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The palace used in the layout is the famous Versailles palace in France and the smaller picture is that of the Buckingham palace in England. Images copyright to their original owners. Graphics and layout, unless otherwise noted, by Mailyn.
palaces
From Wikipedia: "A palace is a grand residence, especially the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking public figure. In many European countries, such as France and Italy (but not Britain), the term is also applied to large (but not necessarily very large) urban buildings built as the private mansions of the aristocracy. Many historic palaces are now put to other uses such as parliaments, museums, hotels or office buildings. The difference between the English usage and that of most of Europe is that there a palace must be urban[citation needed]; in English it is the status of the owner rather than the location which defines a palace. The word is also sometimes used to describe a lavish public building which was never a residence; this use may be intended to convey that the building is a "people's palace", where a sort of civic consciousness resides.{1}
Palaces can be found all over the world from the Americas to Asia and just about everywhere else. The largest palace is that of the Brunei sultan named Istana Nurul Iman. It's followed by Spain's Royal Palace and England's Buckingham Palace in that order.
The palace used in the layout is the famous Versailles palace in France and the smaller picture is that of the Buckingham palace in England.
Below are pictures of some palaces from around the world. All pictures copyright of their original owners. No copyright infringement intended.
I.France
Versailles
II.China
Yi he yuan
III.Austria
Hofburg Imperial Palace
IV.Russia
Peterhof Palace
V.India
Umaid Bhawan Palace
Mysore Palace
VI.Thailand
Phra Borom Maha Ratcha Wang
VII.Germany
Nymphenburg Palace
VIII.Argentina
Casa Rosada
For more information and images of famous palaces I recommend the Barnes & Nobles book Royal Palaces. It's absolutely wonderful and, unlike most books out there, it highlights palaces all over the world, not just in Europe.
Here and here you can find a rather huge list of famous palaces from all over the world.
fanlistings
A fanlisting is simply a site that tries to list all fans of a particular subject. As of 2008 the staff has 60 members plus about a hundred or so more who help with trouble-checking, etc. Currently there are over 40,000 fanlistings in over 50 categories ranging from Fashion to History, Celebrities, Literature, Web and Internet related and just about everything in between.
Some fanlistings, such as the Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp ones, have over 17,000 fans listed. The Orlando Bloom one has around 27,000 fans.