Special Sub-Topic: A Meander through your mind - file marked "Europe" Authored by: KrivoyRog Sub-topic of: Europe

In February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met at this town on the Black Sea. What was the town called?

Yalta. Germany was close to defeat when the three leaders met to discuss what would happen as and when the war finally ended. A decision was made to divide Germany up between them as, at that time, the British and American forces were advancing on Berlin from the West and the Russian Army was closing in from the East.

Which of these towns is the odd one out?

Bergen. Bergen is a Norwegian sea port. Odense, Esbjerg and Copenhagen are all in Denmark.

Which Scandinavian city had the largest population at the end of 2005?

Stockholm. Roughly 529,000 people inhabit Oslo and 550,000 live in the Finnish capital, Helsinki. Copenhagen has approximately 502,000 but the largest number of people live in Stockholm, with around 750,000. (All figures approximated as at the end of 2005)

You see the football (or soccer, if you prefer) results in the sports section of the paper. Two matches catch your attention. Egaleo 2 Xanthi 3 and Olympiakos 0 Panionios 1 Which country's results are you looking at?

Greece. Against all the odds, Greece won the European Championships in 2004. (We are talking football/soccer here, by the way). It was generally agreed that there were much better teams than the Greeks in the tournament but teamwork and team spirit and fate were on their side and, whilst other countries floundered, they just kept on winning. Yet , strangely, they have failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.

Do you know your Slovakian and Slovenian cities? Which one of these four is Slovenian?

Ljubljana. Slovenia borders Croatia and was part of Yugoslavia but became independent in 1991. Ljubljana is its capital. Slovakia was formerly part of Czechoslovakia until it split away from what is now the Czech Republic.

Which of these four cities is the nearest to London (as the crow flies)?

Brussels. If you have a tame crow, then you can take it to Trafalgar Square and check this one out if you have some spare time and a fit crow. Or perhaps not. The actual distance from London to Brussels is 144 miles. London to Dublin is 206 miles. London to Paris is 289 miles. London to Glasgow is 411 miles.

Yerevan is the capital of which country, formerly part of the Soviet Union?

Armenia. Armenia is a land-locked country slightly smaller than Maryland. The population is three million (that's Armenia's, not Maryland). Armenia became independent in Sept.1991 from the Soviet Union.

Three of these cities lie on the Mediterranean Sea. One is located on the northern coast of Spain, looking out onto the Bay of Biscay. Which city is this?

Santander. Santander is a ferry port for the north Spanish coast, with regular crossings to ports such as Plymouth in England.

France and England have the English Channel between them. To get from one side to the other, using the Tunnel under it or taking a ferry or hovercraft over it seem to be the best ways. Which French town could you not arrive at?

Dijon. Unless the Channel Tunnel gets extended, you won't end up in Dijon without driving for three or four hours as it is close to the Swiss border. The Channel Tunnel, (French: le tunnel sous la Manche; popularly nicknamed the Chunnel in English, although this has been largely abandoned in favour of the Tunnel) is a 50-km-long (~31 miles) rail tunnel beneath the English Channel at the Straits of Dover, connecting Cheriton in Kent, Britain, and Coquelles near Calais in northern France. A long-standing and hugely expensive project that saw several false starts, it was finally completed in 1994. It is the second-longest rail tunnel in the world, surpassed only by the Seikan Tunnel in Japan. It is operated by Eurotunnel plc.

Which town is located in Northern Ireland?

Coleraine. Coleraine is the main town or “Capital of the Causeway Coast”. The Borough of Coleraine has a resident population of 57,000. As the regional centre for the North East the town serves a catchment population in excess of 200,000.