Following the Equator

Our 10 Best of 2008

This is the 320th post of 2008 at Following the Equator, and we decided to commemorate our blog's first full calendar year with a top-10 list of favorite posts.

We had a lot of stories, videos, photos, interviews, tips and perspectives about educational travel. We launched some regular weekly features, including our Tip of the Week and Photo of the Week. We debuted Life on Tour, introduced EF on YouTube and EF on Facebook and promoted the EF Tours group on Flickr (above). And, along the way, we encountered a lot of inspiring travelers.

Following the Equator also was nominated for a Blogger's Choice Award and finished fifth out of 1,177 blogs for Best Travel Blog. Thank you to everyone who supported our blog in 2008 by voting, reading, sharing, commenting and subscribing. We're looking forward to an even more successful 2009.

Friday Fun Fact: Swiss Guard uniforms

Michelangelo sometimes gets credit for the beautifully distinctive uniforms of the Papal Swiss Guard at the Vatican. Instead, it's Raphael who helped influence the guardsmen's attire.

The vibrant blue, yellow and red—the colors of the Medici—have been used since the 1600s, and the uniforms have had minor changes through the centuries. Commandant Jules Repond designed the modern uniforms in 1914, drawing inspiration from Raphael's frescoes, including The Mass at Bolsena.

Founded in 1506, the Papal Swiss Guard is the Vatican's military unit and is charged with protecting the pope and guarding the Apostolic Palace and the gates of Vatican City.

Photo: cking via Flickr (CC license)

Group Leader Spotlight: Jeremy George

A few years ago, Jeremy George, a high school history teacher from Springfield, Missouri, had never traveled abroad. Then he found EF.

Since taking his first group abroad, Jeremy has traveled everywhere from Austria to Australia with EF Educational Tours. Next year, he will travel on tours to Amsterdam and Paris and France and Spain, and he is already planning a tour to England, Ireland and Wales in 2010.

Jeremy—pictured above with students in Australia (he's in the black-and-blue jacket to the right of the guy in the cool hat)—talked with us about the "irreplaceable experience" of travel, establishing a reputation for taking students on tour and his own dream tour of Italy:

Friday Fun Fact: Vatican City

Completely surrounded by Rome, Vatican City is easily the world's smallest sovereign nation in both area and population. At a mere 0.17 square miles, Vatican City is more than four times smaller than tiny Monaco and even smaller than the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

It's so small that even with fewer than 1,000 residents, Vatican City has the sixth highest population density in the world. That's nothing, though, compared to its monumental gatherings. About 300,000 people crowded St. Peter's Square for the funeral of Pope John Paul II, believed to be the largest funeral in modern history.