Windsor Castle was built by William the Conqueror after the Norman conquest in 1066. He built a ring of fortifications within a short distance of one another for easy reinforcements. Windsor Castle, one of this ring of fortifications, was strategically important because it was close to both the River Thames, a key medieval route into London, and Windsor Windsor Castle was not built as a a royal residence. The first king to use it as such was Henry I. Henry II came to the throne in 1154 and added his touches by building and modifying the residence between 1165 and 1179. He replaced the wooden...

The city of Bath was first established by the Romans in 43 AD as a spa resort and was given the Latin name, Aquae Sulis, "the waters of Sulis." However, many believe Bath was known about before that. The Romans built baths and a temple on the surrounding hills of Bath in the valley of the River Avon around hot springs, the only natural hot springs in the United Kingdom. Edgar was crowned King of England at Bath Abbey in 973. Bath became very popular as a spa resort during the Georgian era. This led to major expansion of the city and left Bath with a rich heritage of Georgian architecture....

Innsbruck, Austria is one of the most beautiful places in the entire world. High in the hills of Austria, you can get a feel of what it was like in the not too distant past, and in the old part of town, they have made great efforts to preserve what has made the town unique. Evidence shows habitation in the early Stone Age. Surviving pre-Roman place names show that the area has been continuously populated. Innsbruck is the capital city of the federal state of Tyrol in western Austria. It is located in the Inn Valley at the junction with the Sill River, and it provides access to the Brenner...

A steam train is a train that is pulled by a head locomotive that produces power through a steam engine. The purpose of a steam train was to pull freight cars and passenger coaches along railroad tracks. All the Steam locomotives are fueled by coal, wood or oil. The fuel is burned to produce steam in a boiler, and this is what drives the steam engine so that it can pull the train cars. Fuel and water supplies are also carried on the train. Beginning in Britain, steam locomotives dominated railway transportation from the start of the 19th century, until the middle of the 20th century. They...

Helsinki was established as a trading town by King Gustav I of Sweden in 1550 as the town of Helsingfors. Helsinki was plagued by poverty, wars, and diseases. The plague of 1710 killed many of the inhabitants of Helsinki. It was not until Russia defeated Sweden in the Finnish War and annexed Finland as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 that the town became a city of means. The XV Olympiad, the 1952 Olympics were held in Helsinki. There are various theories as to how Helsinki got its name. Some people believe the name Helsinge may have originated with the medieval Swedish settlers...

The city of Stockholm is over 700 years old and it spreads across 14 islands, facing out to the Baltic Sea. You can get to just about all of Stockholm's sites on foot, as did our photographer and author; and this is a great way to see Stockholm You can also take a boat trip that will give you a different facet of Scandinavia's largest and probably most beautiful city. Stockholm is a great family place to visit with loads of things to see, and lots of fun stuff for kids to do Take an imaginary journey through the pages of this book and make it your own by adding pictures, postcards, tickets...

York is a beautiful place to visit. It is so much fun that you think you are walking though the pages of a story book. You can find a hat fit for a princess, and visit the archeological viking digging site and see where the Kingdom of York actually all began You can peek through a window down a narrow alley and see a table set for a medieval feast. You can visit the Golden Fleece Pub and have something to eat while you watch and hear stories of the ghosts the owner says still reside in that place. And you can even take a ghost tour This once walled city kingdom is a fascinating place to...

Dover, is a great place to visit when you are in Britain. Just a short distance from Canterbury, you can see so many things. Prominent to any visit to Dover is, of course, a visit to Dover Castle, where through the years they have restored it to what they believe is historical accuracy. Children and adults alike can reve in the color and majesty of the past as they walk u steep staircases to the castle top Bring a camera and take lots of pictures of the castle and of Dover and take notes and add tickets and things to the pages of this book and make it your own, because you only truly learn...

The first traces of human settlement found in Tallinn's city center by archeologists are about 5000 years old. The comb ceramic pottery found on the site dates to about 3000 BC and corded ware pottery c. 2500 BC. Then in 1154 a town called Qlwn (or Qalaven) was put on the world map of the Almoravid by the cartographer Muhammad al-Idrisi who described it as a small town like a large castle among the towns of Astlanda. John D. Weigand and Penelope Dyan went to the town of Tallinn, Estonia and would agree the cartographer's description is very accurate when it comes to this town because it is...