Venice, Italy is a beautiful city in which all travel is done by boat or by foot, no cars. Venice is special in the fact that it doesn't have walls. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the people walled up towns and cities to defend themselves from the barbarians (which was just what the people of the Roman Empire called the invading outsiders) coming into Italy. There aren't any walls because of the fact that the Venetians built on the marshland in the middle of the lagoon. The shallow bits would reck a ship and strand the people on it.

Taranto is a city located in southern Italy with a population of about 200,000. It was founded in 708 BC (as a part of Greece) and was named after Taras, a mythical hero. This is the city where Archytas, the creater of the flying, mechanical pigeon, was born. During Archytas' life, Taranto was called Tarentum, Magna Graecia. Taranto is referred to as "the city of the two seas" because it is located next to two bays: Mar Grande and Mar Piccolo. These bays are important in the history of Taranto because they allowed the city to become an important military and commercial port. 

The Institut de France is located in Paris and has been recognized as a historical monument in Paris since 1862. This building was orginally built in the 17th century as the College des Quatre-Nation. Then in 1795, the Institut de France was created as an organization to help protect the French language. The Institut de France combines 5 academies such as the Academie Francaise and the Academie des inscriptions et belles-lettres. Leonardo da Vinci's aerial screw drawing in Manuscript B, Folio 83V is being preserved in Institut de France.