Atlanta's sister city... Canberra. Really!

I was browsing the Free Encyclopedia, by Wikipedia: http://encyclopedia.tfd.com/ today.. I mean, I was busy working.

I decided to look up Canberra to see what it had to say about my new home-town. And I discovered that Canberra and Atlanta are sister cities!

How did I not know this before?

What does this mean exactly?

Do I get some special benefit for living in the sister city of my former home?

And how does Atlanta have NINETEEN sister cities? Doesn't that seem a bit excessive? How can it mean anything anymore if everyone is your sister city?




"Atlanta has nineteen sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI): Brussels, Belgium Bucharest, Romania , Canberra, Australia , Cotonou, Benin Daegu, South Korea , Fukuoka, Japan Lagos, Nigeria , Montego Bay, Jamaica Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom , Nuremberg, Germany , Ancient Olympia, Greece , Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago , Ra'anana, Israel , Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Salcedo, Dominican Republic , Salzburg, Austria , Taipei, Taiwan Tbilisi, Georgia , Toulouse, France

"Canberra has a number of sister cities, including Atlanta in the United States, Beijing in China, Dili in East Timor, Nara in Japan, and Versailles in France. Cultural exchange happens to some extent with each city."

'Cultural exchange'. Like my moving over here for 2 years. I should have told Shirley I was coming over here – maybe I would have gotten something for it.

Not that I’m doing this to get something.

But seriously. Maybe there should be some sort of travel incentive to go between 2 sister cities. A free flag? I’d like to go to some of Atlanta’s other sister cities. And some of Canberra’s sister cities.

I also discovered this neat little tidbit about Canberra: "Only 4.6% of the population use the bus system. Another 5.5% walk or cycle to work, a higher proportion than in any other Australian capital city." I fit both of these categories... I always knew I was in a class all my own!



I also found out that there is a hotel in Singapore called The Fullerton Hotel. Maybe I get a discount if I stay there.


Not that I looked up my own last name in the Free Encyclopedia. I mean who would do that? It's like Google-ing yourself. Such a faux-pas.