You have until noon on Tuesday to guess it. City and/or state first, then country. Please put the location in the subject heading, along with any description within the email. If no one guesses the exact location, proximity counts. Be sure to email entries to VFYWcontest@gmail.com. Winner gets a free The View From Your Window book. Have at it.
A reader writes:
Oh come on, a random small factory in the northern US? That really narrows it down! OK, OK – I'm guessing the hint is that the warm weather in December so far means that a lot of locations are eliminated from contention, since a number of areas that could have had snow by now (Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York) really haven't seen it.
The dominance of deciduous trees rules out much of the mountain west where snow has fallen, so this has to be the midwest or northeast. It really does scream "old New England mill town" to me. Given that only the northern reaches of New England have seen recent snow, that narrows it down to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. My stab-in-the-dark answer is Lewiston, Maine.
Another writes:
The picture gave me Vietnam-style flashbacks. Four years ago today I was spending my Christmas working the Iowa Caucus for a candidate not named Hillary, Barack, or Senator Cheats-on-wife-with-cancer. I think this is Cedar Rapids, Iowa, because of all the refining plants. (For some reason, the whole city smelled like Crunchberries and burnt tires.)
Another:
Bradford or Silsden, Yorkshire, England? Could easily be one of my grandfather's factories, battered by Hong Kong in the fifties and Japan in the sixties, put out of their misery by the Chinese in the seventies.
Another:
This is a photo of Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood, going West toward Clipper Mill. I’ve walked by it many times. It is one of the last of the old factory buildings that haven’t been fixed up yet. (Give it time. It will be yuppified.)
Another:
The chimney is obviously the same where Charlie and his grandfather almost met their doom with the fizzy lifting drinks.
The building to the left is where the chocolate river waterfall and the edible candy garden are located. The building behind the smokestack is where the glass elevator came out. The VFYW shot was obviously taken from the third floor of the center building and I've included some diagrammatic arrows to prove it:
And as a side note, the original is now on Blu-Ray! Wrap that up with the book and stick them under my tree!
Another:
After going 0 for 80, I finally got one last week. So I was determined to start a new streak and go 2 for 2. I thought I was on the right track when I found images of Safety Kleen's oil truck. Alas, after checking their website, it turns out they are a national company. Tricky.
Comparing the recent weather charts for snow against Safety Kleen's location map, I'm narrowing the location to New England. Based on the brick color and the type of chimney, the buildings feel like adaptively reused historic mills from the late 19th century. Since there is no visible river and there are suburban/country houses in the background I'm eliminating more industrial cities like Lowell and Lawrence, Mass, which tended to have larger mills.
I'm going with one of the cities in southern New Hampshire that had historical mills. I'm guessing Manchester. (In honor of your favorite conservative rag, The Manchester Union Leader.)
Another gets the correct state:
This picture reminds me of a time I got lost in upstate New York and drove through the quaint town of Canajoharie. There was a pseudo-industrial area where Beech-Nut Baby Food had been manufactured for 100+ years. The factory vaguely resembles this picture, with brick buildings, a smoke stack, and small mountains in the background:
Also, the factory seemed to be right next to some residential housing, as is the case in your picture. On the other hand, your picture seems to feature a pick-up truck driving on the left side of the road, so I don't have high hopes.
Another:
100 N. Mohawk Street, Lofts at Harmony Mills, Cohoes, NY 12047? I have never written in before, but this time I was SURE it was in upstate NY. I thought, I wonder what that tanker truck is, maybe it will give me a clue? I Googled "red and black tanker truck logo" found Safety-Kleen, looked up their locations, and found one in the old factory town of Cohoes, where my husband grew up. Google mapped it and voila! I showed it to my husband, after my searching, who said, "That looks like Harmony Mills!"
