Postcards from Places that Don't Exist Quiz

Answer: Oz

Emerald City is the capital of Oz. L. Frank Baum did a wonderful job of describing this place. Oz is surrounded by desert on all sides, and is divided into four territories (one of them being Munchkin land) with the capital, being in the centre. A yellow brick road connects all areas to the capital.

Some have speculated that Oz represent different regions of the United States, others think Oz may actually be China. But this author believes it exists best in the reader's imagination.

Answer: Georgia

The Cherokee Rose and the Southern Live Oak are the State Flower and the State Tree, respectively, of Georgia, USA.

The movie, featured strong performances by Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper and Taissa Farmiga (Vera Farmiga's sister). The true story told how a 90-year-old Illinois horticulturist, Leo Sharp, became a courier for a Mexican drug cartel. The movie was set however, in some diverse Georgia locations including Augusta, Canton, and McDonough. Mr Eastwood, starred, directed and produced "The Mule".

Answer: Burbank, California

"Friends" and another wildly successful, same era, "New York City" sit-com "Seinfeld" were both set in New York City but shot entirely in Los Angeles (The exterior shots are actually of New York City, though). The coffee shop, "Central PerK" is a set at the Universal Studios in Burbank, California. You can visit the "coffee shop" but you can't get a cup of coffee there. "Seinfeld"'s Monk's Diner is actually based on Tom's Diner situated at the corner of Broadway and 112th Street. (It also featured in a Suzanne Vega song).

Answer: El Dorado

"Eldorado" was one of the last poems of Edgar Allan Poe. It describes a mythical city covered with gold. European explorers actually went looking (without success) for such a city, in what is now Colombia and Venezuela, some 200 years before Poe wrote his poem. Poe's "Eldorado" was probably inspired by California's gold rush that occurred at the time he wrote it. Narnia and Atlantis are well documented fictional places but Shangri-La is actually located in Yunnan Province in China (Though not as picturesque as the place is described in fiction).

Answer: Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver

Many TV shows that are presumed to depict Los Angeles are actually shot in Vancouver in British Columbia as the production costs are much cheaper. Often film-making resources are shared between several shows to keep production costs down. The overhead view of "Riverdale" for example, is used in "Pretty Little Liars" (2010), "Witches of East End" (2013), "The Carrie Diaries" (2013), "Gilmore Girls" (2000), and "Hart of Dixie (2011).

The set itself is used for "Pretty Little Liars", "Gilmore Girls", and "Hart of Dixie".

The diner in "The Carrie Diaries" is the same place as the Chock Lit Shoppe in "Riverdale".

Answer: Poland didn't exist in 1796 as it was partitioned by Russia, Austria and Prussia

The huge Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth was partitioned three times between 1772 and 1795, where, after the third Partition Poland no longer existed. It did not regain its independence until WWI ended in 1918.

The King of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski abdicated on November 25, 1795, in Grodno, which is now in western Belarus. The next year he re-located to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where he would stay until he died. The Polish identity never died though. Polish poets, politicians, noblemen, writers, artists, were forced to emigrate (Great Emigration), but retained their voices and pens and became the revolutionaries of the 19th century, as desire for freedom became one of the fundamental planks of Polish romanticism.

Answer: It doesn't exist. It's an idiom.

Australia has multiple names for its rural areas:
"The Bush" is any non-urban area though remote towns and even cities (eg Mt Isa) can be in the Bush. Think of it as outside the capital areas and the bigger regional cities.

"The Outback" is like the Bush but is a much drier landscape than the Bush which can include the coastal forests.

The Red Centre is a subset of the Outback. It covers the desert areas of Australia including the town of Alice Springs. It is characterised by its red soil and Uluru.

"Woop Woop" is a very small fictional town and is a very long drive from the Big Smoke or indeed anywhere else. It is used to indicate someone who comes from any small country town when they are in the city itself: "He's from Woop-Woop". Another similar saying is "beyond the black stump" which means a very long way away and, not one of its small towns but the Bush itself.

Answer: Durham Cathedral, northern England

According to the appropriate J.K. Rowling Books, "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is the British wizarding school, located in the Scottish Highlands". The castle is located in the mountains near a loch. The precise location of the school can never be uncovered because it was rendered "unplottable" (which means "locations are either magically hidden from plain sight or simply removed from maps.)" No wonder I could never find Platform 9 3/4 using Google Maps. Hogwarts Castle does not exist.

The "Huffington Post" claim the exterior shots of Hogwarts are of Alnwick Castle in the north of England but this has never been substantiated. However the film producers have confirmed that some of the interior shots of Hogwarts were indeed filmed in Durham Cathedral.

Answer: Longford Castle, England

"The Princes Diaries", starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews gave a very plausible if totally fictitious story of how an average San Francisco teenager became the heir to the throne of Genovia. The movie's producers have stated that Genovia, the country, is a "play on Italy's Genoa and Switzerland's Geneva", giving off the illusion of it being a legitimate country. With an embassy, a royal family, and their own government, the Disney studios certainly gave the impression it was a real place. However, despite the whole movie being shot in California (principally In Walt Disney Studios sound stages in Burbank California, the castle in the exterior shots of the movie was Longford Castle, in Bodenham, near Salisbury in England.

Answer: Dubrovnik, Croatia

In the "Game of Thrones" television series, King's Landing was filmed in Dubrovnik, Croatia, which is apparent from the coastal locale and walls that surround the city. This made it a perfect setting for filming King's Landing.
Quebec City is North America's only walled city and Chester is a beautiful walled city in England, but both are located on rivers not even an estuary let alone the seashore. Venice is on the seashore (well, technically a lagoon), but it is not surrounded by a wall.