You might have noticed that I’ve not been very much here in the last week. Well, that’s because I’ve been somewhere else. And to give you a clue of where I’ve been since Monday, here are three pictures:
From these pictures, can you tell me where I’ve been (and for extra credit, what specifically these are pictures of)?
The answers, and a fuller exploration of my travels, later today.
Baltimore/Washington
The mast of the Constellation
The Washington monument
The National Cathedral
Boston/Charlestown
Mast of the USS Constitution
Bunker Hill Monument
Old North Church
And you didn’t even say hello while you were here.
Washington
Never heard of the Constellation, but I got the other two!
On your back?
Mike @ 2 has it!
Probably up to some nefarious scheme with Charlie Stross & Neil Gaiman (both of whom happen to be in Boston at this time)……..
Boston is my guess as well:
USS Constitution
Bunker Hill monument
Not sure on the church window…except I don’t think it’s Old North Church.
After being left flat on your back fighting the pirates…
…you were made to walk their rather unusual masonry plank…
…and now you’re in heaven?
Guess that last part is kind of implausible. (Now if there were flames in the final pic….)
You’ve been on a boat, up an obelisk, and in a cathedral.
Andrés: The Constellation is the sister ship of the Constitution and it resides in Baltimore’s inner harbor.
Lane at #1 has it right as best as I can tell, but the Boston folk also have those similar enough monuments that he could well have been there. I’m thinking here (DC/Balt.) only because our host used to live here and has been known to travel back on a semi regular basis.
You took a boat to the world’s largest Jenga game. When you realized you were losing and that the whole tower could collapse on you, you went to church and asked the Lord to protect you. Am I right?
Jupiter and beyond the infinite
You sailed to Jupiter space, entered the monolith, may ended up in God’s sitting room.
I’m envious. I’ve always wanted to visit the Blue Ball, Ohio, Hands On Museum of Other Places.
I think Mike has it at #2. I wish I’d known; these books aren’t going to sign themselves!
I’d say Boston.
- The first picture is the rigging of Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned warship still afloat in the world.
- The Bunker Hill Monument, an extremely ugly knockoff of the Washington Monument.
- Picture #3 is NOT Old North Church, which has clear windows. My money’s on Trinity Church in Copley Square, which has extraordinary windows by Morris and Burne-Jones.
@#9 –
Alas, the USS Constellation in Baltimore is not the Constitution’s sister shop. She’s a Civil War era sloop assembled at about the same time the 18th century Constellation was being broken up, and may incorporate some of her timbers. :(
Very nice. We visited DC last year. If I’d known, I would have suggested you make a side trip to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, which is the most amazing church-type-thingie I’ve ever seen. On the other hand, there’s way too much to see in DC. I would need a couple of days for each museum in the Smithsonian.
The third picture is not one of the three rose windows in the National Cathedral, nor is it the Old North Church (which has clear glass), nor Trinity (which has lots of stained glass but no rose window) in Boston. I’m still searching. :-)
–SMQ
Boston! Old Ironsides, Bunker Hill, and someplace I don’t recall visiting when I was a child living there.
My first thought was D.C., but I did some googling, and the Washington Monument does not have windows ascending it like that. One side of Bunker Hill does.
I can’t figure out which church that is, but doesn’t appear to be either Old North nor Trinity.
Playing Civilization IV from inside the game?
I like #4 John’s answer, but since this isn’t about copying answers from other people’s tests….
I’m guessing that you’ve been acting as chaperon to your your daughters DC class trip.
(I remember that trip as one of the highlights of growing up.)
1st one – I don’t know, but I like the constellation answer. Not that I am copying off other people’s tests, it just came to me…somehow.
Washington Monument
National Cathedral Rose Window.
You’re on a distant alien planet, of course. The first picture represents their steampunk tech. The second shows a monument to their most ancient religious tradition, and the third show the dangerous encroachment of Earth influences making inroads through captured radio/TV signals.
Of course the inhabitants of this planet are roughly the size of fire ants, so I’m highly impressed with the quality of the macro lens on your camera. Well done, sir!
You were right in my neighborhood. Did you climb to the top of the monument?
humph…
Got it. Memorial Hall at Harvard.
Specifically, the Brimmer Window.
Definitely not Boston or Washington, in fact I don’t think he’s been anywhere in England.
