Memphis

Memphis is located on the Mississippi River.  The river is the western border of the city.

St. Joseph, Missouri was the gateway to the wild west and was the beginning point for the Pony Express, which ran to Sacramento, CA from 1860 to 1861.

An iconic sign just south of the Strip in Las Vegas calls the city "fabulous." It is fabulous to be under video surveillance 24 hours a day for the privilege of playing games of chance heavily weighted toward the house!

In 2008, Lousiana's House of Representatives designated the sazerac --- a mix of rye whiskey, absinthe, and bitters --- as New Orleans' official cocktail.

Snowflake

The town of Snowflake, Arizona, was named not for any precipitation, but for Mormon pioneers Erastus Snow (who also founded Snow College in Utah) and William J. Flake. Odd, isn't it?

Black and gold are the colors for all of Pittsburgh's professional sports teams. Exempli gratia, the Steelers, the Pirates, the Penguins.

Aberdeen is known as "The Granite City" because of the amount of the rock found in the vicinity.

The liver bird is the symbol of Liverpool. Its name rhymes with "diver." Its species is not certain, but is generally regarded to be a cormorant.

Prague ('Praha' in Czech) is known as "the mother of cities," "city of a hundred spires," and "the golden city" or just "Golden Prague."

Doha is the capital and largest city of Qatar. Its name is derived from the Arabic for "big tree." Those Qataris sure have a lot of dough, ha!

Guangzhou is the pinyin form of the city formerly called Canton, the capital of Guangdong province in southeast China.

Valparaiso is one of Chile's most important seaports. Literally "Paradise Valley," it houses the National Congress and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Rotterdam, founded in the 13th century, was the world's busiest port in the latter half of the 20th century. It is Europe's largest port. It was extensively bombed in the Rotterdam Blitz, 1940.

Ipanema is a beach neighborhood in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. It was made famous in the song "The Girl From Ipanema." It is adjacent to Copacabana Beach, which is not the place mentioned in the song 'Copacabana."

Mumbai, the new name of Bombay, is derived from the Hindu goddess Mumbadevi, plus the Marathi word for mother. Mumbai is the most populous city in India.

Milwaukee is known by several nicknames: Cream City, Brew City, and German Athens.

Lagos, Nigeria, is the second most populous city in Africa after Cairo, with 8,000,000 residents. It may in fact be the most populous.

Houston, Texas, is known as Magnolia City, because of the oleander trees along its streets.