Of the three readers who correctly answered Cohoes, only one has gotten a difficult window in the past without winning, so he gets the prize this week:
I have no doubt that there will be many vying for the correct view on this one due to the New York state location. I turned my wife, who was raised in New Jersey, on to The View awhile back and she has helped me identify a correct view in the past. In this case, she woke me the morning after Christmas day and said, "Do you want to see what I found?" It seems that in the middle of the night, when she couldn't sleep, she was searching for textile mills in Lowell, Massachusetts after seeing your photo on Christmas Eve. After quickly deciding it was not Lowell, she moved on to another location and eventually found a photo of the Harmony Mills that showed a match for the smokestack. Although I was hoping to sleep in a bit longer, I got out of bed, grabbed my laptop and sure enough, she had found the mill complex where The View photo was taken. Specifically, it was taken from the The Lofts at Harmony Hills, 100 N Mohawk Street, I believe from the 5th story, 5th window from the end:
The building, constructed in 1866-1868, was originally known as Harmony Mill No. 3 and also Mastodon Mill, due to remains that were discovered during construction. It is now part of the Harmony Mills Historic District. According to on-line sources it was the largest cotton mill complex in the world when it opened in 1872. The attached photo from the NPS archives is from 1869:
Details from the photo's owner:
This shot is looking out from my apartment in what was once one of the mills in the Harmony Mill complex in Cohoes, NY. My building was Mill No. 3 (there were five mills running at the peak) and you are looking out on the left at what was the original Mill No.1 and the power house that was built later on. The mills produced cotton cloth and thread and, at their zenith in the mid to late 19th century, were the largest such mills in America. The original Erie Canal ran through what is now the parking lot you see below and side channels with water turbines ran wide leather belts which drove the spinning machines. The power house was built later when the mills were converted to electricity.
Cohoes is know as the "Spindle City". The movement of industries such as these in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to the South devastated cities like Cohoes. Where once 3,000 people worked in harmony Mills alone (there were other mills nearby that produce cloth, etc – Arrow Shirts were made here at one point, along with celluloid collars in nearby Troy) you now find a sleepy little town that serves more as a bedroom community for the Albany capitol region.
(Archive)
You have until noon on Tuesday to guess it. City and/or state first, then country. Please put the location in the subject heading, along with any description within the email. If no one guesses the exact location, proximity counts. Be sure to email entries to VFYWcontest@gmail.com. Winner gets a free The View From Your Window book. Have at it.
You have until noon on Tuesday to guess it. City and/or state first, then country. Please put the location in the subject heading, along with any description within the email. If no one guesses the exact location, proximity counts. Be sure to email entries to VFYWcontest@gmail.com. Winner gets a free The View From Your Window book. Have at it.
A reader writes:
So easy, and yet so hard. The limestone construction screams Amman, Jordan. The problem is, it screams literally every single building in the entire city, since they are all built with the same materials. I'm guessing a western suburb, relatively well off, too new for all the vacant lots to have filled in. I'm giving myself two more minutes to Google map it while I wait for a file to download. If nothing in two minutes, I'll just guess …
And time's up. I'm going with the Amman suburb of Naour, from a window that looks across King Abdallah bin Hussein II Road.
Another writes:
The low sun on the white stone is so specific to Amman, not to mention the endless new construction. Over recent years the city has been growing and growing. This must be on the Dead Sea road, before it begins to descend into the Jordan Valley. It's hard to pin down exactly, as all the new apartment blocks look the same. The coordinates from Google Earth must be around 31.52.14.49 N, 35.50.26.11 E.
Another:
First time entering and I don't know how people do this! But I was home sick with a cold and spent the better part of the afternoon happliy googling away. The picture immediately said Fertile Crescent to me, with the sun rising from the east and the Mediterranean nearby. The tesselation of the building columns and the arched windows also point to Middle Eastern style, along with the lone cypress tree and the scrubby landscape. I was able to find an apartments-for-sale site in Aleppo, Syria that showed very similar 5-story modern apartment blocks as the ones climbing the hills.
Another:
I am in the middle of finals so no time for serious photo scouring or googling, so I will just say "Tangier, Morocco". There's some arabesque architecture, but it's only a hint. And something about the blue sky suggests there is ocean right over that ridge (like Tangier). So that's my half-hearted guess.
Another:
Tough one this week!
To me, it recalled stories of the new American embassies and consulates that are being built on the fringes of cities now in places like Ankara, Turkey. So I started googling for images of the American consulates and embassies in the Near East. Being in a country that is particularly suspicious of terrorism and without a lot of Internet freedom (scary that this description also now includes the United States), I decided that I'd probably tripped enough alarm bells for a day, even though I never came away with a solid guess. So, Ankara – and now I'm slowly closing my laptop and walking away.
