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

[notamermaid]

Let us approach this from another angle. There is a body of water that is clearly not the river one would sail on. Is it a second river that flows through the town or is it a canal?

 

Would this be Roter Mainsandstein and we may put this building into the realm of the Main river?

 

notamermaid

 

[AnhaltER1960]

Sunday is over - time get work done. Here is the full picture of that sandstone structure, which can be named in a line with, say, the Chrysler Building in New York.

 

 

 

 

[AnhaltER1960]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Let us approach this from another angle. There is a body of water that is clearly not the river one would sail on. Is it a second river that flows through the town or is it a canal?

 

Would this be Roter Mainsandstein and we may put this building into the realm of the Main river?

 

notamermaid

 

The picture shows a tributary river to the one cruise ships sail on, which is canalized while passing the city.

 

The construction material in geological terms is called "Bunter Sandstone" (Buntsandstein in German), which is quite abundant in, but not confined to, southern Germany.  So in theory it could be Roter Mainsandstein. However, assuming they wanted to minimize transport effort, there are closer sources available.

[jpalbny]

Sandstone cathedral. Half-timber houses. Canals. The latter is what made me think of Hamburg.

 

What about Strasbourg? That ticks all of the boxes. But I played with Google Street view last night and couldn't find an angle where the spire reflected in a canal.

[notamermaid]

jpalbny, I am thinking of a similar latitude, but the feel of this photo for me is more the other side of the big river that is the Rhine. I have not been to Strasbourg, as you say it would tick the boxes, canal and on the Ill which flows into the Rhine, but I think the spire looks a little different in its "broken" structure, on windows it is tracery, not sure if there is a word for that for towers, certainly a great Gothic spire. I would guess it is original not neo-Gothic.

 

So, near the Rhine in Southern Germany?

 

notamermaid

 

[NewCruiser2016]

Ulm Minster, Danube River?

[notamermaid]

is it perhaps Freiburg im Breisgau, which is on the Dreisam and would be an excursion from Breisach on the Rhine?

 

notamermaid

 

[AnhaltER1960]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

jpalbny, I am thinking of a similar latitude, but the feel of this photo for me is more the other side of the big river that is the Rhine. I have not been to Strasbourg, as you say it would tick the boxes, canal and on the Ill which flows into the Rhine, but I think the spire looks a little different in its "broken" structure, on windows it is tracery, not sure if there is a word for that for towers, certainly a great Gothic spire. I would guess it is original not neo-Gothic.

 

So, near the Rhine in Southern Germany?

 

notamermaid

 

I confirm Rhine river. If I confirmed southern Germany, people probably would call me a revanchist.

 

2 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 But I played with Google Street view last night and couldn't find an angle where the spire reflected in a canal.

You might wish to try again during daylight ? 🙂

[AnhaltER1960]

And the winner is ....

.....

.....

.....drrrammdammdammmmm....

.....

.....

@ jpalbny

 

My photo indeed shows the spire of the Strasburg cathedral, upon its completion the highest manmade structure worldwide. This is what it shares with the Chrysler Building. I took it from near the Ponts couverts, where the Ill divides into several arms. It shows the northernmost of these arms.  Exact location was probably, what Google Maps calls Quai de la Bruche, the half-timbered buildings to the right are Pavillion Regent Petite France. 

 

Congratulations, jpalbny, your turn.

[dogs4fun]

3 hours ago, jpalbny said:

What about Strasbourg? That ticks all of the boxes. 

Excellent find! Congratulations 

[notamermaid]

Well I was getting relatively close and Freiburg does look similar... AnhalterER1960, you managed well to keep the "stump" of the other tower out of the photo. I also love the idea of the reflection photo, I think it really slowed us down, at least me...

 

To those reading in the background, do join us with guesses as regards river or even location. No problem being wrong, there are no negative buzzing sounds for the wrong answer! Who knows you might be right, the right guess could be stored in the back of your mind and you do not even know it. There has not been a wild card for a few days... The prize is of course the next photo to post, but we do not mind seeing a wild card occasionally. You know: just tell us you have no photo ready, shout - sorry, write - wild card and another poster gets to show us his or her photo of happy travelling memories.

 

Well done, jpalbny,

 

notamermaid

 

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, AnhaltER1960 said:

My photo indeed shows the spire of the Strasburg cathedral, upon its completion the highest manmade structure worldwide. This is what it shares with the Chrysler Building. I took it from near the Ponts couverts, where the Ill divides into several arms. It shows the northernmost of these arms.  Exact location was probably, what Google Maps calls Quai de la Bruche, the half-timbered buildings to the right are Pavillion Regent Petite France.

 

Thanks for putting me out of my misery. I was 100% convinced that this was Petite-France in Strasbourg with a reflection of the spire in one of the canals, but I just couldn't find the exact location. I flipped your original photo to make the search easier, but your full photo with the reflection and all is really beautiful.

 

This morning, I finally figured out that the building on the right was the Pavilion Regent - the shape of the roof and the stork nest atop gave it away, as well as the shape of the canal's embankment. 

 

We walked Ponts Couverts in 2013 and I have some pictures from nearby but nothing that captures the reflection like yours did. On our tour we walked the quai on the opposite bank from where you took your picture. You were on the northern bank of the northernmost canal; we were on the southern bank called Quai de la Petite France. But we walked right by that hotel, and on the little bridge that's in your picture.

