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Deep dive: Belize, on the east coast of Central America, is home to some of the best diving in the world. One reason for that is the existence of the Great Blue Hole, located off the country’s coast in the Caribbean Sea. Surrounded by coral reefs, the circular Great BlueHole is an underwater sink-hole that attracts many species of marine life. It measures 300 metres (984 ft.) across and is 125 metres (410 ft.)deep. Divers can reach the Great Blue Hole by a more than two hour boat ride from Belize City. Boats also can be rented on Ambergris Caye, which is closer.

Money giver: Charities in the city of Braunschweig, Germany, are amazed and grateful for an anonymous donor who has been providing cash to help them do their good deeds. The donor sends a bag of euros to a newspaper office with instructions to give the money to a certain charity. One such “miracle bag” contained €100,000 to be given to a local hospice. For over eight years, bags of money, some containing over €200,000, have intermittently appeared, with the mystery giver identifying soup kitchens, churches, and other worthy causes as recipients.

Turf tradition: For centuries, the traditional home used by the people of Iceland was the turf house. These houses had roofs and thick walls made of a top layer of sod with grass growing out of it. People used turf because trees were not as available for building material.Turf also has good insulating qualities against the winter cold.In the early 1900s, many people still lived in turf houses, but now few remain. However, some have been preserved and maintained by the National Museum of Iceland, allowing visitors to view these traditional abodes.

Peaceful people: A street in Vienna, Austria, is a monument to peace. The winding, dead-end street is called Blutgasse and is one of the oldest in the city. On the street is Peace Museum Vienna, which has a mission to educate visitors toward achieving world peace. The museum is free for anyone who wants to visit the exhibits or attend a discussion. One of the displays, called Windows for Peace, is intriguing.In the museum’s street-facing windows are images of peace heroes, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Bertha von Suttner, author of the novel Lay Down Your Arms.

Walking backwards: Medi Bastoni, an Indonesian man from Dono, a small village in East Java, was so passionate about a cause that he walked backwards for over 700 kilometres (430 mi.). Bastoni was raising awareness about rainforest preservation. His backwards walk took him to his country’s capital of Jakarta, where he planned to meet with President Joko Widodo. What he wanted from the President was simple: a symbolic seed for a tree, which he would then plant near his village. Bastoni outfitted himself with a backpack full of supplies and a frame that held a rear-view mirror so he could see where he was going.

Petal power: A building in Venezuela can open and close like a flower. The Flor de Venezuela is also known as the Flor de Hanover because it was built for Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany. The architect, Fruto Vivas, wanted the building to reflect flowers, so he designed a building that has 16 enormous petals attached to a central stem. Using a hydraulic system, the petals can open and close, which is not only visually appealing, but also convenient if it rains. Once the Expo was over, the building was moved, piece-by-piece, to Barquisimeto in the western part of the country.

Quiet park: Vancouver, British Columbia, on Canada’s west coast, is home to Stanley Park, which covers an area of about 400 hectares (1,000 acres). Cyclists and walkers love pedalling on 27 kilometres (16.7 mi.) of trails that wind through and around the park. Stanley Park includes a variety of vegetation, including centuries-old red cedars, towering Douglas firs, and Pacific dogwoods, making it a quiet forest retreat in the middle of a big city. Walkers and cyclists who stick to the peripheral trail can watch float planes come and go on Vancouver Harbour and enjoy views of the surrounding mountains.  

Iconic sculpture: The red phone booth is an iconic sight in London, England, and there is a sculpture to recognize this symbol of English heritage. Called “Out of Order,” it was made by Scottish sculptor David Mach and installed in 1989 on Old London Road. “Out of Order” consists of 12 red phone booths that look like they have fallen into each other. Some viewers think that it symbolizes the death of the phone booth in this age of mobile phones, but the sculpture was installed before the use of those devices were as common as they are today. The sculpture is a great backdrop for tourists snapping selfies!