Brief Respite
Sometimes Dr. Socks gets so upset with the torture-legalizing woman-hating dog-killing news that her nerves start to get a little shaky and she has to think about Something Completely Different for awhile. You can always tell when Dr. Socks is having one of these episodes because she begins referring to herself in the third person. It’s kind of a psychic disassociation thing. Anyway, here’s today’s diversionary tactic: Can you identify this city? The images I’ve chosen have no legible signs or famous monuments; I’m just curious to see if people recognize the characteristic street architecture.
40 Responses to “Brief Respite”
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Spicy says:
It’s got that French feel so I’d guess Paris or Brussels
October 18th, 2006 at 1:24 pm EST -
Viveth says:
Paris, for sure. There are a couple of very key clues in there.
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will says:
My first guesses are Manasass or Lynchburg.
If it isnt either of those, Montreal.
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Txfeminist says:
London?
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Infidel says:
Encyclopedia Brown would have made something of the side of the car the steering wheel is, the side of the street the cars are driving on, the look of the license plates, and the type of trees. I’m going out on a limb here and guessing Lebanon.
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Infidel says:
I mean Beruit. oops
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Infidel says:
did you mean Beirut? Yes thank you ms google.
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Jimmy Ho says:
The second picture can be confusing, but the first one is really typical. Aside from the architecture (which in fact says it all), there are two obvious hints: the litter box on the left and the street sign on the right.
The only question is: Shanghai or Taipei?
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Jimmy Ho says:
(There is a street sign on the left as well, actually.)
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Jeff says:
I’m thinking maybe Amsterdam?
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nina says:
Paris
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Isobel says:
Rome! I was there when I ws eight years old, it was those types of buildings that I have the vividest memories of.
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Violet says:
I’m loving all these guesses.
Jimmy, I didn’t mean to confuse with the second picture; actually I was trying to give that eye-level streetside feel, which you don’t really get from the first picture. I have better pics but they all have signs and things that give it away too obviously.
Keep guessing, folks; I’ll post the answer tomorrow. Everyone who guessed right will get a prize, but I don’t know what it will be yet. Something metaphysical probably, so don’t get your hopes up.
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richard cherry says:
ooh prizes: kuala lumpur, london, knossos, ulan batur, beijing, kinshasa, trivandrum, quito, providence ri, scunthorpe, kuwait city, everywhere in sweden, cork, oh bugger it just check an atlas.
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ginmar says:
Looks like Kiev to me, but it’s been a while.
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Violet says:
By the way, didn’t mean to imply that no one has identified the city correctly yet.
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nina says:
Because it is clearly Paris. (Yes, you may all mock me tomorrow if I am wrong.)
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annared says:
It is somewhere that cars drive themselves (do they have selves?) and they all go home at three.
Jimmy – street signs? Litter boxes? You have amazing eyesight
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Dlunch says:
Is it the Hague, where Bush and Bliar will be charged with war crimes? Really I think it looks like Paris.
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Laila says:
I’d say an American city. The cars don’t look small enough for Paris or continental Europe.
Also, since you’re being discouraged by the woman-hating torture-legalizing dog-killing news, I thought I’d tell you that I’m really, really glad I found your blog. Why? Because I recently discovered the feminist blogosphere, and much of it seems to be venom-saturated. I have no objection to snark or bitchiness–I think those can be good things–but I get angry when people automatically take the most uncharitable interpretation of others’ posts and comments. You don’t pull your punches but at the same time I don’t see you or your commenters being habitually ungenerous.
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cicely says:
Not a clue. I’ve travelled around most of NZ and a bit of Australia, and my knowledge of the rest of the world comes from books, movies and tv. But – prizes indeed – I’ll have a go. Because I suspect there’s going to be a ‘you’d never have guessed’ element, I’m going to say it’s a city in America somewhere….
Btw, I’ve noticed the changing shape of the cars in American tv and movies. I’m still not used to seeing the roundish lines. They look incongruous (?) to me. It’s probably been a good while, but I guess my age is showing.
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Dlunch says:
The license plates are the wrong design(too long)for the US or Canada. And Violet did say characteristic architecture-
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cicely says:
Did I say ‘travelled’? Moved is a better word. What I know about hotels and motels I learned mostly from cleaning them. There’s been the very odd overnighter, but not usually in the context of a holiday.
