Everytime I travel somewhere (and I get to travel fairly often for my job), I come across things that surprise and amaze me.
Recently I had the chance to travel to northwestern Europe on business, but I was confused about where I was geographically. Yes, I visited Sweden, Norway, and Finland… but is that Scandinavia or the Nordic countries? I would see both terms used apparently interchangably, and just from everyday usage, I couldn’t quite figure out the difference.
But as I walked along the streets I also saw a few things that I cannot (and have not yet!) figured out.
This gives us our SearchResearch Challenges for this week. Can you help me figure out what’s going on here?
1. Okay, which is it? Was I in Scandinavia or in the Nordic countries? What’s the difference between Scandinavia and the Nordic countries?
2. This is a real puzzle. I saw these wires coming out of the bottom of drain pipes all over Scandinavia, but I can’t figure out why they’re there. It’s obviously not just a wiring mistake; basically EVERY drainpipe has this. They’re usually in a loop (as shown), but sometimes it’s just a thick wire. They’re firmly attached (I pulled on one to see if it was loose–it wasn’t). What are these drainpipe wires?
3. While wandering around the central streets in the capital of one unnamed country, I saw these odd little plaques with animals. Why are they there? What’s going on here?
Can you figure these northern mysteries?
If you can, please leave a comment in the discussion below. And tell us HOW you found the answer. We all want to learn from your research and be able to do it ourselves next time!
Skål!
(I mean, Search on!)
