the antipodes
In Stephen's recent post the topic of Ze Frank's Earth Sandwich has come up again. So exactly what lies on the opposite side of the Earth from our city?
Well, according to Google Earth (and Ze Frank), it's the fair town of Alaejos, in Spain.
Alaejos seems like a fairly unremarkable, although certainly picturesque, town beside the motorway between Valladolid and Salamanca. (Yes, Salamanca. Many parts of Wellington bear the place names featured in the Iron Duke's peninsular campaigns. In the 1860s, the Napoleonic wars were closer to the settlers of Wellington than WWII is to us today, hence the naming schemes: Talavera, Wellesley, Waterloo, Salamanca etc etc.)
So, does anyone have photos, or any other reportage of Alaejos? There's some on Flickr, but we really want to know: what's Wellington's other, and unofficial, sister city really like?
In the 1860s, the Napoleonic wars were closer to the settlers of Wellington than WWII is to us today, hence the naming schemes: Talavera, Wellesley, Waterloo, Salamanca etc etc.
Not to mention that Wellington itself was named after Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington.
Wikipedia sez: "Regular soldiers under his command called him "Old Nosey" or "Old Hookey", on account of his prominent, aquiline nose."
Well, at least they didn't name it Old Hookeyville.