Why am I saying this? Working class visibility. Not having a go at you good people. I just felt it pop up needing to be said.
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cicely says:
Dlunch says:
The license plates are the wrong design(too long)for the US or Canada. And Violet did say characteristic architecture-
Oh, bugger. No prizes for me…
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maupassant says:
I think maybe Barcelona. Spain, anyway.
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Jimmy Ho says:
Annared,
I wouldn’t be able see them if I didn’t already know where to look for them. My eyesight is pretty bad, actually, even with glasses on (since I should have changed them at least two years ago), so don’t worry if you cannot see those clues (rather than “hints”, I guess).
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dlunch says:
Jimmy Ho,
Stop it, Shanghai or Taipei. Where is the typical manky chinese shophouse? Oh I see le street hawker in the background.
Cicely,I have cleaned a few myself. Night porter at an exclusive New York spa hotel in the Hamptons.Rich people are mad–is what I learned. I have not stayed in or cleaned any as nice as the one in the picture though I might have sneaked in some to use to loo. -
love2all says:
Never been to Paris but it looks like it.. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this street scene before. But it’s not going to be the obvious answer, is it?!
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Jimmy Ho says:
dlunch,
I don’t know how to interpret your tone, but at any rate, “Shanghai or Taipei” was one more failed attempt at humour. You rightly pointed out how absurd it would have been if it were a serious suggestion.
For what it’s worth, I live in Paris, France (I’ve also lived in Taipei and a coupla years in China Mainland, but oddly enough I managed to avoid Shanghai whenever possible). -
Jimmy Ho says:
Oy, I really am humourless after all, and I didn’t even drink my bitter holly today. “Manky” gave it away.
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dlunch says:
jimmy Ho,
No tone intended. It is just the evening beer–in Hsinchu…makes me think of those lovely European cities fondly. Then again it is warm here so nothing but manky buildings and rats biting through kitchen sink drains to be sad about.
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Jimmy Ho says:
No problem. Xinzhu 新竹? Don’t take it bad, but your description (accurate for any other Chinese city I know) brings me reverse nostalgia. Except for the bites, though (for some reason, the rats spared me).
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Tom Nolan says:
The second photograph looks like the Cote d’Azur to me. Nice or Cannes. Conceivably Monte Carlo.
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Violet says:
Good morning, people. Only a couple more hours until I post the answer.
Another hint/clarification: The flower boxes in the second picture are NOT diagnostic; most buildings in this city do not have color-coordinated flower boxes. The architecture, though, and the trees on the street are thoroughly typical.
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Dlunch says:
Yes Jimmy, thats the place–how about the giantic cockroaches? You can’t be nostalgic for those. But I am bringing down the tone here, so I’ll say no more.
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Jimmy Ho says:
All I have to say is: better zhanglang that binlang.
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Jimmy Ho says:
Now that Violet has posted the answer, I’ll explain the minor clues: in the first pictures the green plastic litter box (trash can?) you can spot on the lamp post to the left is typical of the City’s “Propreté de Paris” institution; that design was created in the early 80s, the Golden Age of Jacques Chirac as a Mayor (and soon-to-be Premier Ministre in 1986). The (much older) form and colour of the street signs is also characteristic.
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Jimmy Ho says:
(Of course, those clues would be helpful only to someone already familiar with the City supposing that some other place in the world might have imitated Hausmannian urbanism).
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Violet says:
Laila, thanks for that. Yes, we’re usually a relatively venom-free bunch, with the exception of course of that viper Mandos.
By the way, the second picture is of the Plaza Athenee hotel on Avenue Montaigne (did you recognize it, Dlunch?). Avenue Montaigne is super rich — paved with Gold cards — and famous for haute couture boutiques.
The Plaza Athenee is also famous; one of the top hotels in Paris and home to Josephine Baker when she was appearing just down the street at the Theatre des Champs Elysees.
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Dlunch says:
I love that city. But Venice is pretty great too. And Prague, and Stockholm, and Rome and Florence. The trash cans alone are enough to know it is not London…trash cans were rare during the heyday of the IRA, and now they have disappeared again..for obvious reason. Sorry I am coming late to the party here, but I am a bit on the island of the day before,so to speak.
