Something Extra: Visiting A Virtual World

MIAMI (CBS4) - Putting the world at your fingertips... that's what the new Google World Wonders Project aims to do.

Launched in Madrid in collaboration with the U.N., the project uses Google's street-view technology to give virtual tours of the world's most spectacular sights.

The choices are still limited, but you can stroll through Versailles (the palace near Paris, not the restaurant in Little Havana) and see its famous hall of mirrors.

You can explore the ruins of Pompeii and wonder why and how Stonehenge was built.

Visit Kyoto's castles and temples, see the majesty of the Old City of Jerusalem and the sadness of its Wailing Wall.

You can also take a virtual walk through the historic centers of Florence and Mexico City and see where John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence.

A philosopher once wrote that you could spend your whole life studying Paris and know less about it than a person who spent twenty minutes walking through the City of Lights.

He was probably right, but because most of us can't visit all the world's wonders, this Google project is a welcome alternative.