Like most people, I have a dirty little secret: I collect tacky souvenirs from monuments and buildings when I travel. Like collections of snow globes, one monument alone is a tasteless souvenir. But put together a FULL CITY of monuments and you make a statement. My wife could never understand this mania, or “neurosis,” as she puts it, until a few years ago when the San Francisco International Airport featured a full concourse exhibit of souvenir monuments from around the world. There, in plenty of glory, were miniature reproductions of every major edifice in the world. Suddenly, my puny collection gained stature and value, rather then just being the goofy past-time of a middle-aged...

What I don’t know about labyrinths could fit into many many websites. However, when I was younger I used to love to play the BRIO Labyrinth, which could eat up hours in pre-video game fun. I’d still recommend it on a coffee table to divert desultory visitors who need distractions during cocktails (or to occupy a teenage visitor who has to sit with adults). Now here are labyrinths of another type. Please chime in on what you know about this subject, but labyrinths date from Greek and Egyptian times and have been used in mythology, and later in the Christian church. They saw a full flowering in the 12 and 13th centuries, most notably in grand pavement labyrinths at gothic cathedrals...