Another:
Minimal clues: The weather, topography and trees. Then there's the buildings in the
foreground and middle ground and signs of lots more beyond. So far I am thinking this is SE Mediterranean, Turkey maybe but no luck finding a fit. Cars driving on the right and I think the yellow one might be a Mini convertible. Where else but Lebanon then? In fact this is probably not Fatqa, but this photo shows both arabic windows with the right proportions and grille, and white balustrade. So it may be nearby. Or use the same builder!
Another:
That is definitely Jerusalem. I would recognize those hills, the light and the low architecture anywhere. I do wonder though if it's outside or within the green line, that might complicate how you decide if it's in Israel or not …
Another:
Longtime reader, fellow Washingtonian and former high school debater with intern Zack (I think we were .500, but who cares?). The limestone strongly suggests Israel. This week's farcical RJC forum and Newt's interview on The Jewish Channel also suggest that we're ripe for a VFYW from a so-called 'Judea and Samaria' settlement. The buildings closely resemble those in Gilo, East Jerusalem, Israel. I visited Gilo during my first trip to Israel in the summer of 2000, a few months before both the First Intifada and my Bar Mitzvah, and the white and yellow limestone architecture made a huge impression on me. The highway is most likely #60, which connects Jerusalem with major West Bank cities.
Hope that's close – it's probably not enough to win because there are no Google Maps screenshots, but I'd give someone odds that this is one of the Jewish towns outside of the Green Line.
Another:
I’m not certain where around the city this is, but I’ll bet it’s Jerusalem (the same city my attached photo was taken, which I submitted four years ago, but you never used). This is ‘Division Street’ somewhere around town, or close nearby. That’s one city, not two, and one country I hope will recognize itself as the homeland for both Jews and Palestinians alike.
Another:
That would be the new industrial-Hi Tech Zone in Jerusalem, Har Hotzvim! The building on the right is the Beck Science Center. The view is across the road to the village of Shoafat. Just out of view on the left is the Israeli neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo, recently a flashpoint in Israeli-Palestinean relations.
Another:
East Jerusalem, Israelastine? Newly constructed buildings on someone else's land. Cedar tree in distance. Rubble in foreground reminding me of landscape in the Costa-Gavras film, Hanna K.
Another:
I'm sure someone will be able to pinpoint the precise window, but my guess it that this is a view of the road between Jerusalem and Ramallah (though, it could be anywhere in the West Bank). The real question is why does the building on the left have bars on a third story window?
Another:
The obvious clues in this one are the building immediately in front, with the roofline balustrade and the bars on the window. They either want to keep something inside or something out. The glassy facade on the right suggests a modern building. The background buildings suggest a relatively impoverished area. Road markings are consistent with Israel, but the buildings argue for the Palestinian territories. It looks like morning and the traffic is light, so the view would be facing east. The reflection in the window hints at other tall buildings, so this would be the edge of an urban area. The hills would be consistent with several of the cities in the region. With the holidays coming up, smaller cities like Nazareth and Bethlehem might be logical choices. But looking at the modern building again I would guess Ramallah, although I can't pinpoint the exact spot.
The following reader was the closest to the exact location and thus wins the prize this week:
Damn. Having lived in Ramallah, it should be a piece of cake for me to say exactly where this is. There aren't that many tall buildings with mirrored glass there, although the building boom has clearly accelerated in the three years since I lived there. So I will say Ramallah, near the Al Bireh neighbourhood.
Details from the submitter:
I am in Ramallah on a temporary assignment for my company. We are working on a USAID project in the area. The photo is from my office on the 6th floor of the Al Amal Building, on Mecca Street in the Al Balou'a Area. This is in Al Biereh, which is a town adjacent to Ramallah. The shot is to the south.
(Archive)
You have until noon on Tuesday to guess it. City and/or state first, then country. Please put the location in the subject heading, along with any description within the email. If no one guesses the exact location, proximity counts. Be sure to email entries to VFYWcontest@gmail.com. Winner gets a free The View From Your Window book. Have at it.
A reader writes:
Grrrr! So many clues, but I could only go so far with them. The gray tower in the foreground with the depth markers reaching up to "45FT" indicated fresh water, a large hydro-engineering project (canal and/or lock?), as well as a location in Great Britain or the US. The mountain in the background and the snow and evergreen trees along the coastline indicated a northern climate. Thinking the Caledonian Canal through Scotland might match up well, I googled pics and found some topography similar to this view on the northwest coastline of Loch Lochy. This view is on the east coastline looking north/northwest. But that's as far as I could go.
