It's the little details that seem to hold my interest...

As an old engineer I am constantly looking at the framing, how joints were form, how loads were distributed, size of timber or stone used, etc. Also amazed at how over engineered some construction was. There is a good reason it is still standing a thousand years later. And I marvel at how some of the buildings were built without a hundred ton crane. And it was all done without a computer. You cannot take pictures of this. Bores my wife but the two engineer sons agree.

Bath isn't the only place I've heard the bit about the window tax, but I don't remember where the other places were. Somewhere, a walking-tour guide mentioned that the reason the windows haven't been replaced more recently is that those historic buildings are now listed, and their facades cannot be altered.

I lack Allan's knowledge of and interest in the finer points of building construction, but if I see an interesting-looking building, I love knowing when it was constructed. One of the uses to which Romania has put EU (I assume) money is placing historical placards on gorgeous old buildings in many of its most beautiful towns. You can just wander along and see houses labeled 'XV century', etc.

As a solo traveler, I don't have anyone to bore with my on-the-spot observations. But I'm afraid my interest in linguistics is such that my observations related to language sometimes stick around long enough to be trotted out months later, just in time to bore family and friends at Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings.

This isn't actually just a tourist thing but I'm fascinated by the sequencing of license plates. I'm always wishing for a local to ask questions about the way the plates are set up - do the first two letters indicate where the driver lives? What about the rest of the number sequencing? Where are the stickers for registration renewal? How fast do the plate numbers go up each year? Are there any types of exempt plates I can spy?

You can imagine the dismay of my travel partner as I try to ferret out my desired information when he's trying to look at museums and such;)

Yes Allen, we do notice small and sometimes big details. If you look at Dubrovnik from the sea, it is very plain and boring. No fancy ornamental turrets, etc. This was done purposely so ships sailing by would think they were a poor area and not worth sacking. This is why when we can we hire private tour guides or take the docent tours in Churches, to get all these little details and factoids. Many of these types of details are prevelent in Churches, where even the floor patterns have a story. We are going to Hampton Court in April. I will look for the painting.

Just returned from MSV tour on Sunday and have told so many people about the Third Man Museum and the immediate time after WWII. I am beginning to wonder if I have overlapped myself and told the same story more than once to the same people!!

I am still euphoric and think this museum and other places we visited MUST be of interest to others. Our tour guide and the local guides were all tremendous sources of knowledge. I always give myself homework when I return from a tour. So many things to explore!

Anyone else have dull, uninteresting tourist site facts that seem to interest only you?

Yes, I have lots, but I don't impose them on my friends. unless they express an interest.
I have a relative who is into trains and spends his vacation riding trains all over the world.
And then spends the holidays telling us about it.
If I hear one more dull, boring tidbit on the unique train track gauge on the Moscow underground, I'm going to threaten violence on myself and him. Or at least stop inviting him to Thanksgiving.
Thanks for letting me vent. :)

Yes, the details. No, not my friends. But luckily my best friend and my husband and to a large extent my 95-year-old mother share my enjoyment of interesting little things that do not interest other people. My dog will listen, too, if I throw a tennis ball for her at the same time.

Today, while driving through Sault Ste. Marie, I discovered that the word "sault" (referring to the falls or rapids) in the name seems to come originally from the same Latin word (meaning "to leap") as "assault" although pronounced differently. Probably "somersault," too.

This is another good thing about Travel Groups. We're always interested in whatever it is that amused, bemused, or confused you on your trip!

History Nitpicker here.

Chinon Castle Ruins. If you take some stairs into a dungeon you'll find some graffiti etched into the prison walls that is believed to have been carved by the leader of the Knights Templar while he was imprisoned there during the 7 years war.

The 7 Years War was from 1756 to 1763, 450 years after the Templars were suppressed from 1307-1312. Even the Hundred Years War (1337-1456) started sometime after that.

