Name That Skyline - Picture Game

[D.B.Moody]

It turns out that if you Google "u shaped hotel in California" the 5th picture is that picture. It is the Hotel California in Fresno, CA, though I understand it now is low income senior living and retail space. Thank you @pvpeacock and @Northern_Brewer for the clues. This is how I came to be on HBT: the good advice.

 

[InspectorJon]

This is how I came to be on HBT

You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave.

 

[Andres Falconer]

I agree this looks like anywhere in the US. I lived in a building just like that in Baltimore in the 90s. Even had to check, but this ain’t it.

 

[cmac62]

@D.B.Moody got it quick, your up. Hotel Californian. Too close to the Eagles classic to pass up.

 

[D.B.Moody]

I know who the Eagles are, but they came after my time. I was married, had my degrees, a house, two cars, two kids and a real job in 1976 when they did that song, which, if I understand it right, was really about LA. Here's a picture from 1990 with a different eagle in it:

 

[Andres Falconer]

Sure looks like the Hofburg Palace in Vienna

 

[D.B.Moody]

Nice and quick @Andres Falconer, you're up.

 

[Andres Falconer]

Fond memories of my only visit to Vienna, not too long ago. Something recent reminded me of this other palace:

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Only two main floors, but each maybe 5-6x the height of the people - seems it's not built on a human scale, is this a palace for machines? Are we back to pumping stations that were built vastly more ornate than they needed to be?

They drive on the right, so not UK or a lot of British colonies, overhead wires with no tracks implies a trolleybus network, not that it helps us much. General vibe of the building is more Latin with that mansard roof etc, but overhead traffic lights on yellow poles are not something you really get in Europe, feels more of a USian thing?

So perhaps it was a European colony in the 19th century, but had more US influence in the 20th century - Manila?

 

[Andres Falconer]

You are very much on the right track. If I confirm each of your comments it will be an easy giveaway, so I will let it roll a bit longer. Not Manila; yes, European colony in the 19th century.

 

[D.B.Moody]

is this a palace for machines? Are we back to pumping stations

If you google that you'll get the answer. I used three words from your good thinking.

Edit: underlining words

 

[Northern_Brewer]

OK, I got there eventually, Googling "Palace of water pumps" took me to the Palacio de Aguas Corrientes in Buenos Aires, built in 1877 like so much infrastructure in those parts by a British-owned company, before being nationalised a few years later.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palacio_de_Aguas_Corrientes

 

[Andres Falconer]

Well done, @Northern_Brewer. Impressive thought process, too. The “Palace of Running Water”, still popularly known as the Obras Sanitárias building, after the former name of the water utility. It is quite over the top, even by Buenos Aires standards. The Wikipedia link you shared shows pictures of the inside, with pipes and pumps as in the London water works building you recently shared.

 

[Miraculix]

Well done, @Northern_Brewer. Impressive thought process, too. The “Palace of Running Water”, still popularly known as the Obras Sanitárias building, after the former name of the water utility. It is quite over the top, even by Buenos Aires standards. The Wikipedia link you shared shows pictures of the inside, with pipes and pumps as in the London water works building you recently shared.

I love these old school water buildings. It's my occupation to design water and wastewater networks, pumping stations and everything connected to that. Times were truly different compared to today's standards

I never managed to visit these Victorian maaassive pumping stations in London unfortunately.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I never managed to visit these Victorian maaassive pumping stations in London unfortunately.

Did you ever have anything to do with the Aldermaston waste pipe? Is it true that it comes out much more radioactive than when it goes in, thanks to all the scale it's accumulated in times when they were less careful about what they dumped in the Thames? [for USian readers - imagine Los Alamos was 50 miles from New York - say West Point-ish - and they were dumping all their waste into the Hudson]

Anyway, enough of that. I think it's about time we went back to nature for a change :

 

[Miraculix]

Did you ever have anything to do with the Aldermaston waste pipe? Is it true that it comes out much more radioactive than when it goes in, thanks to all the scale it's accumulated in times when they were less careful about what they dumped in the Thames? [for USian readers - imagine Los Alamos was 50 miles from New York - say West Point-ish - and they were dumping all their waste into the Hudson]

Anyway, enough of that. I think it's about time we went back to nature for a change :
View attachment 756029

Wtf, I didn't even hear about that! Totally possible just based on my limited 5 year UK experiences in the water sector. The laws used to be so weak. From today's point of view it is often completely unbelievable what they used to tolerate back in the days.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

Wtf, I didn't even hear about that! Totally possible just based on my limited 5 year UK experiences in the water sector. The laws used to be so weak. From today's point of view it is often completely unbelievable what they used to tolerate back in the days.

