The QFI Travel QuizFinals

Around the World in 80 Questions

QFIesta 2013

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QFIesta 2013

Thanks also toIIT Madras,

Dr. L. S. Ganesh and

IIT Madras Quiz Club for their continued support of QFI

We would also like to thank Rajen Prabhu

Coin BrothersWritten Round+15 if 1-2 teams answer correctly+10 if 3-5 teams answer correctly+5 if 6-8 teams answer correctly

1. Coin from which part of the world?

2. Identify either the person depicted, or the currency.

3. Identify the structure shown on the coin

4. Identify the person shown.

Answers follow…

1. Coin from which part of the world?

AnswerGreenland

2. Identify either the person depicted, or the currency.

AnswerBalboa

3. Identify the structure shown on the coin

AnswerEsplenade—Theaters by the Bay (The

Durian building will also do )

4. Identify the person shown.

AnswerAung San

Clockwise+10, -10 on pounce+10 on bounce

This monument was a handy tool for Groucho Marx to ensure that contestants on his ‘You Bet Your Life!’ quiz show answered at least one question right

What question involving this monument would Groucho Marx ask?

On what famous monument from history is this one modeled after?

Answer“Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?”

Marx asked an elementary consolation question for a total of $25 (later $100) which did not count toward the scores. The questions were made easy in hopes that nobody would answer incorrectly, and included such examples as "Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?", "When did the War of 1812 start?", "How long do you cook a three-minute egg?", and "What color is an orange?" The question about Grant's Tomb became such a staple of the show that both Marx and Fenneman were shocked when one man got the question "wrong" by answering "No one". As the contestant then pointed out, Grant's Tomb is an above ground mausoleum.

Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

What concept did the famous railway engineer Sandford Fleming come up with after missing a train when he was in Ireland?

AnswerTime zones

Whom does Dirk Bogarde portray in this movie—someone who was knighted not just for this contribution to British-Greek relations, but more importantly for his contribution to travel literature?

AnswerPatrick Leigh Fermor

Why is this place called Al-Maghtas in Jordan a site of pilgrimage?

AnswerThis is where Jesus was purportedly

baptised by St. John

This quintessential summer cocktail from the Caribbean comes in three chief styles—Guyanese, Barbadian, and Trinidadian. All varieties are based on booze (usually rum), lots of shaved ice, and a splash of Angostura bitters. The name of the cocktail may be familiar to most people because of an equipment that was originally used in its preparation.

Name the cocktail / equipment.

AnswerSwizzle / Swizzle stick

Desolate place called Ghost Ranch in New Mexico—why does it attract tourists with an inclination to the arts?

AnswerThey come to see what Georgia O’Keeffe

saw

What’s common to the following ‘places’? Superior, Delmarva, Absaroka, Scott, Transylvania, Westsylvania, Deseret, Nickajack. (not an exhaustive list)

AnswerProposed US States that did not make the

cut

The Marchenstrasse is a 600km route from Hanau to Bremen in Germany that is a major tourist attraction. What does it celebrate / what is the route commonly known as?

AnswerThe Fairy Tale Road – celebrating the life

and stories of the Brothers Grimm

Time balls were originally meant to serve as a maritime time signaling aid. With respect to this use, how is the ceremonial time ball dropped every new year (thus signaling midnight) at Times Square different from the rest?

AnswerThe time is to be recorded when the ball

begins descending, not when it reaches the bottom. In Times Square, however it is midnight when the ball reaches the bottom

This street was originally named _____ Avenue, but after WC Handy wrote a song that called it _____ Street, everyone started calling it a street instead of an avenue, and the name was officially changed. What you hear is Duke Ellington’s take on the song. Name the street, and the city you will find it in.

AnswerBeale StreetMemphis

Houston’s airport used to get many complaints for long baggage wait times, and adding more baggage handlers still did not reduce the complaints. So, what did the airport authorities do to tackle this problem?

AnswerSet up the airport in a way that required

that travelers walk much farther to get to the baggage carousels. This reduced the perceived time spent waiting for the baggage.

The route from Kargil to Leh is one of the most dramatic anywhere in the world. The stretch from the Lamayuru monastery (4000 mtrs) to Khalste (3100 mtrs) takes one through a series of 23 hairpin bends in just 32 kms and is officially called the Gata loops / Hangru loops. What is the unofficial / affectionate name by which this stretch is known?

AnswerJalebi bends

This is the tomb of Allama Afzal Khan, a mullah from Shiraz who was Shah Jahan’s Prime Minister. His tomb is one of the overlooked gems in Agra, and gets its name from what used to once cover the entire surface of the monument. Incidentally, this was the first instance of this kind of decoration being used in India. Identify the monument.

AnswerChini ka Rauza (Chini refers to tiles)

This city in Andalusia is known as the home of flamenco, as well as horsemanship (the image shows a gait called the Spanish walk that originated here)

The city was also the venue for the controversial season-ending 1997 European Grand Prix where Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve were involved in a crash.