Like many people, I'm into the iconography of churches and cathedrals and religious art (i.e. all medieval and Renaissance art). I have photos of altarpieces from all over that bore everyone but me to tears (and sometimes me also, if they're fuzzy due to inadequate light). Also the family crests and symbols you see on old buildings -- the Medici balls in Florence, the porcupines and salamanders at the chateau of Blois, the Hapsburg double-headed eagles in many places (including Santo Domingo in the West Indies), the Tudor roses all over England, SPQR stamped on the manhole covers in Rome, etc. etc. This fall I got into the symbols on Spain's flag -- five medieval kingdoms, the Bourbon royal family, the Pillars of Hercules. I've bored many friends and relatives about those just in the last month. ;-)

I think I ran into the window tax, aka daylight robbery, in Edinburgh too.

I like looking for stone carver marks in churches, as well as the Roman numerals on the timbers used in Half-timbered buildings. On old gravestones, where the men get lions to stand on and the women stand on dogs, it is funny to see how a lot of sculptors had no idea what a lion looked like and what kind of dog was trendy when the lady passed away. In the massive stone towers of the city walls in Büdingen, you find dates etched by prisoners (may have been accused witches) and on top of the towers games etched by the soldiers/watchmen to pass the time of day.

I enjoy looking for and finding the Green Man.

I love history, especially British History and Ancient History. Also, prior to visiting places like China, Japan and India, I read several books about the history of those countries as well as some good historical fiction.

1. Regarding the Roman Coliseum, I remember the first time that I visited it, I could see some of the exposed concrete that was used all through the structure. I understand that while Romans didn't invent concrete, they very much perfected its use. Also, the Pantheon in Rome was essentially the first major building that created a dome. The dome was made lighter by the insertion of small balls that created air spaces (instead of solid concrete). Also, the concrete used was a lighter version than other concrete. When we visited the Pantheon, it was closed because, some of the old concrete had fallen from the dome.

2. In Japan, there are few stone buildings. Most of the building and homes were built of wood, due to the many earthquakes that occur in that country. Wood is more flexible than stone. Still, there were a couple of castles that we visited, one was in Osaka and the other a bit south of that city.

3. In Cusco and Machu Picchu, Peru, the Inca buildings in MP and what is left of them in Cusco were built of interlocking large stones without masonry that hold up during an earthquake. You can see these huge stone that were somehow cut to fit perfectly, when the Incas didn't have iron tools.

Place names. These often give a hint about the origin of the place.
In Britain especially, these often date from before the English language existed.

• Anywhere name ending in -chester, -caster etc. is the site of a Roman fort.
• The most common name for a river is "Avon". That was Celtic (and modern Welsh) for "river"
• Place names ending in -borough, -bury, -burgh etc. That was Norse for a fortified settlement. Any such place was founded by Vikings. Places with this ending are all down the East coast: Edinburgh, Middlesbrough, Scarborough, Aldeburgh. On the west side of the country, where the Vikings never reached, you do not see this name.
  • The same name ending went into German: Hamburg etc.
• Valleys in northern England are called -dale, Norse. And the same as the modern German -tal.
  • For example Joachimsthal, a place where silver was found in the 16th century. They minted it into coins, called Joachimsthaler or just Thaler.
  • The Spanish used Thalers in the new World, and the name got Anglicised in the British North American colonies to "dollar".
  • So a dollar is actually "valley money".
• In some places even the street names pre-date English
  • In York, many street names end in -gate, Norse, and modern Norwegian for "street"
  • The gates in the city walls are called "bar". From which the modern word barrier comes. Micklegate (a street) ends at Micklegate Bar (a gate in the city wall).
  • Many towns and villages in that area have a street called "Kirkgate" (=church street).
• And finally in London, which was originally two settlements, City of London and Westminster, the two were linked by a road called "Strand", which is Anglo-Saxon for "beach" or "riverbank", because the road followed the riverbank between the two places.
  • Strand is modern German for beach.

