NYC Subway

The New York City subway is the largest subway system in the world in terms of number of stations. Wall Street lies at the Southern tip of Manhattan. 60 Wall Street is the American headquarters of Deutsche Bank.

The Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge cross the East River and connect Brooklyn with Manhattan. The Manhattan Bridge was originally used by streetcars (trams).

The East River is a fast flowing river reaching speeds of up to 4 knots (one knot is one "nautical mile", or 1.85km, per hour). The Brooklyn suspension bridge is one of America's oldest suspension bridges. and has the status of being an American NHL (or National Historic Landmark). Prior to its construction, people crossed the East River via a frequent ferry service, and a service between Queens and Manhattan exists today. Brooklyn is part of a large land mass largely to the South of Manhattan, and as you might expect, the Brooklyn Bridge effectively takes you South out of the island into the landmass below. Queens is North of Brooklyn and runs parallel to Manhattan's Eastern shoreline. La Guardia airport is in the borough of Queens.

Tribeca is a neighbourhood in Lower Manhattan, known for the Tribeca Film Festival. It stands for "Triangle Below Canal Street". Canal Street is a famous New York street that separates Little Italy from Chinatown.

The Southern tip of Manhattan is Battery Park which is a 25 acre park, named after artillery batteries designed to protect the settlement behind them. The Holland Tunnel crosses the Hudson River from Manhattan to Jersey City. It was built in the 1920s and took seven years to complete. It is named after the Chief Engineer on the project, Clifford Holland.

The NYC subway system has some particular lingo. IRT stands for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, the private operator of the original NYC subway (which opened in 1904). The IRT Lexington Avenue goes from Downtown Brooklyn north to East Harlem (aka "Spanish Harlem" or "El Barrio").

The Bronx is the northernmost borough of NYC. It lies South of Westchester County. (Westchester is named after the English city of Chester in Cheshire, a town founded by the Romans).

News channels in New York include NY1.

Main Thoroughfares of Vienna (and The Third Man Connection)

Here's one map, and here's another.

Central Vienna (District 1 and Immediate Surroundings)

Stephansdom, and Stephansplatz is right in the geographical centre of the Innere Stadt. Stephansplatz tube stop is on the U3 line (Orangey Line), one stop from Herrengasse. Remember that a StraBe is a street, a Gasse is a smaller street which is narrow, and may only be available to pedestrian and bicycle access (and maybe also trams).

Here is a link showing the Gothic architecture of the Stephansdom.

Karlsplatz - town square on the border beteween 1st and 4th districts. It has its own Metro station, the eponymous Karlsplatz, one stop South of Stephansplatz (Red, U1 Line). The line goes South and ends in Reumannplatz (Favoriten District). It is near the Academy of Fine Arts located on Schillerplatz. Operngasse leads South down from Karlsplatz.

Praterstrasse - street on which you have two U-stations, Praterstrasse Wien Nord and Nestroyplatz. The Wurstelprate is a year-round amusement park with the ferris wheel mentioned in Graham Greene's The Third Man. It is open daily from 10am and each ride has its own price.

Herrengasse - is on line U3 and the closest station to Wallnerstrase. It is within Innere Stadt and its meaning is "Lord's Lane". The street existed during Roman times. Wallnerstrase is the home of the Wiener Borse, which is controlled by the CEE Stock Exchange Group (which covers the Vienna, Budapest and Prague Stock Exchanges).

Mariahilf Strasse - shopping street that runs between Vienna's sixth and seventh districts. Thalia is a big bookstore on the Mariahilf. Europaplatz intersects Mariahilf from the North near the Westbahnhof station. As Mariahilf enters the Old City, it first enters into Burggarten, a former palace garden with a large number of statues. Burggarten means "Castle Garden". This area is also labelled Museumsquartier. Heldenplatz ("Hero's Square") is also located in this area, which features a statue of Charles of Austria (Commander of the Austrian army, who fought against Napoleon). On the left, as Maria enters the City, it passes the "People's Theatre" a.k.a. Volkstheater. Continuing onwards in a higgledy-piggledy way, perhaps going via Dorotheer Gasse, you end up at Stephansplatz (the heart of Vienna).

Vienna Railway Stations

Wien Meidling station - located at Philadelphiabrucke (Wien 12). Brucke means bridge in German. Philadelphiabrucke is about 6 minutes from Westbahnhof on the U6 line. It is on the EichenstraBe.

Wien Praterstrern - is in Leopoldstadt. The Stephansdom is visible from the platforms. The original station which was built in the 19th Century was destroyed in the Second World War and the current station is a rebuilt version.

Wiener Neustadt

This is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria. Translated, it means "Vienna New Town".

Airport Connections

The city centre of Vienna is connected by bus and City Airport Train to Flughafen Wien (Vienna Airport) in Schwechat, roughly 25km away.

Austria: Its States, Its Economy and General Overview

Niederosterreich (Lower Austria), Oberosterreich (Upper Austria). South West of Wien (Vienna) is the State of Salzburg (Saltz-boorg). Tyrol (Tee-ROLL) is even further West (conquered by the Romans in 15BC). The most Westerly state is Vorarlberg. Note that Vienna is its own State, and holds 20% of the Austrian population.

Austria is one of the world's largest economy's in terms of GDP per capita, with Germany being its main trading partner. Its German name, Osterreich, means "Eastern Kingdom".

Diacritics including the Inverted Circumflex

A diacritic is a "glyph" added to a letter. It is also known as a diacritical mark and may appear above or below a letter. One type of diacritic is accents. French has acute, grave, and circumflex accents but there are much more.

The caron is an inverted circumflex used in Czech (Czech háček). An example is the Czech surname Shkoda (written Škoda), and Antoneen Dvokzshak (written Antonín Dvořák).

The double acute accent is used exclusively in written Hungarian, and is sometimes called the Hungarumlaut. 

Expressionism

Expressionism began in Germany at the start of the 20th Century. Artists invoking expressionism seek to express MEANING or EMOTION rather than physical reality.

An example of expressionist painting is Munch's The Scream (1893). Edvard Munch was a Norwegian painter.

There is also expressionist dance, and expressionist poetry (popular in Germany 1910-1920).

Some Austrian Terms

Austrian ATMs are referred to as Bankomaten, generally accessible till midnight, and with daily limits of about 400 euros. Wechselstuben, or money exchange offices, may have high charges. Mehrwehrtsteur is the name for VAT.

Burgermeister - Mayor
Volles Programm - Full Program
Wirtschaft - Economy

Honduras (which is not British Honduras)

Honduras is a Republic in Central America (Republica de Honduras). Its capital is Teguz (short for Tegucigalpa).

Most of the country was conquered by Spain in 16th Century. It became independent in 1821. The blue stripes of the Honduras flag represent the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

Note: It is distinct from "British Honduras" which in 1981 became the independent nation of Belize (Carmelita and Guinea Grass are villages in Belize). Belize's official language is English and has the lowest population density in Central America.

The Belize Barrier Reef is the second largest in the world. It is part of the MBRS (Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System).