I was there walking the Freedom trail on Sunday. I’m stalking you.
Couldn’t pick out the stained glass.
What are three pictures not taken from inside my kitchen?
Sure looks like Boston.
Boston, or Xenunnel54, which is a tiny planet where everything looks like New England. Except the planet is populated with nothing but miniature alpacas. With thumbs.
I’m going with Xenunnel54 as my guess.
You are all wrong. He has been surfing the interwebs and downloading nifty photos for some soon to be revealed (hinted at for months) super secret project.
Or I’m wrong and just have no clue which is likely the case.
Got it (the stained glass): Memorial Hall, Harvard University
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~memhall/staingls-pg2.html#transept
–SMQ
You’ve been to Home Depot, getting the finishing touches for your remodeling project?
And I now see that Stephen Watkins @25 got it first. Ah well…
–SMQ
@SMQ 33 – but you provided a great link with photographic evidence.
@SMQ 31 – I’m wonder how many more hits than “normal” the harvard.edu server is going to take today?
I think #14 ellid wins. I was confused by the second picture, and I’ve never been to Boston, but I agree about the windows. They aren’t correct for the other churches mentioned.
Ah, nicely done #25 Stephen!
Toledo. The correct answer is always Toledo or perhaps Maumee.
Dude, you just missed Readercon, in Burlington, Mass!
I think you are advising on the remake of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but this time its set in Boston.
My God. It’s full of beans.
So if you’re in DC, I guess you don’t wanna do lunch, then.
The secret annex to the Scalzi compound.
I HAVE SAID TOO MUCH.
You took the Dawn Treader down the Isen past Orthanc on the way to Averoigne. Hard one next time, please.
I thought it was the Washington Monument, but #2 definitely sounds right. So why didn’t you come a week earlier and attend Readercon?!
John, either Washington/Baltimore to take those pic’s.
Or at your PC extracting those pic’s from another source.
I don’t think it’s DC, but if it was, that’s awesome! I love DC. =)
My immediate reaction was the Constitution, Bunker Hill, and I Have No Idea. I’m impressed Stephen Watkins and SMQ tracked down the window so fast and precisely.
Hope you had some wicked good chowdah.
Assuming the Boston guesses are right (my guess too), why didn’t you come visit me? I work within spitting distance of the Constitution.
Oh, what’s that? You have no idea who I am?
Jeez, slacker.
I’m posting this before reading any of the comments, but: Boston? I feel like I recognize the Bunker Hill Monument, and that particular stained glass window… And the first photo looks like the mast of a boat — which, for understandable reasons, we have an awful lot of around here…
You were on a emmereffin boat!
Did you have on your Old Spice?
Traveling with the Doctor, obviously.
I’d go further back if I was time traveling.
; -)
Boston
USS Constitution
Bunker Hill Monument
Trinity Church
How does your neck feel?
Damn you!
The Starbucks and visine didn’t work. I dozed off just before sunset and dreamed of exactly these three images. Plus I could hear the call of seagulls.
My first impressions were Boston-related:
USS Constitution
Bunker Hill Monument
Local historic church
When I saw the Bunker Hill monument on Tuesday from the highway, I thought that 2 or 3 of the sides had construction scaffolding up the middle. Perhaps one side does not have it. Cannot see it from my house…
I am so very jealous you were in DC. I just moved from there, and I miss it terribly. :(
1) There were tall ships in Cleveland that I thought of, but that was last week…
2) I immediately thought of the Peace Memorial at Kelley’s Island, but then remembered it’s a whiter, fluted column…
3) Too many churches in the world I haven’t been to for me to even begin…
But so many seem to know you were in Boston or D.C., and really, while Kelley’s Island is sort of interesting, if ya had the opportunity to go someplace else, well, of course you would.
Judging from the center picture, you have been in the African savannah where you found a loud black shiny thing that made noises that increased your intelligence and caused you to build a Cathedral with your bare hands.
And kill an ape to take back your watering hole.
The first picture is the system of ropes used to lower the monolith into your hotel room.
Well, my first thought on the second picture was “That’s the Campanile at Berkeley!”, but then looked again ’cause it wasn’t quite right. ;)
I would have guessed DC, too, but I’ve never been to Boston.
ObWho:
>Where have I been?