the world: places

When I was younger, my father travelled a lot. He once told me that he was going to Blackpool. I thought that it was a pool that had got so dirty that the water had turned black and because nobody wanted to clean it, they made it a tourist attraction.

I used to believe the world was a horrible place full of selfish people, hypocrites, liars and murderers. Now I know the world is only like that if you look at it that way.

I used to think that there were more UN-Discovered places on the other side of the Map.
(And I would not tell this to anyone and discover them myself, for fame & money)

When I was a kid, I thought the words on maps existed in the real world--for example, in the United States, the words UNITED STATES were actually carved into the ground. (A giant "U" in California, an "N" in Nevada, and so forth...)

My family moved to Maryland in time for me to start the second grade there. One day my teacher asked, "Who can name a famous person from Maryland?". I proudly answered, "Maryland Monroe!"

I thought Alaska was an island since it always appears in a box next to Hawaii on a map of the US. I didn't figure it out until high school when my friend said her dad was going on a road trip to Alaska. When I asked her if her dad didn't need to go on a boat, she thought I was kidding.

I used to think that the United Kingdom was the world's biggest amusement park--a whole island! I figured that since the *Magic* Kingdom had the same word in the name, they must be the same thing.

I had a friend who thougt the Mount Rushmore national monument was a natural rock formation.

Until i was about 13 I thought that we lived inside the world instead of on top of it. I thought I could see the domed shape (horizon on left, sky above, horizon on right) and that aeroplanes and rockets had to break through it to fly in space.
I also wondered why people in australia didn't get dizzy from hanging upside down all day.

I thought when someone gets the key to the city it's like a master key that opens any lock in the city. I figured it was to show how much they trusted them because they could possibly use it to break into places. I also thought that a skeleton key was a key made out of human and animal bones and wondered why they would do such a thing.

I thought Battersea was called that because it was built right next to the sea and got battered by the waves. Later when I learned about the Battersea Shield I thought it was like a giant wall they built at the seaside to shield the city from the waves!

I used to believe that India and Indonesia were right next to each other since their names sounded alike

My younger sibling thought that Brittany was the name of the country where British people lived

I thought Oklahoma was named after my Uncle Homer. (Pre-Simpsons)

I used to believe that people were spelling Taj Mahal wrong. I was sure it was Tajma Hall after some guy named Tajma.

I used to believe that Paradise was the capital of France, and that when we died, we would all go to Paris.......just a tiny mix-up.