The city also lends its name to a popular fortified wine variety that is made from white grapes grown locally.

Name the city, and the wine.

AnswerJerezSherry

What touristy breakfast activity has been now made illegal by Death Valley officials after it became cumbersome to clean the messy aftermath?

AnswerFrying eggs directly on the road (because

the temperatures are so high!)

This book by William Least Heat-Moon is now considered a classic in the travel genre, and describes a 14,000 mile journey across roads connecting rural America, completely avoiding big cities.

Why is it named ‘Blue Highways’?

AnswerBecause blue was the colour in which

village roads were depicted in the old Rand McNally atlases

Connect via a ‘Memory of the World’.

AnswerThe 4 surviving copies of the Magna Carta

—2 at the British Library, 1 at Lincoln Cathedral, 1 at Salisbury Cathedral

Sometime in the second half of the 19th Century, eight (ten according to some accounts) elephants were tied in harnesses and hung from the ceiling of the Jai Vilas Mahal in Gwalior. For what reason?

AnswerTo see if the ceiling could withhold the two

3.5 tonnes chandeliers that the Scindia king had imported from Belgium

Being built off the coast of Ras-al-Khaimah in the UAE, this is the Real Madrid Resort Island, which as the picture shows also features the crest of the club. However, what is the one change that will be made to the familiar Real Madrid emblem once the islands are complete?

AnswerThe crown in the logo will not feature the

cross

What’s this in Chicago?

AnswerThe foundation for the Chicago Spire, a

project that has been abandoned since 2008. When planned (by no less than Santiago Calatrava), it was to be the tallest building in North America

This World Heritage Site, home to 20 stunningly located Eastern Orthodox monasteries, is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. Today Greeks commonly refer to it as the Holy Mountain. Though land-linked, it is practically accessible only by ferry. The number of daily visitors is restricted and only males are permitted to visit the territory which is called "Garden of the Virgin" by the monks. Residents on the island must be males aged 18 and above who are members of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and must be either monks or workers.

It is named after one of the Giants – children of Gaia – in Greek mythology who threw a massive rock against Poseidon which fell in the Aegean sea and became a mountain. Name this site.

AnswerMount Athos

Identify where this Lana Del Ray video has been shot. For those who prefer jazz instead of contemporary pop, it also features on the art of Tadd Dameron’s album named for the same place.

AnswerFontainebleau Palace

Hitachi Seaside Park in Japan (visuals next slide), covering an area of 3.5 hectares, is a flower park and a popular tourist destination. It is particularly famous for a certain genus of flowers – containing the phrase baby blue eyes in their common names – having transparent blue petals. Over 4.5 million of these flowers bloom all over the park during spring.

Name this genus of flower whose name literally translates to ‘woodland loving’.

AnswerNemophila

Anticlockwise+10, -10 on pounce+10 on bounce

‘Crooked Forest’ in Poland attracts tourists because of the odd shape of the pine trees that grow here. What is certain that these are not natural but have become this way due to human intervention. Give either of the two theories that explain this crooked shape.

AnswerBent to serve as ‘compass timbers’,

deliberately shaped to help in shipbuilding for use in shaping corners, etc.

A heavy vehicle having passed over them when they were still young

This region is named after the Rajput king who ruled in the 15th Century. This king had a Muslim name as he was named after a Muslim mendicant with whose blessings Rao Mokal and Rani Nirwan delivered him after being childless for several years.

Identify the region, famed for its fresco paintings on houses.

AnswerShekhawati (after Rao Shaikha)

These nomads found in Himachal and J&K are related to the Gujjars and apparently still live a life unchanged over centuries, roaming from high altitude meadows to the plains in the winter and returning after the snows have melted. Identify. (Alia Bhatt is only posing with them—she is not one of them!)

AnswerBakarwals

Srirangam was attacked by the Sultanate forces in 1323 and Lord Ranganatha's jewels and the temple gold were taken away. The forces also wanted to seize an idol of the Lord which they believed was made of pure gold. Unable to locate the idol, the Sultanate forces killed the temple authorities and later launched a massive hunt. Fearing that the forces would capture the idol, a devadasi named Vellayi performed a dance before the commander of the forces thus gaining time for the idol to be taken away safely to Madurai so as to avoid it being captured. Her dance lasted for hours together and finally she took the commander to the eastern gopuram and pushed him down. After killing him, Vellayi jumped to her death from the tower chanting the name of Ranganathar.

How is she immortalized in the Srirangam temple?

AnswerOn the eastern entrance of

the Srirangam temple, there stands a white tower which is popularly known as the Vellayi Gopuram

It is generally believed that the tower is so called as it has been painted white by the temple authorities. But the tower has actually been named after the devadasi Vellayi.

This is the Kronborg Castle in Denmark. What do the English call the town in which you find this castle?

AnswerElsinore (Helsingor in Danish)The Elsinore Castle in Shakespeare’s

Hamlet is based on the Kronborg Castle

And heard that instant in an unknown tongue,Which yet I understood, articulate sounds,A loud prophetic blast of harmony;An Ode, in passion uttered, which foretoldDestruction to the children of the earthBy deluge, now at hand.

