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

[Daisi]

13 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Strasbourg on the Rhine?

 

Rhine, but not Strasbourg.

 

[jpalbny]

Canal and a half-timbered house. Colmar?

[Daisi]

Yes, I just loved the setting.  Couldn't decide between this on or the one here, but thought the one here would be more obvious.   Your turn.

Edited December 9, 2020 by Daisi

[ljandgb]

I loved Colmar and Strasbourg.  How did I not know those places existed before??  That's up high on my list of places to go back to one day.  Come to think of it, I need to start writing them down.  I'm getting old.  I might forget where I want to go. 🙂

[jpalbny]

27 minutes ago, Daisi said:

Yes, I just loved the setting.  Couldn't decide between this on or the one here, but thought the one here would be more obvious.   Your turn.

 

It was the previous clue from @gnome12 that gave me the answer. I think it was a 50/50 and my coin flip came up right because of that guess. So, thanks!

 

9 minutes ago, ljandgb said:

I loved Colmar and Strasbourg.  How did I not know those places existed before??  That's up high on my list of places to go back to one day.  Come to think of it, I need to start writing them down.  I'm getting old.  I might forget where I want to go. 🙂

 

I was enamoured of Alsace-Lorraine when we visited. Chris has researched the Alsatian Wine Route since then, but we just haven't had time to drive there yet. We have not actually been to Colmar yet.

 

Have had two really busy days at work. Will try to look for a picture before I fall asleep.

[jpalbny]

Here's another place that you can visit on a river cruise, but we did not.

 

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.

 

[gnome12]

54 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

 

It was the previous clue from @gnome12 that gave me the answer. I think it was a 50/50 and my coin flip came up right because of that guess. So, thanks!

 

 

I was enamoured of Alsace-Lorraine when we visited. Chris has researched the Alsatian Wine Route since then, but we just haven't had time to drive there yet. We have not actually been to Colmar yet.

 

Have had two really busy days at work. Will try to look for a picture before I fall asleep.

I spent a night in Colmar on a cycling trip many years ago, but my hotel was out of town so I really didn't see anything. If my sister and I manage to do our barge and cycle on the Moselle (Cochem to Metz) in September, I hope to take a week and visit Metz, Nancy, Colmar and Strasbourg on the way back to Frankfurt airport.

Edited December 9, 2020 by gnome12

[notamermaid]

I loved Colmar, but I still have not been to Strasbourg or Nancy. Strasbourg was in my potential plans for this past Spring. Nancy is a haven for architectural fans, especially Art Nouveau. So want to go and see it.

 

Metz is one of my favourite places, probably my favourite in France. They call the cathedral "The Good Lord's Lantern" as it has the greatest expanse of stained glass windows in the world. I hope the baker's at the street corner near the Cathedral is still there!

 

After all that talking, back to the serious business of guessing the photo. Two guys in tights on a fountain and an architectural disgrace over-shadowing this pleasant corner in a small park. Sounds like London... But it can't be so no clue. I take a wild guess: Hamburg on the Elbe.

 

notamermaid

 

[Daisi]

9 hours ago, ljandgb said:

I loved Colmar and Strasbourg.  How did I not know those places existed before??  That's up high on my list of places to go back to one day.  Come to think of it, I need to start writing them down.  I'm getting old.  I might forget where I want to go. 🙂

My husband loved Strasbourg, but I found it very crowded.  It was the one place where we were bothered by people going around asking for money also. I would go back, but it wouldn't be the top of my list.  Colmar is a definite return if we can.

[jpalbny]

Not Hamburg and not the Elbe. Running late this morning so sorry for the terse reply!

[sharkster77]

2 hours ago, Daisi said:

My husband loved Strasbourg, but I found it very crowded.  It was the one place where we were bothered by people going around asking for money also. I would go back, but it wouldn't be the top of my list.  Colmar is a definite return if we can.

Interesting--------we were in Strasbourg in mid-October, and it was our favorite stop on the Rhine cruise.  We enjoyed strolling in city center, returning to the uncrowded cathedral after our tour, snacking on macarons (unbelievably delicious), had lunch at a bakery, a simple ham and cheese sandwich on the best fresh bread we've ever had---can't say enough good things about Strasbourg!

 

We did find the squares crowded at lunch hour, full of young people.  It was explained to us that high schools do not provide food services, they let the kids out and they find lunch on their own.

[notamermaid]

6 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Not Hamburg and not the Elbe. Running late this morning so sorry for the terse reply!

Not to worry. Look after yourself.

 

Looking at the guys again on my computer, I must say they look quite Spanish.

 

notamermaid

 

[jpalbny]

6 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Not to worry. Look after yourself.

 

Looking at the guys again on my computer, I must say they look quite Spanish.

 

notamermaid

 

 

They do. But they are not from Spain, rather, they are from a country that was under Spanish rule at the time. Thus the resemblance. 

