BUB Backdrops - Miscellaneous #2

	Hunting Truffles in France A truffle is an edible fungus that grows underground and is considered to be a delicacy by gourmets in Europe and North America. One of the best ways to locate truffles is to hunt them with specially trained pigs, which find them by sniffing the earth.
	Backdrop: Greek Island of Rhodes Near the town of Lindos on the Greek island of Rhodes, the crumbling ruins of old fortresses remind tourists of the European Crusades. In the 14th century, Christian soldiers from Europe known as crusaders used the island as an outpost in their military campaign against the Turks.
	Greenland’s Ice Formations With a climate ranging from arctic to subarctic, Greenland is anything but green. Much of the island is covered by a huge ice cap, larger than any other glacier in the world except that of Antarctica. Water drains from the ice sheet in the form of glaciers, which pass through valleys to the sea, where thousands of icebergs form every year. Hunters use sled dogs to traverse the vast, frozen landscape in pursuit of fur-bearing animals to trap.
	Eurostar Trains at Waterloo Station Sleek Eurostar trains convey passengers from Waterloo Station in London to Paris, Brussels, and other destinations in continental Europe via the Channel Tunnel, or Chunnel. Although an undersea tunnel linking the United Kingdom with mainland Europe was first proposed by a French engineer in 1802, it took more than 190 years for the Anglo-French link to be built.
	Turkish Influence in Skopje Skopje cuisine, like its historic buildings, reflects the influence of the Turks, who controlled the city for more than five centuries. The city was still part of the Ottoman Empire when Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, known to the world as Mother Teresa, was born here in 1910. A Roman Catholic nun and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa became one of the most famous women of the 20th century.
	Peaceful South Pacific During World War II, the Solomon Islands were the scene of bitter fighting, notably the Battle of Guadalcanal. Today tranquility reigns amid the shaded huts on Mortlock Island, one of hundreds of the Solomons’ tiny pinpoints of land.
	Grazing Livestock Along the Nile Goatherds traverse the rocky slopes near the Third Cataract of the Nile River, an area of north central Sudan at the Egyptian border. Overstocking, centuries of poorly managed cultivation, and grass fires that sweep across the land have destroyed much of the country’s natural vegetation. Yet most of the inhabitants of Sudan, one of the world’s poorest and least-developed countries, survive by farming and raising cattle, sheep, goats, and camels.
	Elephants in the Mist Tanzania’s equatorial climate supports a variety of vegetation, including grasslands and several types of forests. Acacia trees (shown here) dominate thorn forests in Africa. Elephants, rhinoceroses, antelopes, and giraffes are just some of the many animals that feed on the diverse vegetation. To protect wildlife and natural vegetation, 23,800 square kilometers (9,189 square miles) of land in Tanzania have been set aside as national parks and game preserves.