On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
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Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
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For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Surprise – it’s not Friday, and yet….
Today, pictures from valued commenter otmar.
The other weekend I shuttled spawn #1 to a birthday party in Vienna’s 3rd (and a bit 11th) district. This is somewhat off my usual paths, so I thought I make some pictures of sights on the way.
I’ve share pictures of the Flak-tower in the Augarten before, this is one (of a pair) in the Arenbergpark. Back in WW2 they built three pairs of such towers in roughly an equilateral triangle around the center of Vienna. They were all built up to the same absolute height, simplifying the targetting. Within each pair, one contained mainly the searchlights and instruments, the other the heavy flak itself.
Second tower in the Arenbergpark.
Close by is the cathedral of the Russian orthodox church which is adjacent to the Russian embassy. That part of Vienna is full of diplomatic builings: accross the street is the Iranian one, very close by is also the Chinese and the British one.
Some of the bigger countries (US included) operate more than one embassy in Vienna: one for relations to Austria, one for the UN bodies and one for the OSCE.
Gasometer
These round towers were initially built to support to gas system for Vienna: they were used to store the gas extracted from coal. After the switch-over to natural gas and the emergence of underground, pressurized tanks the builings became obsolete.
During the 90’s they were used to host epic rave parties. Around 2000 they were converted into a mixed use building: a mall, some office space, flats and a music theater.
(See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasometer,_Vienna)
Gasometers from the other side.
Thank you so much otmar, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
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?BillinGlendaleCA
Hmmm, those gasometers are much nicer than the ones we used to have in LA.
cosima
Wow, the juxtaposition of the differing styles/aesthetics is amazing. Is it the strange perspective of the photo, or is the in-progress building in the last photo bent (artistically, perhaps)?
We haven’t made the trip to any of the -ias yet. I am fairly certain there is a sport event in Estonia next year that Little C could/would go to if she is chosen for the Scottish team (crossing fingers) — that would be our first trip to that area of Europe. Would love to geek out on the architecture there. I found Russia to have a similar dichotomy in its architecture, the post-WWII/Cold War utilitarian buildings in the vicinity of exquisite buildings. That is not something seen here in Scotland (close as it gets is Glasgow’s industrial area), so I remain fascinated.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Here’s a post showing the LA gasometers, it’s from the site I read when I’m not here at Balloon Juice. Since the Downtown slot(aka the Hollywood Freeway though DTLA) is new, these shots were probably from about 1950.
rikyrah
Love the pictures ?
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: When I’m president, the U.S. will have the best gasometers. Big, beautiful gasometers. And Austria will pay the it.
cosima
@?BillinGlendaleCA: The round buildings? Clearly we need Austria to pay for new, aesthetically pleasing, gasometers (that may or may not be used for raves), under president (for life) Baud.
p.a.
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Bill, a question on photo transfers. I did without a pc for a while, using my iPad and phone to store, transfer photos etc. Got a new laptop last week so I’m not up to speed on it. Most of the platforms don’t interconnect physically, or I don’t have the cabling/apps/ambition to do it, so I generally use email to transfer, upload photos, mostly jpeg. The results are noticeably lower quality than the original product, I think because of email compression. Lightroom CC sharpening helps sometimes. Any tips? I do have one camera that shoots raw. Will that format email more successfully?
Also too, love utilitarian buildings that a culture also let be attractive.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
@cosima: Yup, the round buildings. I have pretty clear memories of them, so they were probably still around in the late 60’s. They’re long gone now. The last one I can think of was in Long Beach/Signal Hill by the 405 back in the 80’s.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@p.a.: The best way to transfer is using a USB cable and then use Lightoom’s Import function. The computer will see the memory on the camera as an external hard disk.
ETA: I the camera and computer have the same type of card slot, you can just remove the memory card from the camera and put it in the computer.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@?BillinGlendaleCA: ETA: One building that I don’t have a clear memory of but I’m sure I’ve seen was the old Richfield building, it’s in some of the later pics in that post. An amazingly beautiful building and was a crime that they tore it down.
raven
@p.a.: I bought one of those SD card readers for my iPad before our Rose Bowl trip. It worked great except that I was too close to the parade itself to use my dslr much.
cosima
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Mr C & I both worked for them up until they were purchased by BP. I had no idea that building ever existed, though it may be mentioned/pictured in the ARCO ‘yearbook’ that we got when the company called it quits (gave our duplicate copy to my former mother-in-law, who worked as their external affairs person for decades).
raven
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Wow, we moved there in 57!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@cosima: I had a feeling you were a fellow ARCO alum, I was in Legal(later IT) in the ARCO tower.
ETA: They had a model of the Richfield building in the lobby for the executive floors on the 50th floor.
cosima
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I loved working for them, lots of really good days/years. And of course I met Mr C there. Our office building was a big tall rectangle, ugly inside & out. But good memories were made there, and I think we had an absolutely amazing group. After the BP buy-out was announced the hi-jinks & good times went into overdrive, as a coping mechanism most likely. Mr C would come back (he worked on the NSlope then) and tell me I should have to pay to work there.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@cosima:
In Anchorage? The gold tower?