Another writes:
The picture mostly provides geographical clues, rather than cultural ones. I can see a single engine Beaver airplane – made in Canada – and the fjord looks like the long narrow inlet that Port Alberni is at the end of. Are these pictures supposed to be taken recently? I think it would be unusual to have snow here in early December, but not impossible.
They are usually taken recently, but not always. This photo was captured at 1.30 pm on November 17, 2011. Another reader:
St Barbe Ferry, Newfoundland, Canada? A guess from my self-described "sick and miserable" mother stuck at home in bed on a sunny Australian day. Specifically the ferry from St Barbe to Blanc Sablon, at the St Barbe ferry ramp. I'm glad my mother could provide you with this guess. The only way I'd get any of these "Name That Port" challenges is if the port in question came from the Douro Valley in Portugal.
Another:
Beautiful spot this week. My first impression was Nova Scotia or thereabouts, until I saw the "45FT", which takes metric Canada out of the running. Unless there's some international standard for those tanks. So I went south a bit, picked a small coastal town in Maine, hope it's within a hundred miles, call it a day. Hope it's not in Alaska.
Another:
The location screams Southeast Alaska, plus we got snow in the region two weeks ago (though the weather has since turned to rain and the photo would be less beautiful today). I thought that it looked like the Ketchikan area, so I started checking around for places where there was a dock that you could land a seaplane and the terrain matched. Past the community of Clover Pass is a little bay with a marina called Knudson Cove (latitude 55.473258, -131.795402). I checked the terrain on Google Earth it matches pretty well, so that's my answer.
If that's correct, then I'll have plenty of company as I've been impressed how your readers can find a specific window on a hut in Africa. I can only get the Alaska ones.
Another:
Oh man, I think I know this one! I took a glacier cruise on Prince William Sound back in aught six, and this looks exactly like the town that the cruise departed from. I don't have the chops to find the exact window, but it's got to be Seward, Alaska.
Another:
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska? Just a quick off-the-cuff guess. But man, do the mountains back in that photo make me miss living out west. It's a big world.
Another nails the right town:
Finally a VFYW I know. I work for the forest service in southeast Alaska, so I'm in and out of Ketchikan on a regular basis. This is Tongass narrows looking to the north. What you are seeing is the Ketchikan waterfront (revilla Island) north of downtown on the right. On the left is the island where the airport is. The picture was taken from the new Ketchikan shipyards ship assembly facility. You should do the southeast Alaska tour on a cruise ship soon.
Another reader:
The combination of snow, mountains, and water suggested Alaska – as did the seaplane. A quick search of Alaskan seaplanes turned up an aircraft with similar blue markings. This turned out to be the livery of Taquan Air operating out of Ketchikan. From there, I looked up the location of the seaplane base, and found it to be right next to the Ketchikan Shipyard. Judging from the position of the drydock in the foreground of the photo, I figured that the photographer was somewhere on the grounds of the Alaska Ship and Drydock company, which operates the shipyard on behalf of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA).
Another:
What gave this VFYW away were the two Taquan Air seaplanes on the left side. Taquan Air is a Ketchikan-based local carrier serving communities in the Southern part of the Alaska Panhandle. After scouring row after row of seaplane photo on Google, I finally stumbled upon one plane with the same tail marks. I now know the docks of every destination served by Taquan Air.
Another zooms in:
Another:
I'll bet the webmaster at Taquan Air Services in Ketchikan is wondering where all the hits came from.
Another:
I've only been to Ketchikan twice. Once when I was born and then some 50 years later. The first time I was there just a few days while the weather cleared enough for my mom to take me back to Annette Island after giving birth to me. The most recent trip was part of a birthday present I gave my mom when she turned 80. She lives in Bellingham and I flew down from Anchorage to meet her and take the Alaska State Ferry Matanuska up through the inside passage to Juneau and then Sitka. My dad worked for the FAA back then and we hopped around the state a fair amount. Annette Island was one station and the other was out of Sitka. As dawn broke, the ferry arrived in Ketchikan and it had been the first time I'd been back to the area since the mid '50s.
Another:
My wife and I flew a little Piper Seminole from San Francisco to Ketchikan (and back) two years ago, with many stops on the way. It was a gorgeous trip.
