruck include the Kaiserliche Hofburg, Altes Landhaus, Alte Innbrucke, Altstadt, Annasaule, Helblinghaus, Maria-Theresien-Strabe, Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck, Triumphpforte, the Bergiselschanze, New Hungerburgbah, Riesenrundgemalde, Tiroler Landesmuseum, Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum, Zeughaus, Tiroler Museumsbahnen, Kaiserjagermuseum, Ursulinenkirche, Dom zu St. Jakob, Stift Wilten, Wiltener basilika, Liebfrauenkirche, Rapoldipark and Schlosspark Ambras. Innsbruck is also a town that is filled with restaurants, cafes, shops and hotels. Some of the more prominent hotels in the city include the Best Western Hotel Goldener Adler, Hilton Innsbruck, Hotel Congress, Romantik Hotel Schwarzer Adler, Best Western Hotel Leipziger Hof, Penz Hotel and the Ibis Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof. Other prominent hotels in the city include the Grand Hotel Europa and Hotel Roemerhof.