00:00If you're looking for the coolest accommodation in Paris, you may consider an apartment inside
00:06the Eiffel Tower.
00:07When Gustave Eiffel was designing his most famous construction, he added a private apartment
00:12for himself right at the top.
00:15It's rather spacious, especially for Paris, where people often live in apartments 10 times
00:20smaller.
00:21It had a workshop, living space, a dining room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and piano.
00:26But there was no bedroom, so it's likely that no one ever slept there.
00:30No one lives there now except for the mannequins of Eiffel himself, his daughter, and one of
00:35Thomas Edison.
00:37Members of the scientific community chosen by Eiffel and other notable guests were allowed
00:42to visit the property, and Edison was one of the chosen ones.
00:47Across the pond, the New York Public Library also hosts secret apartments for the staff.
00:53These apartments used to be a normal thing in different library buildings across the
00:57city, but now there are only 13 left out of 30.
01:01One superintendent lived in the library on 42nd Street for many years, and his own daughter
01:06was even born inside that building.
01:08The apartments came in different sizes, and some had up to 8 rooms.
01:13By 2006, the last resident custodian retired, and now these apartments are used for other
01:18library needs.
01:21It's known as the tallest building in the world, but Burj Khalifa is actually not one
01:26but several constructions connected into one.
01:29It has a Y-shaped plan, and if you look at it from above, it resembles a spider lily.
01:37It's uber-flexible and can bend a little bit when there are strong winds or even earthquakes,
01:42so it stands safe and strong.
01:44Burj Khalifa has over 24,000 windows, and it takes a crew of 36 people around 3 months
01:50to clean them all.
01:52There's a crypt beneath the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., and visitors pass through
01:57it every day.
01:58The first architect of this famous landmark designed it as a grand vestibule, which means
02:04just a big entrance hall.
02:06Several years later, plans changed, and the room was supposed to become the final resting
02:10place for George Washington and his wife Martha.
02:13She agreed to it, and architects changed the Capitol plans to add a tomb below the
02:18famous rotunda.
02:19They also planned to put a statue of Washington on top, and there was going to be a 10-foot
02:24hole in the ceiling so people could look down and see his tomb from the rotunda.
02:29But Congress couldn't agree on all the details of this memorial, and the tomb remained empty.
02:35Years later, workers closed the big hole in the floor, which was meant to give light to
02:39the tomb because cold air was leaking into the rotunda.
02:43At some point, the crypt was used for bicycle parking.
02:46Today, it has statues of famous people from the 13 original colonies, and George Washington
02:51and his wife are buried out back.
02:53No, actually, they're in Mount Vernon.
02:55There's a hidden clock and a calendar in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican.
03:00The 83-foot obelisk works like a giant sundial, using its shadow to show the time and even
03:06mark special days like the solstices.
03:09When the sun is at its highest point in the sky, called solar noon, the shadow of the
03:14obelisk falls on a line of stones on the ground.
03:17On the winter solstice, the shadow reaches its farthest point.
03:21On the summer solstice, the shadow is much shorter.
03:24There are also 5 other special markers that show when the sun enters different zodiac
03:29signs.
03:30The long, thin granite line running from the obelisk toward the Pope's window shows exactly
03:35when it's noon.
03:37British seaside Brighton stands on top of a secret network of underground tunnels with
03:43Victorian sewer systems and a hidden road.
03:46They say the tunnels were built below the Royal Pavilion so that King George IV could
03:51go on, you know, secret dates.
03:54History experts say it's not true, and the king actually used tunnels to keep his servants
03:58out of sight when they moved between the pavilion and the stables.
04:03The 30 miles of tunnels are now over 150 years old, and you can see some of them with
04:08an organized tour.
04:10But some parts of them are still in use.
04:13One tunnel serves as an emergency relief valve for heavy rain.
04:16Another tunnel has a shooting range inside.
04:20The bascule chambers inside the Tower Bridge are one of the coolest hidden spaces in London.
04:26These spacious rooms were built as an operational center to let the bridge's huge counterweights
04:31move for the bridge to open.
04:33They were the final stage in the construction of the bridge.
04:36Now if you're lucky, you can see these chambers on a special behind-the-scenes tour of the
04:40bridge.
04:41You'd have to descend 115 steps below water level until you get into the cold and damp
04:47space with rumbling overhead.
04:50Sometimes they organize concerts here, and the acoustics are just perfect.
04:56In the early 1930s, there was a real race in New York to construct the tallest building.
05:01Once 40 Wall Street was finished, it won the title.
05:04But then, the architect of the Chrysler Building added a spire to its top, and it became the
05:10new champion.
05:12The spire was waiting all this time inside the top of the building.
05:16Workers had to carefully lift each section of it and assemble it on top.
05:20They used nearly 4 million bricks to finish the whole building and lay them all out by
05:25hand.
05:26There were also some elements from Chrysler's automotive empire, like hubcaps, fenders,
05:31and radiator caps.
05:32There was a private apartment and office on the top of the building for the founder of
05:36the Chrysler Corporation.
05:38They say he liked to brag he had the highest toilet in Manhattan.
05:42I'm sure he was flush with pride.
05:46The Capitol Records building in Los Angeles has been sending secret messages since it
05:50opened, and you need to know Morse code to understand them.
05:54That secret message is Hollywood.
05:56The light has been sending the same message since the opening in 1956, but it has changed
06:02a couple of times.
06:04In 1992, to celebrate Capitol Records' 50th anniversary, it flashed Capitol 50.
06:10Then, before Katy Perry's album release in 2013, the message was also changed, but
06:17hardly anyone noticed the difference.
06:19One more fun fact about the building – it was the first circular office building in
06:23the world.
06:25Producer Samuel Lionel Roxy Rothafel designed a hidden apartment for himself in the Radio
06:31City Music Hall in New York City.
06:33He chose for the apartment, now called the Roxy Suite, to be decorated in the Art Deco
06:38style.
06:40It has 20-foot-high ceilings covered in gold leaf and walls with floor-to-ceiling plush
06:44drapes.
06:46Some of the most famous guests of the apartment were Judy Garland, Walt Disney, and Samuel
06:51Goldwyn.
06:52Today, it only opens for special occasions and looks exactly the same as it did in 1936.
06:59You might be able to rent it out for a private event, but they say the prices are very high.
07:05Grand Central Station in New York has a great hidden activity for travelers.
07:10There are tennis courts in a secret space named the Annex.
07:14This area used to be a recording studio.
07:16Now the location is known as the Vanderbilt Tennis Club, and you can visit it and play
07:21tennis there.
07:23The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., has a secret sports facility where clerks,
07:29off-duty police officers, and other Supreme Court employees can play basketball.
07:34This court, I mean, the basketball court, is located on the top-fifth floor of the building
07:39and goes under the nickname, The Highest Court in the Land.
07:43There's a fun sign next to it saying, Playing basketball and weightlifting are prohibited
07:48while the court is in session.
07:50Well, we wouldn't want to tempt the justices to, you know, drop everything they're doing
07:54to play a game of horse, but I think that would be fun.
08:00That's it for today, so hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like
08:04and share it with your friends.
08:06Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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