The Canadian customs folks were so relaxed and friendly, and their US equivalent so tight and brusque, it made us wonder. People in British Columbia are unbelievably nice.
When we took the ferry from the Ketchikan airport, which is on the left in the photo, on Gravina island, we commented to each other that it would really make sense to have a bridge here. We realized later on that this would be the infamous Bridge to Nowhere, which actually is not all that ridiculous (although $400M may be a bit steep) when you're in context. Like everyone else, I had made fun of this seemingly absurd idea of a bridge to an almost uninhabited island. This taught me that I should be careful before judging something like this. The bridge would probably handle 500,000 crossings/year to start with, and would allow Ketchikan to expand into Gravina island, which would lead to even more traffic.
It's always more complicated than you think, isn't it?
Another sent the above photo and writes:
The ferry that the bridge was slated to replace (from Ketchikan over to the airport on Gravina Island) is just barely in view. Aside from the obvious fiscal concerns with building a $398m bridge for a town of about 7,000, I always like riding the ferry to catch your plane. It’s not like driving to the other side would save a bunch of time or be much more convenient – the ferry takes under 5 minutes and goes every 15, so it is not hard to match the infrequent flights. The informality of the entire process is also what makes Alaska "different."
Another:
I had to ask what made Ketchikan the location this week. Here's my long-shot guess. Herman Cain announces the suspension of his campaign. Which, when you think about it, is a very Sarah Palin-like move. He quits without really quitting so he can remain relevant without taking the daily hits of campaigning and get back to his book tour. And, of course, when Palin first broke onto the national scene she bragged about saying no to funding for the famous "Bridge to Nowhere" which was located in Ketchikan. And a "Bridge to Nowhere" has always perfectly described Mr. Cain's campaign.
Another sends a visual guess:
Another:
There is a lot of federal money in this picture. That drydock, for instance – built at least in part with a federal grant to the Borough of Ketchikan (washed through the State? I can't remember…) of Department of Transportation Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (Ice-Tea) money. Federal gas taxes, mostly from the Lower 48, paid for a drydock in Alaska that is leased to a private enterprise. The logic is that it supports the Alaska Marine Highway (ferries), and indeed the first vessel built in the facility was a rather unique craft serving as a ferry for a remote Southeast Alaska borough. The ferry, not visible, was built with funds from the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
The rugged, independent, Republicans of Alaska, with their emphasis on Personnel Responsibility, make me laugh. While it's a hard life in Alaska, no doubt, they are awash in subsidies of various kinds.
By the way, I think it's a stretch to call this view "from your window," as there is NO window present yet. The fact that Google Maps doesn't show this hall makes this one tricky, and unless you live in Ketchikan or are deeply involved in the marine trades (I am) you would not know about the assembly hall.
Another:
A cost/benefit analysis of proposed improvements to the Alaska Ship and Drydock Co. was done in 2009. This study states: "Once the shipyard improvement plan is fully implemented, shipbuilding and repair activity in Ketchikan will directly or indirectly account for 1,110 jobs throughout the U.S. These jobs will account for just under $50 million in annual payroll." Way to go, Alaska Ship and Drydock!
More than 50 readers correctly guessed Ketchikan, so we had to determine the one among them who has gotten the closest to victory in previous contests without clinching the prize. The winning entry, in visual form:
(Archive)
You have until noon on Tuesday to guess it. City and/or state first, then country. Please put the location in the subject heading, along with any description within the email. If no one guesses the exact location, proximity counts. Be sure to email entries to VFYWcontest@gmail.com. Winner gets a free The View From Your Window book. Have at it.
A reader writes:
That large building (or buildings) to the right is really frustrating me, as I can't seem to find it anywhere. I'm going to try using a different clue: the ridgelines in the background. It looks like the central Appalachians, but this is obviously not central Pennsylvania. The Alps do have a ridge and valley system running to the northwest of the main mountain chain, and the largest city in that region is Grenoble, France, so that's what's going to be my shot in the dark.
Another writes:
Basel, Switzerland? The modern building on the right looks like the headquarters of the Bank for International Settlements.
Another:
The red roofs seem to be mostly in Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia. (The style of church in the background seems consistent with Serbian Orthodox churches.) There's only a handful of cities in those countries that are large and near the mountains. My best guess is Sarajevo, which seems to be about the right size, full of red roofs, and located in a mountain valley. I was unable to identify the office building or church in the picture, though.