ETA: I had projects that took me to most of the main offices(where they had a Legal department): Dallas(and Plano), Houston, Denver, and Anchorage.
cosima
@?BillinGlendaleCA: That’s the one! Perhaps we passed in the halls/elevator/?! I had a dear friend (and admirer, when we were both single) in the legal department. He was lovely. But engineers are really only fit to marry other engineers (Mr C and I understand each other perfectly).
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
Meanwhile on the other coast (complete with boom-boom). There was other highly visible ones (the superstructure, anyway, as the tanks themselves were expandable/collapsible) in Queens.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@cosima: I was traveling to Anchorage quite a bit in the mid to late 90’s.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: Yup the tanks would move up and down depending on the amount of gas.
cosima
@NotMax: Once you know what they were/are, you begin to see them everywhere. Interesting history. The ones in Vienna are works of art, though — glad they’ve been preserved. Can’t wait til Baud is president so Austria build new ones in the US — for raves, not for fossil fuels, because surely President Baud will have abolished their use.
cosima
@?BillinGlendaleCA: That’s me time — worked there up until we transferred/moved to the UK (at which point we were ConocoPhilips). I was infamous for my ball-busting (though I did explain to my manager at that meeting that if I were a man he’d have been congratulating me for being direct & firm) & sass. Mr C used to phone me (when away) to ask me what trouble I was in now…
NotMax
@cosima
Site in Queens is now a park, so a happy ending after all,
?BillinGlendaleCA
@cosima: I think I still have an AAI keycard, I never did return it after we stopped going up there. With Legal you never knew when they ship you anywhere.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: The ones in DTLA, one was where the LA City technical department is now, the others are an industrial area though it’s becoming part of LA’s expanding “Arts District”.
cosima
@NotMax: I’m glad. Was actually thinking just this morning (following on from my photos of Scotland that were the on-the-road photos from yesterday’s post) that I wished that Aberdeen, the nearest big city for us, would invest more in their parks. Not long ago there was a local 1% business guy who wanted to invest in downtown Aberdeen, but part of his plans included a big facelift for a park, central, that was rundown. Anyway, stupid people who engage in magical oil-money economic thinking wanted more focus on office buildings, so they turned down his money! So, now we have a decimated oil industry, heaps of empty office buildings & store fronts, and still have a rundown central park area. I am glad that something ugly was transformed into a thing of beauty for Queens — the benefits of parks are huge on so many levels. I’m all about green space, inside and outside city limits, which is why we live in rural Scotland.
debbie
I’ll take churches over flak houses any day!
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
Some of the prettiest scenery along some of the major highways in that area of NYC are the cemeteries. Pavement is often below grade, so mostly ones sees trees and landscaping. Some of the pics heregive an idea of the mature greenery in one historic graveyard in the area.
NotMax
@cosima
Liked Aberdeen and its citizenry muchly when was there in the dead of winter circa 1974 (even though it was home to the absolute worst food have ever been served in a so-called Chinese restaurant). Fell in love with nearby Stonehaven.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: We have a lovely cemetery by the 405 as you drive to LAX, they have a cascade that flows down a hill. I didn’t know until recently that it’s the Al Jolson Memorial. Andrew Breitbart is also buried in that cemetery and is still quite dead.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
if there’s any justice, Breitbart’s grave is marked by a cascading line of Port-A-Potties.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: Maybe, it’s at the rear end of the cemetery.
cosima
@NotMax: Old Aberdeen is beautiful, and yes, lots of good, kind & funny folk here. The ‘Chinese’ food here has not improved at all — worst in the world, maybe. There was one restaurant we found 10+ years ago that was fab, and when we moved back it was one of the first restaurants we went back to. It had been ruined in the few years we were gone, the food had been curry-fied as they seem to do to all Chinese food here. Horrible stuff. But everything else makes up for it. Stonehaven is interesting, and probably you would find it very different — it’s changed a lot just in the 15 years since we first moved here. However, Dunnottar still stands just outside it, and that is one of my favourite places, so it will always be on my go-to list.
NotMax
@cosima
One of the coldest nights ever endured was out in the countryside in January, in an old farmhouse. Not going to attempt to find the correct spelling, but the place (village? hamlet? signpost?) was pronounced Ach Na Gott. Three in a bed, under 3 down comforters, with coal-stoked bedwarmers and hot water bottles and still froze our tender bits off.
Quinerly
?
cosima
@NotMax: Probably Auchnagatt (based on your pronunciation). It is quite northerly, and near(ish) the coast to boot, so you’ll have had cold + wet, which is evil. The coast is dramatic & beautiful, but I like living inland, saving the coast for visits — the weather is too tempestuous in Scotland for coastal living. When we visit the coast or the islands I get a bit starry-eyed, and thinking ‘this would be perfect’ until you get, as we did last summer, stuck inside with the sideways rain lashing at the house and coming through the leaking doors & windows. No thanks!
otmar
@cosima: The “shield” building next to one of the towers is bent.
cosima
@otmar: Thanks. Interesting, and glad to know my brain is not totally broken.