Not with friends, really, but I have mentioned a fascination or two of mine on the forums.

The clothing people are wearing in very old paintings and sculpture: They are usually portrayed in the fashions of the period, and those fashions can vary according to socioeconomic status of figures shown within the same piece. Civic leaders and their families, say, will be dressed more elaborately than ordinary laborers.

Miseriechords: We don't have these in the U.S. and they're so interesting! If an old church still has them and there isn't a brochure explaining what each of them represent, it's great fun to try and figure that out.

Nigel, I like looking for Green Men too.

I agree, it is the little details that really hold my interest or mean the most to me on a trip. I don’t talk about them “to death” to friends because they may not be nearly as interested as I am so why bore them?

For me, those details are typically about conversations I have had whether seated on a bench in a park or museum, on a train, in a bookstore, at a bar/pub, etc.

Following the post from Chris, towns, and cities in Germany that end in "heim" are Frankish and those that end in "ingen" are Alemanian or Chatten Germanic tribes. Some names are derived from Roman names, such as Colonia (only Roman city named after a woman) the river Main in Frankfurt comes from Moenus.

There are thousands of little details that fascinate me in my travels, but that would bore most others. It's always great when I get a chance to actually talk about them (usually in this forum, in response to a specific question).

License plates often do reflect where a car is registered. In France, the two digit code for the department is on each plate, so Paris cars have 75 and Cote d'Azur cars have 06 (the only two codes I know by heart - there are almost 100 of them). And in Italy, the two letter code for the province is on the license plate.

See what I mean? I know better than to discuss this anywhere but here!

License plates in other countries are often amusing when they spell out something that is off color in English.

When I worked in the Nürnberg military community in the early 80's there was a blue Porche that I frequently saw as I drove around the posts in the area.

Its plate meant little to most Germans, but no doubt brought many a laugh to the soldiers who saw it. The number was from the town of Fürth and it was Fü***9.

We love all the beautiful churches and cathedrals we’ve visited in our travels. A few years ago we met a jeweler (Jon) in Amboise, France who crafted a cross we hadn’t seen before. He explained that it was a consecration cross and that it was used to designate Christian churches that had been recognized/consecrated by the bishop. We did some research and look for the crosses whenever we enter a church. Most often they’re on the pillars but in Sainte Chapelle we found them on the shields held by the twelve apostles. Very interesting (to us, anyway)!

I think I ran into the window tax, aka daylight robbery, in Edinburgh
too.

Apparently you can find good tax dodge stories anywhere. When I was on an RS tour in France in May, we had noticed homes in Chartres and Carcassonne that had a narrow main floor and wider upper floors. Our guide told us that was because that taxman collected based on the square footage of the main floor, thus, homeowners and businesses would build accordingly.

Emma, thanks for your post-I photographed it to use on my next trip to London.
I strongly recommend that anyone visiting Florence read the book Brunelleschi's Dome-you will never look at that dome the same way again, including how the city cheated the architect out of money it owed him.

You should always look out for the blue plaques on buildings. It’s
always interesting to see who once lived their.

Emma, are there more than just the blue plaques? While wandering through Camden in London last Fall I came across a plaque on a building that said that Charles Dickens lived here as a boy. I just checked my photos and it definitely wasn't one of the blue plaques. Having said that, I've got exactly one friend that was excited when I told her that I saw that building.

My dog will listen, too, if I throw a tennis ball for her at the same
time.

Thank goodness for dogs, mine perks her ears up as well as long as I can work the words ball, walk or cheese into the story.

Our dog knows how to SPELL "b-a-l-l."

The Blue Plaques are a national programme now administered by English Heritage. There are apps which both let you find by name and by where you are.

Other institutions have over the years put up similar plaques around the country. One of the most prolific was LCC - London County Council - which is now (since 1965) defunct and replaced new and different layers of government. There are LCC plaques scattered all over London like salt and pepper.

There are also several one-off selfie "plaques" or lookie-likie ones.