Another:
I googled around for roof types and orange roof and found Dubrovnik. This was clearly not the right answer, but the roof style was accurate. I then began to look at topographical maps of Croatia for cities that were on the borders of large mountain or hill ranges but there really wasn't much in Croatia. So, I looked north to Slovenia and saw tons of mountains and cities on the edges of them. I also figured that because the two were likely combined at some point or at least are neighbors, it would be likely they would have similar roof styles.
I started looking at a few different cities in Slovenia and, as far as I can tell, the only one that comes close is Maribor. Looking on Google Earth, there is a church with a similar steeple to the one in the picture, and there are hills in the background. I don't think I have the exact right answer, because the mountains don't match up perfectly, but I have to get back to studying and so this is where I leave. My best conjecture – Maribor, Slovenia.
Another:
This is Stavanger, Norway.
An old friend of mine is from Stavanger. Shortly after we met he told me about a ferry route that sailed between Stavanger and Newcastle. Years later, on my (roundabout) way back to the States from living in Russia, I passed through Stavanger and took the route he had told me about. After we arrived in Newcastle, as I waited in line for passport control, I watched the cars unload from the ship. One by one, northern European sedans poured out of the hull, themselves queuing to get checked into Britain. And following all of these nondescript cars, there came an SUV pulling a reduced scale Viking ship. Of course.
Another:
Thank you for not doing another photo of a port. I've spent the last couple of weeks looking up port towns in Scandanavia and the Mediterranean on Google maps. I've discovered a lot of nice looking places, but got neither Sweden nor Morocco right.
I spent a few years living in Germany and this photo looks like many German towns I've been to. However, I don't have the time, energy or Google maps expertise to figure out exactly where it is. So I'll just say it's a medium-sized town, probably in the western part of Germany. And hopefully by sending in my answer today that will stop me spending the next two days trying to do a Google maps search of all medium-sized towns in Germany.
Another:
This week's contest was pretty difficult, the only clues I could see was the geography and style of the buildings. Now I'm pretty much casting out a line that I've picked the right town, Tübingen, Germany. The homes look pretty authentically German, the beautiful hills look like Southwest Germany. I'm also guessing that this is probably a picture that someone took on an Oktoberfest bender and just managed to find in the last few weeks. Hopefully they ventured farther from Munich that I probably would have.
While I have very little hope in getting this right, it does make me forget for a moment what it took for my ancestors to leave a similarly beautiful town in southern Germany for the US in the 1800s. Then I remember the religious persecutions and upheavals of the time and remind myself that my kinfolk had it pretty sweet in America, too, even if the beer wasn't as good.
Another gets the right German city:
The yellow villa is typical German style circa 1900 – I lived in one in Hamburg. But the hills mean it can't be the north, this must be central or southern Germany. The stripey building at far right looks like the Jena University tower, which was something of a socialist status symbol for the old regime. I can't give the exact street, but it's definitely Jena, Germany.
Another who correctly answered Jena:
This was an especially exciting view for me, having spent a number of summers in Jena, where my now-wife studied. Besides the recognizable hills in the distance, the giveaway is the sliver of the Intershop tower on the right. Finding the exact house is a bit more difficult, though I admit I was tempted to hop on a train and go searching! Glancing at Google Maps I would guess around Johann-Friedrich-Str. 13, though I am not at all positive.
In any case, attached is a photo from the Intershop tower looking back toward where the original picture was taken. It's a beautiful little university town in Thüringen, well worth a visit.
Another:
You must have been following the news reports about the neo-Nazi terrorist cell of Zwickau, Germany: all its members hailed from this city, Jena, former hi-tech and academic center of the German Democratic Republic.
This is the fourth time you have a city in the contest where one of us has lived, after Kiev (twice) and Madrid. We missed them previously, but this time, we are sure. We lived here for more than three years before moving to the US eleven years ago. Although Jena suffered a lot under GDR urban development and industrialization, it is still a pretty and quite livable city, surrounded by a beautiful topography of steep limestone cliffs.
