Ten Places to Visit Before We Crack Quiz

Answer: Cannon Beach in Oregon

Situated on the western side of the United States, the Ecola State Park in Oregon stretches for nine miles along stunning coastline, featuring sandy beaches, a surfer's paradise, and of course the rugged sea stacks which stand so prominently along the coast. The area is a haven to wildlife, including puffins, gulls, cormorants and common murres, as well as star fish, crabs and sea anemones, all of which can be found in rock pools at low tide. Haystack Rock is the tallest of the sea stacks and stands at whopping 72m high.

I had never heard of Cannon Beach until I watched that magical children's adventure film, "The Goonies" (1985). It told of a group of children trying to find pirate treasure belonging to One-Eyed Willie, all the while pursued by a wonderfully eccentric group of criminals. With enough thrills and spills to entertain old and young alike, the film ended with the pirate ship sailing past the tall sea stacks just off Cannon Beach towards open seas. What an amazing place and one I would love to visit before I crack!

(Question and information by Plodd)

Answer: Eden Park in New Zealand

Eden Park Stadium is situated in the beautiful city of Auckland, New Zealand. Following extensive redevelopment, which was completed in 2010, it now boasts a capacity in excess of 50,000. Whilst it primarily hosts rugby union during the winter months, and cricket during the summer months, the stadium has also been used for rugby league and soccer matches on occasions.

New Zealand All Blacks became the very first team to win the Rugby World Cup, beating France 29-9 in the 1987 final at Eden Park. Since that time the 'All Blacks' have arguably been the strongest team in world rugby, but it wasn't until 2011, and again at Eden Park, that they were next successful in winning the trophy. During the interim years both Australia and South Africa were twice winners, whilst England lifted the trophy once in 2003.

It's unlikely that another world cup tournament will be held in New Zealand in the foreseeable future as England will be hosting the 2015 matches, followed by Japan in 2019 and then either South Africa, France, Italy, Ireland or the USA who have all lodged bids for 2023 and beyond.

So whilst I may not be able to watch a world cup match at Eden Park before I crack, I would just love to visit New Zealand to experience the atmosphere of one of rugby union's most iconic stadiums.

(Question and information by moonraker2)

Answer: High on a Bhutanese hillside

This fascinating spot is a Buddhist monastery called Taktsang in the upper Paro valley of Bhutan. It is one of the most sacred places in that country and can only be reached after a climb of some hours to a height of 3100 metres. This monastery was built in the seventeenth century but has been destroyed by fire and rebuilt. The legend is that the guru who founded it came here on the back of a flying tiger.

(Question and information by fallingman)

Answer: The Tower of London

The Tower of London is located in the centre of that great city. Originally a castle, construction began on this fascinating building in late 1066 by William the Conqueror. Used as a royal residence as well as a prison and strategic defence site for several centuries, the original building was made of wood but this was replaced by stone as the years rolled by, and expanded over time by successive rulers, until it finally resulted in the form we know it today.

This building absolutely reeks of wonderful, glorious, endlessly absorbing history. Can you imagine the people who've walked its halls, the desperate hopes of its prisoners, the executions that took place, the little notes on its walls, the jewels and furnishings it contains, the sheer atmosphere of the place? You have no idea how much I'd love to wander through the Tower of London for several days, just to somehow try to connect with its more than 1,000 years of history. Even if this Scrambled Egghead makes it there as a ghost after she's cracked, it'll be one happy ghost indeed.

(Question and information by Creedy)

Answer: Capri in Italy

The inside of the Blue Grotto is only 82 feet wide and 197 feet long. The entrance is a mere 3 feet high. Rowboats are not allowed to enter during high seas and winds. Light coming in from a much larger opening below sea level creates the beautiful, brilliant blue of the water. Discovered by the Romans 2000 years ago, the Blue Grotto has been a tourist destination for nearly 200 years. The most intense color is seen at midday, but the least crowded time to go is in the morning.

(Question and information by VanCoerte)

Answer: Cooperstown in New York

Cooperstown is the site of the Baseball Hall of Fame, which opened in 1939. Abner Doubleday, a Civil War general, supposedly invented the game in this village in 1839. Scholars have now concluded that Doubleday had no connection to baseball, which had been played as early as the 1820s. Moreover, baseball is more likely an American version of the old English game "rounders." The Doubleday myth is just one of several American folktales that are simply not true. Examples? Betsy Ross did not make the first American flag, George Washington did not chop down the cherry tree, and Lindbergh was not the first airplane pilot to cross the Atlantic. (He made the first solo flight across the Atlantic.) Myths once more trump history.

(Question and information by obiwan04)

Answer: Atlantis

Atlantis in literature over the centuries became an idealized civilization that was tragically destroyed by earthquakes and sank into the Atlantic ocean - some 9000 years before Plato wrote about it. While other authors have written about Atlantis as a highly technological, highly advanced, and peaceful "heaven on earth", Plato, ironically, described it as a militant empire that attacked northern Africa and the Greek cities and enslaved those people whom they captured! Some paradise! I am beginning to believe that the earthquakes did us a favor. (My favorite proposed location for Atlantis is Antarctica! I think I will cancel my visit.)

(Question and information by obiwan04)

Answer: The Lake District

Located in north-west England, all available photographs and television documentaries about this area of the world reveal it to be absolutely lovely. Right in the centre of the Lake District is a small village, named Grasmere, where William Wordsworth (1770-1850) lived for fourteen years. He described this in his memoirs as "the loveliest spot that man hath ever found", and do you know, I think he could be right.

(Question and information by Creedy)

Answer: Key West in Florida

At the tip of Florida - closer to Havana, Cuba than to Miami - Key West is a subtropical paradise. Ernest Hemingway lived there throughout most of the 1930s and worked on "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" in his house on Whitehead Street. That house is now a Hemingway museum.

From 1949 until his death, Tennessee Williams considered his home in Key West his main residence. It is believed he wrote the first draft of "A Streetcar Named Desire" in a Key West hotel in 1947.

Jimmy Buffett moved to Key West in the 1970s and opened the first Margaritaville Restaurant there in 1985.

(Question and information by VanCoerte)

Answer: The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall runs from east to west across the historical northern border of China. Sections of the wall were built as early as the 7th century BC. These sections were joined up circa 220 AD by Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of China, to complete the first "10,000 Li wall" which was constructed from rammed earth (on the plains) or stones (in the mountains). One Li is about 500 metres. Little of this wall remains today, and the majority of the existing wall dates from the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644 AD) when 6000 km of wall was rebuilt using bricks and cut stone.

It is difficult to estimate the length of the wall, as parts of it have been destroyed, and it has many branches and spurs. Parts of the "wall" are actually trenches or natural features such as rivers. Estimates of length vary wildly, ranging from 3460 km to 21,196 km. But it is unanimously agreed that it holds the record for the longest wall in the world. (Guinness World Records 2015.)

(Question and information by emiloony)