Charlotte Amalie, capital and chief port of the Virgin Islands of the United States, on Saint Thomas Harbor, southern Saint Thomas Island. Rum, bay rum, woolens, jewelry, and sugar are exported. Local industries include boatbuilding, rum and alcohol distilling, and the production of handicrafts. A picturesque town built on three hills, Charlotte Amalie is a free port and a major tourist resort. Of special interest are Fort Christian, built in 1671; Beretta, the shopping area; and the Frenchtown section. Charlotte Amalie is the site of the College of the Virgin Islands and the Museum of the Virgin Islands. In 1672 the Danes founded the first permanent settlement on the site, naming it Amalienborg or Charlotte Amalia, after their queen. The city is also popularly known as Saint Thomas, which was the official name from 1921 to 1936. It became capital of the American territory of the Virgin Islands in 1917, when the former Danish West Indies were purchased.

Dublin is the capital of Ireland, Irish culture and cuisine. The regional and micro breweries that once flourished, although crowded out of business for the last hundred or so years by Guiness, more for its marketing and transportation triumphs than necessarily for qualitative reasons, are coming back to add local color and variety to the famous old Irish pubs. Ireland has produced some of the world’s greatest writers, and in its traditional folk ballads and rich melodies you can hear the unique elements which form the roots of modern rhythm and blues music.

Just a few miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean along the St. Johns River, Jacksonville, a city of over 700,000 residents, possesses a rich cultural history spanning several centuries. As one of the nation's largest cities in land area with 841 square miles, Jacksonville is characterized by a vibrant downtown located at the crossroads of two transcontinental highways; it is a major port in the northeast corner of Florida. As the largest financial center of Florida, Jacksonville has undergone numerous expansions and renovations that have transformed it into an interesting destination. Jacksonville has wealth of attractions. For culinary enthusiasts, the city has more than 1,000 restaurants, many on the waterfront with dramatic views of the Intracoastal Waterway or the St. Johns River. There are also more than 20 miles of soft white sand beaches nearby which provide the backdrop for sunbathing, surfing, fishing, and watersports, coupled with numerous ferries, party boats, and riverboats plying the area's waterways. Both residents and visitors alike come to Metropolitan Park with an open-air pavilion and picnic areas, the Cummer Museum of Art surrounded by galleries of American and European art overlooking the Cummer's Gardens and the St. Johns River. The Museum of Science and History and the North American Top Gun offer you a chance to fly a 600-horsepower World War II Warbird. Afrocentric areas of interest include historically black Edward Waters College, the historically Black Ritz Theater, which was redeveloped as an attractive performing arts and cultural center, and the Jacksonville Jazz Festival. The African American population has increased by about 25% in the last decade, with an estimated 3,000 African American businesses, and is expected to top 225,000 by the Year 2000. Jacksonville is unique and not to be missed.

Capital of Gaul under the Roman Empire, major center of culture and trading during the Renaissance, strong industrial breeding ground in the nineteenth century, Lyon has become a large European metropolis, benefiting from the influences that have swept across its beautiful landscape. Now included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, Lyon is categorized along with prestigious cities such as Venice, Prague, or Saint Petersburg. From the Roman city of Lugdunum to the city of today, two millenniums have left their mark in terms of an outstanding architectural heritage, at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers : Fourvière, with its basilica and Gallo-Roman ruins, the Renaissance district of Old Lyon, which is centered around Saint Jean Cathedral, the presqu'île (peninsula between the two rivers), which was shaped by the great classical and imperial era, along with the slopes of the Croix-Rousse, where the silk industry thrived. A particularly lively part of the city, Lyon's historical area is proof of the importance that the city places on its heritage, preserved and enriched over the centuries, it is now turned towards the future.

The most heavily populated city in Canada, Toronto is a vibrant, cosmopolitan, financial, commercial and cultural centre with a rich multi-cultural heritage of more than 80 ethnic groups, speaking more than 100 languages. It has a lively stock exchange, soaring futuristic architecture, museums, art galleries, performing arts companies, fine restaurants, large shopping complexes, a waterfront and hundreds of parks. The city is sited on the north shore of Lake Ontario, and sports distinctive neighbourhoods as well as the longest street in the world, Yonge Street, as its main north-south artery. Toronto’s main landmark is the CN Tower, which is the world’s tallest free-standing structure with glass-fronted elevators that rise 1,815ft (553m) to indoor and outdoor observation decks. The city also boasts the 'Skydome', which is a multi-purpose entertainment complex with a retractable roof, billed as the world’s greatest entertainment centre. In the 17th century Toronto was a small French colony; then came the American Revolution which encouraged scores of families whose loyalties lay with the British to flee north. Many settled beside the lake establishing a town known as York, which slowly grew in importance as an administrative and manufacturing centre. In 1834 the name was changed to Toronto, an Indian word meaning 'meeting place'. The new name proved worthy when about a century later the city's English character began to be buried beneath the conglomeration of cultures brought in by a massive tide of immigrants from all corners of the world. Old English pubs and Victorian and Edwardian architecture survive among the skyscrapers, but Toronto is today a lively and cosmopolitan city and Canada's commercial capital.