Another:
After two days of googling and being confused by the Dutch gambrel roofs in the foreground, I recognized the romanesque style of St. Michael's church tower in Jena, on the west bank of the river Saale. The building on the far right with the dark center is part of Ernst-Abbe Platz near the Intershop Tower, a sliver of which is visible behind the first building (another angle). Then I found this panoramic image and I think the building our view was taken from is one of the 10-15 houses I have narrowed them down to in the red box:
Its address is either Johann-Friedrich Straße or Schroeterstraße. That might possibly be the most anyone who has never been to Jena can do under the circumstances, I think. Thanks for the challenge, it was exciting and frustrating at the same time.
Another gets the right street:
Everything in this picture points to Germany. The characteristic roof tiles. The casement windows, the style of the pre-war villas in the foreground. The topography really only allows for one conclusion: Jena, Thuringia's second largest city. The church in the center is the Friedenskirche, and the modern building on the right is the former research building of Zeiss Optical Systems (built 1959-65, but modernized in 1993).
The tricky part was the location from which the photo was taken. After wasting nearly an hour searching for identical roof patterns, I am willing to make an educated guess: this photo was taken from a building on Schroeterstraße 8. The building with the terrace seen on the left is Schroeterstraße 10, a residential building owned by the Jena-based Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology. Could it be that our anonymous photographer is associated with the institute?
Yes indeed (see below). Another nails the right address:
Apologies for the multiple emails. I have another correction. The picture was taken from a building on Schroeterstrasse. It's the building with the overhang in the center of the photo:
If I knew how to photoshop I could even circle the window, etc. The photographer was standing on the top floor of the building underneath the overhang. It's hard to tell the exact address from Google Maps. I'm going for Schroeterstr 6.
Yet another update from that reader:
I was curious about the name of the street: Schroeterstrasse. I'm guessing that it is named after the astronomer Johann Schroeter. Jena is known for its contributions to astronomy and lenses. Is the contest linked not only to Germany, but also to NASA's latest mission to Mars? A crater on Mars was named after Schroeter.
Of the four readers who correctly answered Schroeterstraße 6, only one has gotten a difficult window in the past without winning and thus gets the prize this week:
Wow! This is the second week in a row where I saw the view and knew exactly where it was right away. I spent a few weeks in Jena, Germany back in the late 1990s. It was (and still is, I hear) one of the coolest university towns in the former GDR. Whereas my visceral reaction to last week's image of Casablanca was rooted in a miserable travelling experience, the sight of Jena instantly evoked warm memories from my university days.
The picture shows a view from the Jena-Süd neighborhood of Jena, Germany facing north/north-east towards the city center. At the very edge of the picture (to the right), you can see the distinctive Jen-Tower (formerly known as the Intershop Tower), the tallest building in the former East Germany. Next to the Jen-Tower is the Bürohochhaus am Leutragraben. Michaelskirche is also visible in the center of the frame. The photograph was taken from what appears to be a residential building on Schroeterstrasse. According to Jena city maps, the building's address is Schroeterstrasse 6. The picture was taken from what appears to be a covered balcony on the top floor (third story). I've attached aerial images pinpointing the spot where the picture was taken, with the other residential structures in view, as well as a screen capture of the Jena Stadtplan (city map) identifying the actual street address:
I've been a longtime Dish reader, but never felt like part of the club until I submitted a correct answer last week. Now that I've lucked out two weeks in a row, I feel like it's destiny for me. This is my one chance – the culmination of a life's journey. I sure hope I'm the one this week!
From the VFYW's owner:
I'm in Jena, on a four-month sabbatical working at the Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology (M-PICE). The photo is taken through the window of the front door of my flat, which is owned by the M-PICE (the Institute, though, is housed on the Beutenberg Campus, about 2 km away). The flat is on the third (top) floor of the building (there are six flats in total), and the view from my window looks down into the Jena city center. The address of the flat is Schroeterstraße 6. It is located in a very charming part of Jena, with lots of turn of the century houses, plus a few modern houses. The tall silver building is the Jen-Tower, which until January 2005 was the "Intershop" Tower, and next to it is the Jenoptik Tower (the white building). The beige tower, with the grey top (in the center of the photo), is a church called Friedenskirche
Jena has a number of important research institutions, and the Friedrich Schiller University (Karl Marx was awarded his PhD here). It is also home to the world famous Carl Zeiss Jena Company, which specializes in optics and glass making. Finally, Jena is the home of the first ever planetarium (Zeiss Planetarium).
Please let me know if you'd like any additional information. And Happy Thanksgiving from Germany!
(Archive)
The Dish 