 

OK. Here's one for you.

 

Name what is in the photo. First guess the river. After that name the town/city/place/river. The person who first guesses correctly gets to post the next photo.

 

Edited November 23, 2020 by jpalbny

[dogs4fun]

Hmmm... I have a feeling that I have seen this - or something similar.

A man standing atop a lion - the seated gent appears to be writing in his book. Perhaps a writer’s story is illustrated by the man atop the lion?

[dogs4fun]

Do I detect the remnants of a medieval wall in the background? The style of gent's garb leads me to think that he might be a French peasant? Seine? Rhône? 

This is driving me crazy as I suspect that I have seen this ensemble - for the life of me, I can't recall where.

[jpalbny]

It's the Rhône. Thought I'd toss in a picture of a river we haven't visited in a while.

 

Your description and inferences in the previous post are definitely on the right track.

 

But to paraphrase an old saw, you can't swing a dead lion in the South of France without hitting a medieval wall. That part won't narrow it down much. 

[notamermaid]

I thought it might be the Rhone, too. Because of the yellow stone mainly... It looks quite tongue-in-cheek that statue assembly, really makes me smile. I wonder why the writer is only his upper half, how odd! Looking forward to reading what the story behind it is.

 

notamermaid

 

[AnhaltER1960]

Nice one, being shown standing on a lion was in Germany in earlier times a privilege of princes, kings, prince electors, demonstrating their strength. But this guy does not look like a price, nor is that Germany, nor is it an old one. This bronze figure standing on a concrete pillar looks contemporary. And the sitting writer looks gives the scene a Robin-Hoodish character, written down by an author. No more precise idea yet.

[dogs4fun]

This was difficult to locate! Countless Google searches with a host of permutations on the descriptive features of the ensemble yielded no satisfactory results.

Sheer dogged determination was rewarded as I finally found it by checking a listing of cities/towns along the Rhône & cross referencing the villages with searches for the ensemble. Certifiably OCD!

Tartarin de Tarascon  - the accompanying writer is Daudet, the author of the novel.

[jpalbny]

Yes! One of the countless little interesting things that you find along these small towns. Tarascon was supposed to just be a landing site so we could visit Arles, but we enjoyed it too.

 

Over to you, @dogs4fun - that must have been a lot of work. Was it something that you'd seen before?

 

Tatarin was a fictional character who is a big braggart. He ends up being coerced into going on a lion hunt and proudly brags about his trophy, but in reality it was only a blind tame lion that he bagged. But he played it up like it had been a lion hunt for the ages. Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't it? In fact, his name was morphed into a colloquial French verb meaning to brag or exaggerate.

 

There is another legend from Tarascon - that of Tarasque, the monster. It hid in the river and ate anything that tried to cross. Finally St. Martha visited Tarascon and tamed the monster - she was the sister of Lazarus (from the new testament). We visited her church while we were there.

 

Here is a statue of Tarasque. A pleasant-looking critter...

 

 

 

[dogs4fun]

I initially thought I recognized it @jpalbny but now realize that I have never seen it. I know that I’ve seen something visually similar (or, at least, I think I have).

Great choice - really had me running around in circles. 

Note to self: must get a life 😉

 

And now, time for a WILD CARD!

Edited November 23, 2020 by dogs4fun

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Yes! One of the countless little interesting things that you find along these small towns. Tarascon was supposed to just be a landing site so we could visit Arles, but we enjoyed it too.

 

Over to you, @dogs4fun - that must have been a lot of work. Was it something that you'd seen before?

 

Tatarin was a fictional character who is a big braggart. He ends up being coerced into going on a lion hunt and proudly brags about his trophy, but in reality it was only a blind tame lion that he bagged. But he played it up like it had been a lion hunt for the ages. Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't it? In fact, his name was morphed into a colloquial French verb meaning to brag or exaggerate.

 

There is another legend from Tarascon - that of Tarasque, the monster. It hid in the river and ate anything that tried to cross. Finally St. Martha visited Tarascon and tamed the monster - she was the sister of Lazarus (from the new testament). We visited her church while we were there.

 

Here is a statue of Tarasque. A pleasant-looking critter...

 

 

According to the 'BC' comic strip the way you tame any animal is to say 'Who's a good boy?'

Not sure I would want to get close enough to this guy to try it...

[jpalbny]

7 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

According to the 'BC' comic strip the way you tame any animal is to say 'Who's a good boy?'

Not sure I would want to get close enough to this guy to try it...

 

Saint Martha must not have read that comic strip. Her method was a little different.

 

According to the legend, she "tamed" the beast by sprinkling it with holy water and showing it the cross. It then became submissive, so she wrapped her girdle around its neck and led it into the town. Once in town, it supposedly stood there quietly while the townspeople threw rocks and spears at it until they killed it.

[dogs4fun]

 

Jazz - if you are the person responsible for cleaning up my duplication messes, I thank you kindly.

Edited November 24, 2020 by dogs4fun

[jpalbny]

Who's a good host? Yes he is!

Edited November 24, 2020 by jpalbny

[acwmom]

Are we still "wild carding?" If so, here goes.....

Name what is in the photo. First guess the river. After that name the town/city/place/river. The person who first guesses correctly gets to post the next photo.

(Though this was taken during what was "technically" a river cruise, this photo isn't a river. However, recently, this structure was in the news)