Seems like it is definitely true, although it has been shut down since 2005. IAEA has papers referencing it.

https://inis.iaea.org/search/search.aspx?orig_q=RN:40081209https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/feb/21/theobserver.uknews2https://www.nuclearinfo.org/article...-agency-probes-awe-future-pangbourne-pipeline

 

[bruce_the_loon]

Did you ever have anything to do with the Aldermaston waste pipe? Is it true that it comes out much more radioactive than when it goes in, thanks to all the scale it's accumulated in times when they were less careful about what they dumped in the Thames? [for USian readers - imagine Los Alamos was 50 miles from New York - say West Point-ish - and they were dumping all their waste into the Hudson]

Anyway, enough of that. I think it's about time we went back to nature for a change :
View attachment 756029

The Misty Mountains? That range in New Zealand where the Hobbit was filmed?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

The Misty Mountains? That range in New Zealand where the Hobbit was filmed?

Cold.
I'd have thought the soil colour would be a good pointer to the continent at least. (on reflection, one of two continents, but still)

 

[D.B.Moody]

Mount Mulanje, Malawi.
I collected stamps and still have them. I specialized in the British Commonwealth. There was once Nyasaland Protectate and then there was Rhodesia and Nyasaland. They had the Mlanje Mountains on them. The 10/ 1959 Rhodesia and Nyasaland had a picture I recalled, so I investigated. When I then googled Mlanje, I got Mulanje. Thanks for getting me to look through some of my collection.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

It is indeed the Mulanje Massif in SE Malawi, which is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve with a whole different ecosystem to the plains below and which includes Sapitwa, the highest point in Malawi at 3,002 m (9,849 ft).

It's near to where John Chilembwe was killed whilst trying to escape to Mozambique after his failed uprising against colonial rule in 1915. He had been the servant of a Baptist missionary who took him to the US, where he ended up studying at the Virginia Theological Seminary and College and became a Baptist minister. Although the uprising took place between 23-26 January, Malawi celebrates 15 January as John Chilembwe Day - I'm not sure whether that's a nod to MLK or what. Anyway, he's now regarded as a national hero of Malawi, even if his rebellion was a miserable failure.

@D.B.Moody, you're up.

 

[D.B.Moody]

That's the stamp! (Mine is a cancelled one. 10/ in 1959 was over $12 in today's money. Back then I worked at the public library after school for 75¢ an hour.)
I'll stick with the outdoors. This is from 1995:

 

[bruce_the_loon]

That looks like Half Dome at Yosemite possibly taken from the Panorama Trail or somewhere in the nearby area between Glacier Point and Washburn Point.

 

[D.B.Moody]

I don't remember where I was standing, but it's Yosemite and you're up @bruce_the_loon.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

Try this one. Gravel mountain pass.

 

[D.B.Moody]

Okay, I tried "Gravel mountain pass" and it worked:
Valley of Gamkaskloof, in a nature preserve in South Africa. Apparently translates a The Hell.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

We have a winner.

Gamkaskloof translates as Lion's Valley and it is also known as Die Hel which is The Hell. Nice 4x4 driving routes and you don't get the idiots in speedwagons as they tend to fall off the road long before getting there.

You're up again DB

 

[D.B.Moody]

Perhaps not quite as much of a challenge, but a hill. Also from 1995:

Sorry for the buildings cluttering up the place.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

San Francisco, CA

 

[D.B.Moody]

San Francisco it is. You're up @3 Dawg Night.