Extract from a Wordsworth poem called ‘The Prelude’. What common beach-goer activity has he just carried out?

AnswerListening to a sea-shell by pressing it

against your ear

This is Biosphere 2, probably the best known ecological experiment, now more a curiosity rather than doing any cutting edge science. What/Where is Biosphere 1?

AnswerBiosphere 1 is the Earth

What is the observation deck on this building called?

AnswerTop of the Rock

As per the original script of ‘North by Northwest’, where specifically was Cary Grant supposed to have a sneezing fit? Much to Hitchcock’s disappointment, the organisation that gave him the permission to shoot at this location, refused to allow this particular part of the script.

AnswerInside Lincoln’s nostril on Mount Rushmore

What climbing / mountaineering equipment is named after a Swiss company started by Adolph Juesi and Walter Marti, that was one of the earliest companies to manufacture such equipment?

AnswerJumar

Every July, as part of an 800 year old ritual, six boats embark on a five-day rowing trip upriver from Eton to Oxford with the people in them wearing bright scarlet blazers. What do they do on this five-day long trip?

AnswerTake a census of the swans (which is

officially the Queen’s property)

William Burroughs’s ‘Naked Lunch’ features two fictional places—Interzone and The Island. Based on the information provided about The Island, deduce which real-life place inspired Interzone.

The Island is a British Military and Naval Station that is on the other side of a narrow stretch of sea. A chief attraction on the Island are the purple-assed ‘Tripoli baboons’ which probably came their on pirate ships in the 17th Century. The Island even has a Department of Baboon Maintenance to ensure that all the baboons are well-cared for.

AnswerTangierThe Island is of course Gibraltar

On the left is a scene from a bazaar in Cairo in 1875. On the right is a work of art by the French painter Michel Martin Drolling that can be considered the best example of something in 19th Century art. Explain how the pictures connect.

AnswerMummy Brown, a popular pigment in 19th

Century paintings was derived by grinding old mummified remains extracted from Egyptian catacombs

This one-of-a-kind artifact can today be found at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Gothenburg (pic below) The pictures here show the object being moved from a different museum it was housed in until 1918 to its current location.

What is it?

AnswerThe only stuffed and mounted blue whale

in the world—known as the Malm Whale

The garter belt was invented by an otherwise unknown chap named Fereol Dedieu. However for a long time, as per urban legend possibly triggered by certain structural similarities, who was supposedly the inventor of the garter belt?

AnswerGustave Eiffel

This is Annie Edson Taylor. What did she do that resulted in this photo-op dubbing her as the ‘Queen of the Mist’?

AnswerPlunged over the Niagara falls in a barrel

While a lot of people make the obvious connect, there is very little evidence supporting it. Also, the presence of an eccentric scientist, Johann Dippel, has not lent the theory as much credibility as one would have hoped for.

Name this castle. What was Dippel’s most well known contribution?

AnswerCastle FrankensteinDiscovered the pigment Prussian Blue

This is the historic Cabrillo Bridge in the city of San Diego. From its opening in 1914, suicides have been very common on this bridge. However, the number of suicides have dropped drastically since the 1970s. Why?

AnswerThe much bigger and impressive Coronado

Bridge became functional in 1969, and jumpers shifted their allegiance to the new bridge

This commune in the Piedmont region of Italy takes its name from a city in Egypt which had an ancient temple dedicated to Horus (the name of the city translates to “City of Horus”)

Though these underground temples dedicated to humanity were built in the 1970s in the commune, they were revealed to the general public only in the 1990s, and has since stunned people with all the detailed artwork that is present here.

Name the commune.

AnswerDamanhur

A 1939 advertisement for what? Which famous artist designed it?

AnswerLondon undergroundMan Ray

This artifact was built in 1664 in Gottorp, Germany. In 17 14, it is given as a gift to Peter the Great but is destroyed by fire in 1747. The reconstructed globe, stolen by the Germans in World War II and recovered by US troops, now resides at the St. Petersburg Kunstkammer. 

The Gottorp Globe is considered the world’s first what?

AnswerPlanetarium

What is depicted in this JMW Turner painting? Also, what is the story behind this stone whose local name is Teufelsstein

AnswerThe Devil’s Bridge, at St. Gotthard’s PassAccording to a local myth, building the first bridge

was very hard and so the Devil himself agreed to build it. The condition attached to the construction was that the Devil would get the soul of the first to pass over the bridge. So, when the bridge was finished, people chased a goat over the bridge. Angered by the trick, the Devil went to pick up a large stone (called Teufelsstein, the Devil's Stone) in order to smash the bridge to pieces. On his way to the bridge however, he encountered an old believing woman with a cross. Scared of the cross, he left the stone and fled.

The Duck and Cover is a pub in which city? Also what calendar are they following—alternatively figure out which year in AD were they established in?

AnswerKabulSolar Hijri (SH) / 2009 (1387 + 622)