The while-we-wait-for-river-cruises photo quiz

[jklc123]

dogs4fun has the correct beaches. The photo was taken while on the road from our excursion coach from the Seine. Still looking for a guess as to what this installation is doing there. "On the road" is a clue. Not looking for an exact location -- I have no idea.

[dogs4fun]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

Cannot find a reference to a location, though.

Yes, I also thought of the Starfish Story (aka Star Thrower) but couldn't associate it with a location in France (or anywhere else, for that matter). ☹️

http://www.ataturksociety.org/the-starfish-story-original-story-by-loren-eisley/

I've definitely not seen what is depicted in jklc's photo. I haven't a clue.

[jklc123]

OK, here's another one, more obvious as to what it is. I have to go out soon so will be away from the computer.  What are these places on the road? They are not common in my part of the world and make me nervous if I have to navigate one. Ours aren't so whimsical.

[dogs4fun]

looks like a roundabout.

Strange that the author of the Starfish Story was born in Nebraska & taught in Pennsylvania.

Edited May 21, 2021 by dogs4fun

[jklc123]

Yay, dogs4fun!  They are roundabouts. Next photo to you!

[dogs4fun]

wildcard

[Coral]

11 minutes ago, jklc123 said:

Yay, dogs4fun!  They are roundabouts. Next photo to you!

OMG - where I live we have a ton of roundabouts. I think they get federal money if they do them or something. I wish we didn't have them.

[Coral]

20 minutes ago, dogs4fun said:

looks like a roundabout.

Strange that the author of the Starfish Story was born in Nebraska & taught in Pennsylvania.

Having lived in both Lincoln and Philadelphia - I have never heard of Eiseley. Though we do have a library named after him in Lincoln so I probably should have heard of him.

[Daisi]

@jklc123 roundabouts aren't bad once you are used to them, they help keep the flow of traffic moving.  We are getting like the UK here with multi-lane ones...and roundabouts connecting to roundabouts if we have roads close enough.  

[notamermaid]

30 minutes ago, jklc123 said:

They are not common in my part of the world and make me nervous if I have to navigate one.

Really? I would never have thought that. Granted, when I was a child we did not have as many as we do now. The nearest one with me is only about 500m away.

 

12 minutes ago, Daisi said:

@jklc123 roundabouts aren't bad once you are used to them, they help keep the flow of traffic moving.  We are getting like the UK here with multi-lane ones...and roundabouts connecting to roundabouts if we have roads close enough.  

The British have perfected the roundabout. Though I would say they occasionally take it too far. The magic roundabout in Swindon:

notamermaid

 

[capriccio]

In the US priority goes to the car in the roundabout.  When we moved to Belgium in 1994 the first thing we were warned about was that priority went to the car on the right (that is entering the circle).  Americans had a well deserved reputation for being dangerous drivers in Belgium.  At our going away party a friend toasted me by saying I survived 3 1/2 years without so much as a scratch on my large VW Eurovan 😂.

 

[Canal archive]

Notamermaid have you actually experienced ‘the magic roundabout’? You certainly have to keep your wits about you.

Does anyone know where it was? CA

[Canal archive]

Just another roundabout to keep you going overnight.

Country, river, and what are they doing?

 

[notamermaid]

24 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Notamermaid have you actually experienced ‘the magic roundabout’? You certainly have to keep your wits about you.

Does anyone know where it was? CA

No, not been in that area. I have been in some good challengingly ones in England, but never such an elaborate one. One I really like in Germany is one near Frankfurt. It is so big that the central bit actually has a small grove on it. You cannot see the other side of the roundabout and the exits. It really makes you wonder why they bothered building it there being so much space for a normal out-of-town crossroads.

 

notamermaid

 

[jklc123]

Wow! That Swindon roundabout would be quite a challenge, especially for anyone not used to driving on the left. I understand their purpose, but wow!

 

Now where is Canal Archive’s roundabout?

[jpalbny]

I love roundabouts. They definitely cut down on the waiting time.

[Coral]

3 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

I love roundabouts. They definitely cut down on the waiting time.

We have one street with 7 of them right in a row. Annoying. One here and there is fine but 7 fairly close to each other.

[notamermaid]

Seven is pretty good, cannot top that with anywhere I have been. At least not in one street.

 

What I would give to be allowed to drive in an English roundabout now. Stuck in the Wincheap Roundabout* - just a distant dream... Alas, the country is a 14 day quarantine away right now.

*a notoriously congested part of Canterbury in Kent.

 

Right, Canal archive's roundabout. I think there is a road sign with a  brown Monument Historique symbol with a yellow road indicator on top. That would make it France. Are they working in the vineyards?

 

notamermaid

 

[travelingman]

Roundabouts are fairly new in some parts of the USA.  And, some cities have not learned how to build them correctly.  There is one in our town that is so small the school buses cannot get around it without the rear tires getting on the center portion of the roundabout.  There are several more under construction.  Can only hope they learned there lesson with the first one!

 

Stan

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Does anyone know where it was?

Do you mean the boy with the starfish? I have found it now. The tourism website of the municipality: https://www.st-jouin-bruneval.fr/tourisme/quoi-faire/sorties/

 

notamermaid

 

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

We have one street with 7 of them right in a row. Annoying. One here and there is fine but 7 fairly close to each other.

 

That sounds like a time challenge waiting to happen. Rev up the RS5 and see how high you can crank the G-meter...

 

In Europe, especially on the smaller roads, the roundabouts tend to be very small and it's only a minor flick of the steering wheel to get through. So if there is no traffic, they hardly slow you down.

 

I test drove an RS7 two weeks ago. It was a rocket, with 22 inch tires and handled like a dream. I took it through a local traffic circle and pushed it a bit, drove 1-1/4 turns to see if I could get the meter up to 0.8G. It handled it perfectly.

 

Now you know why I really like traffic circles... 😉

 

[Coral]

42 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

 

That sounds like a time challenge waiting to happen. Rev up the RS5 and see how high you can crank the G-meter...

 

In Europe, especially on the smaller roads, the roundabouts tend to be very small and it's only a minor flick of the steering wheel to get through. So if there is no traffic, they hardly slow you down.

 

I test drove an RS7 two weeks ago. It was a rocket, with 22 inch tires and handled like a dream. I took it through a local traffic circle and pushed it a bit, drove 1-1/4 turns to see if I could get the meter up to 0.8G. It handled it perfectly.

 

Now you know why I really like traffic circles... 😉

 

These are small roundabouts but all within 3 miles. It is on the edge of town but the town is growing that direction. I get dizzy thinking about driving on that street.

 

Cool about the RS7! Hopefully the Audi program opens up soon. I have a few friends who recently bought new cars and the market is crazy right now - I am guessing due to a reduced amount coming from factories.

[Host Jazzbeau]

We find them in Alabama where we snowbird.  No statues, so you can drive straight through if you like...

[sharkster77]

Here in MA we call them "rotaries", not roundabouts.  They work best in non-high traffic areas.  There are two bridges that cross the Cape Cod Canal (Bourne and Sagamore bridges).  There is a rotary at the  end of both bridges.  In the summer they can be hellish because they have to handle way, way  more traffic than they were designed for.  The town where I worked for 31 yrs before retiring has a rotary around its town common, and driving it is a piece of cake, reasonable traffic volume.

[Renmar]

I watched that video of the Swindon roundabout, now I am dizzy. They drive on the wrong😉 side of the road instead of on the right😉 side. I know, I should not start that controversy.

 

Theo