[gnome12]

50 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

 

They do. But they are not from Spain, rather, they are from a country that was under Spanish rule at the time. Thus the resemblance. 

The Netherlands?

[jpalbny]

2 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

The Netherlands?

 

Getting close. The country this photo is from shares a language with The Netherlands. 

[gnome12]

Petit Sablon Garden in Brussels Belgium. I'm not sure about the waterway; it is usually an excursion from Antwerp which is on the Scheldt.

Edited December 10, 2020 by gnome12

[gnome12]

2 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 

Getting close. The country this photo is from shares a language with The Netherlands. 

However, while parts of Belgium speak Dutch (including Antwerp), Brussels is in the part that speaks French. 

[capriccio]

35 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

However, while parts of Belgium speak Dutch (including Antwerp), Brussels is in the part that speaks French. 

They speak both in Brussels (the city is officially bilingual Flemish and French).  There is, in general, a line across the country just south of the city of Brussels with Flemish being spoken to the north and French to the south).  When we lived in French speaking Waterloo in the 90s many of our friends lived in Dutch speaking Overjise, the next town to the northeast.  In addition there is also an area on the German border where German is the official language.  Back then I was most impressed with the Flemish speakers we met who where truly trilingual and frequently spoke excellent English too.  The French speakers - making a generalization - often spoke English too but not Flemish or German.

[gnome12]

5 hours ago, capriccio said:

They speak both in Brussels (the city is officially bilingual Flemish and French).  There is, in general, a line across the country just south of the city of Brussels with Flemish being spoken to the north and French to the south).  When we lived in French speaking Waterloo in the 90s many of our friends lived in Dutch speaking Overjise, the next town to the northeast.  In addition there is also an area on the German border where German is the official language.  Back then I was most impressed with the Flemish speakers we met who where truly trilingual and frequently spoke excellent English too.  The French speakers - making a generalization - often spoke English too but not Flemish or German.

Thank you for the information.

[jpalbny]

8 hours ago, gnome12 said:

Petit Sablon Garden in Brussels Belgium. I'm not sure about the waterway; it is usually an excursion from Antwerp which is on the Scheldt.

 

Yes, and the two "Spanish" gentlemen are the Counts Egmont and Hornes. There is a lot of complicated history involved here that I never learned but they symbolize the revolt against Spanish rule in the Low Countries. At least one was executed, sparking the revolt.

 

I'm not worried about the waterway either. AMA has cruises that stop in Brussels.

 

We visited for a weekend 3 years ago. I too had expected that French would be commonly spoken but that was not my experience. Over to you.

[gnome12]

I've learned a bit about searching Google images.

 

I have no pictures, so I declare a wild card.

[jpalbny]

45 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

I've learned a bit about searching Google images.

 

Me too. I always plug my pics into Google before I post them to make sure that Google doesn't immediately reveal the answer. No fun in that.

 

I had a face-on shot of the statue that's a better quality picture but Google identified it immediately. It didn't identify the side view for me, so I posted that one. Maybe it learned! Scary.

 

Here's the better pic.

 

[gnome12]

I went to the countries in Europe that were ruled by Spain. Once you told me it wasn't the Netherlands I was sure it would be Belgium. I searched for images of sculpture gardens in Belgium. I never tried to identify the picture directly.

[sharkster77]

10 hours ago, capriccio said:

They speak both in Brussels (the city is officially bilingual Flemish and French).  There is, in general, a line across the country just south of the city of Brussels with Flemish being spoken to the north and French to the south).  When we lived in French speaking Waterloo in the 90s many of our friends lived in Dutch speaking Overjise, the next town to the northeast.  In addition there is also an area on the German border where German is the official language.  Back then I was most impressed with the Flemish speakers we met who where truly trilingual and frequently spoke excellent English too.  The French speakers - making a generalization - often spoke English too but not Flemish or German.

 

There are some interesting politics involved between the Dutch-speaking Flemish and the French-speaking Walloons.  The Flemish apparently display an attitude of superiority over the Walloons, treating them as inferior.  For example, even though Dutch, French, and German are all official languages, any government documents or communications are only allowed in Dutch,  apparently just to torque off the Walloons!

 

My sister and I always thought our ancestry via France by way of Canada, but recently discovered that one side of the family came to the USA directly from Wallonia to manage NE textile mills.  They already spoke French, so they could communicate with the immigrants from Quebec.  So now, when I am asked of my ancestry, I reply "Belgian".   😁

[capriccio]

7 minutes ago, sharkster77 said:

 

For example, even though Dutch, French, and German are all official languages, any government documents or communications are only allowed in Dutch,  apparently just to torque off the Walloons!

 

 

Federal government documents and communications are in all three languages if I remember correctly.  Local documents and communications are in the language of the official linguistic area.  There is quite a a business in translation services throughout the country.