How looks like the cities where you live

[Sirotnikov]

http://www.tour-haifa.co.il/indexEng.html

[Provost Harrison]

Ah, the city of Kingston-Upon-Hull in Yorkshire, Northern England stands on the estuary of the River Humber. The population of Hull plus adjoining areas (the whole metropolitan area) is 450 000 people. Hull is a major container/passenger port, university city and in the past a large fishing port, all of which leave quite an impression on the city, although in the modern era, it is a relatively poor, socially derelict city, although not an aesthetically unappealing one which many attractions to visit, including the recently opened Deep project at a cost of over £40m (still got to visit there myself, only opened 3 weeks ago )

Here are some piccies of the city, here is The Deep itself:

[Provost Harrison]

Here is a picture of the Guildhall:

[Provost Harrison]

Here is the Humber Bridge. Until recently this was the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world:

[Ecthy]

The Altmarkt or old marketplace in Cottbus, south Brandenburg, East Germany.

It has a population of about 150,000 people if you count the area around us in. First settlements were Slav villages around, adjacent to the Spree river that also crosses Berlin. Later some castle was built and first mentioned by chronicles in the year AD 1156. We've got a historical old town which you can see on that pic. The city bloomed twice in the past 150 years, The first big hit was the growing textile industry in the 19th century. The city had a population of about 60,000 before WWII. The 2nd boom was in communist times, when Cottbus and the surrounding Lausitz region became some kind of eenrgy central of the GDR due to rich coal supplies. In 1989, the population of the city as such peaked at about 128,000, it is about 106,000 today.

Following a map of the region.

[Ecthy]

And the city itself

[Colonâ„¢]

Here are home-made pictures of Antwerp. The scenery is nothing to drool about and there are no spectacular light effects but at least you know you aren’t being deceived.

[Colonâ„¢]

Here's a museum, shot in the back.

[Anodyne]

Mänttä, a small town with ~7000 inhabitants. Well, actually I live some 8 km outside the town, quite literally in the middle of forest, our nearest neighbour being some 600m away.

Now, couldn't really find any nice overall picture, but this gives quite a correct image...

[Zkribbler]

Has anyone here not seen pictures of Los Angeles?

While cities like gorgeous Riga have a homogeneous architecture, the architecture in L.A. is an ad hoc pot pourri: a combination of Spanish Mediterranean, post-WWII-suburban bland, glass-box skyscrapers, what-were-they-thinkin? (such as in the Brown Derby, the Tail of the Pup) and pseudo-international (such as the Mann's Chinese Theater and the Citadel's Assyrian architecture).

Following the 1933 Long Beach earthquakes, Angelenos decided it would be safer to grow out and not up. So building rarely had more than a few floors. But area-wise, Los Angeles became the second largest city in the U.S. This vast terrritory also gave rise to the freeway mentality. Also, we lost any viable downtown. Rather, we ended up with dozens of city centers, scattered all over the place.

It's only been the last few decades that building techniques have improved to the point L.A. began building skyscrapers. Our downtown is again returning and is very new and beautiful.

We've also become the No. 1 port of entry into the U.S. which gives us very diverse demographics. We have also become No. 2 in population, after NYC. In Los Angeles, the people are nice but phoney. Whereas in New York, they are hostile but sincere.

[DanS]

The city of Washington is rather small. Only 550,000 people live here, but about 2 million people work here, especially lawyers and government workers (that's why everybody loves us ).

Washington is a study in contrasts. About half of the city is filled with quite nice town houses, mansions, condo apartment buildings, and federal landmarks. The other half is pretty rough, and some of it could be described fairly as a warzone. Over 200 people are murdered each year in that portion of the city...

Washington is an atypical U.S. city for a number of reasons. It is one of the only cities in the U.S. to have building height restrictions. No building can be taller than the Statue of Freedom on top of the capitol dome--i.e., ~13 stories. This makes for a very odd downtown. There is an area of about 100 blocks square filled with 13-story office buildings.

Another atypical item is that Washington was planned by a Frenchman and was meant to take the best from the layout of Paris and Saint Petersburg. The city is laid out on a hub and spoke system, much to the confusion of visiting drivers to the city. But it makes for very quick travel for those who know their way around.

Also, in the infinite wisdom of our founding fathers, Washington is placed right in the middle of a swamp. We don't quite know what they were thinking, but August often hits 95 degrees F, with unbearable humidity.

Lastly, Washington has very good public transportation. The subway system is modern, clean, comfortable, safe, dependable, cheap, etc. Fortunately, the metro stations double for thermonuclear bomb shelters and can move about 1 million out of the city in about an hour. There are several commuter rail lines too.

It's a cool city in which to live or to visit. Much of the city is kept meticulously by the Park Service.

Visit in early April (cherry blossoms) or mid-September (exceptionally nice weather) for a treat.

Everything 13 stories...


Relaxing at DuPont Circle, near where I live.


...in front of the fountain in the middle of the circle


Go Metro...


The Washington Monument, wrapped in the National Condom for renovations...


The Capitol. Statue of Freedom at tp...


The Supreme Court...


My name's Forrest. Forrest Gump.


The front of the white house facing the Washington Monument...

[Colonâ„¢]

"Washington is an atypical U.S. city for a number of reasons. It is one of the only cities in the U.S. to have building height restrictions. No building can be taller than the Statue of Freedom on top of the capitol dome--i.e., ~13 stories. This makes for a very odd downtown. There is an area of about 100 blocks square filled with 13-story office buildings. "

Does that give the city a somewhat European looks? (bit like Paris or Barcelone but more orderly and modern) High rise never has been very popular around here.

[Provost Harrison]

Well I shall post some more pictures of Hull. Here is the City Hall in the background with the Queen Victoria monument in the foreground:

[Provost Harrison]

The Town Docks Museum:

[Provost Harrison]

That last picture is a bit strange But you get the idea.

Here is Hull Marina: