Tell us A Bit About Where You're From

[xSilverPhinx]

I'm from Brasília, which is the small planned Capital of Brazil, a symbol of modern architecture, is classified as a World Heritage (Unesco) and really pisses some people off.  
Especially those that feel a bit small in comparision, such as the southerners here, who live close to Argentina.  



A plane's layout.





It's close to impossible to go past the National Theatre and not want to climb those protruding blocks.




A cathedral.



The National Museum.



A shopping center.



The sphere facing down represents the Senate and the one facing up, the Chamber.

One of the architects who designed Brasília (who is still alive in fact) was an outspoken communist, and the city reflects that. Residential blocks of the same type look the same, from the South Wing  to the North Wing. Ironically, where the building above and Ministries are located contains a communist message, or so a student of architecture once told me.  



Something about the grassy area representing a table, with the towers (power) on one end and the popular bus station (which is not in the photo) on the opposite end. Those buildings in between are Ministries. The Cathedral would be a chalice turned upseide down and the bells next to it (which is not in the photo) would be a fork.

Looks a bit like one of those Masonry conspiracy theory type explanations, but the guy studied in a serious univeristy and based his arguments on art criticism and interpretation.    
 

[Tank]

What a beautiful place to live.

[Tank]

Well I live on the East side of Leeds, West Yorkshire.

My house is in this picture.



In the picture below the blue line is my typical dog walking circuit.
The yellow spot is where I will sit and have a cigar when the weather is nice and the dogs get to run around.
The red rectangle is Temple Newsam House.

[Xjeepguy]

This is pretty much the whole town I live in. It's kinda hard to see the mountainous terrain from the overhead view, but I am in the middle of nowhere. Good ole Sissonville WV.

[DeterminedJuliet]

I just moved to Ottawa, but I'm from Newfoundland. It's a fairly remote place, with terrible weather, but I loved it there and I hope we move back there some day. *sighs with home-sickness*






This is an area called "The Tablelands" in Gros Morne national park. I went hiking there a few years ago, and it feels like you're walking on the surface of mars.


Our provincial flower is the "Pitcher Plant". Fun fact: it's carnivorous! (I also happen to have a tattoo of one of these plants on my foot )  

I could talk about Newfoundland all day  

[BooksCatsEtc]

I just moved to Ottawa, but I'm from Newfoundland. It's a fairly remote place, with terrible weather, but I loved it there and I hope we move back there some day. *sighs with home-sickness*

I can see why!  I don't think I've ever seen such gorgeous scenery in my life.  This is a shot of downtown Long Beach, CA:



I used to have a beautiful photo of the beach close to me, taken at sunset and covered in a golden glow but I can't find it now.  I think LB's only real claim to fame is the energy we put into attracting tourists.  We have a Gran Prix, a Pride Parade that I think is considered the 3rd most popular in the States, and a Blues and Jazz Festival that's picking up a lot of momentum.  We also have a lot of smaller festivals that don't get the international attention of the other three, and at one time had a Carnevale but that sank out of sight some years ago.  Would have thought that would be more popular.

Something that isn't generally known, but often creates interest for us insiders, is that we also have unusually high numbers of both Southern Baptists and GLBT residents (in fact, the city's nickname is San Francisco South but that's not in the city hall brochure).  At one time the Baptists used to have a Family Pride Parade in an attempt to offer a godly alternative to Gay Pride, but that only lasted a few years.  It's hard to compete with Dykes on Bikes.

[OldGit]

Here's a Google Earth shot of the little village where I have lived for the last 15 years.  It's between Hereford and Leominster; we're about 15 miles east of the Welsh border, although many government organisations, utilities etc seem to believe we're Welsh!

[The Magic Pudding]

Well I assume you all know the story of the troublesome American colonists and their ungrateful rejection of the empire.  This caused a problem for the Brits as to what to do with the criminal class.  So they scoured the world for the most benighted hell hole they could find and sent their crooks there as an admonitory lesson to all.

Sydney served this purpose but after a couple of decades a new place was needed within NSW to dump irredeemable re-offenders, so in 1821 Port Macquarie was established.

Most of the attractions are natural, there is a koala hospital, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and all the usual crap.  Something I like is that building isn’t allowed too close to beaches, you don’t have to ask permission to paddle down rivers either.  There’s some remnant literal rainforest with some interesting wildlife.  Platypus can be found in nearby freshwater rivers, I haven’t seen any wombats around but there’s the occasional echidna.  Wallabies and kangaroos are extremely common.  Some nature reserves and national parks are close, others are a bit further away.

This is a thread about a day trip I made in January.


This is the country an hour inland where the Hastings River comes out of the hills.



Two pics of the river meeting the sea at Port Macquarie.





Town beaches, there are long unbroken beaches to the north and south.

[Tank]

You deserve all the poisionous stingy thingies to balance out the karma of such beauty 

[Gawen]

Where I live is boring, small town, southwest, conservative and religious Americana. There is nothing of interest here.
There are no good photo shoots.
No industry.
No lakes or rivers.
No architecture.  
Lower than average crime rate. 75 registered sex offenders.
No hospital and two nursing homes.
Two high schools. American football is the second organized religion and high school football is taken very seriously.
Average income is $50,000, which I fall under considerably.
Average home value is $147,000, which I also fall under considerably.
There are 55 churches in the 74 square miles of the city.
The assistant city manager compares fire and police to public works employees (streets, water and sewer, parks and recreation, facility maintenance) as "Police and Fire are diamonds - PW are trash bags", direct quote.

It is quiet here.

[BooksCatsEtc]

there is a koala hospital

OK, I don't think anything beats a koala hospital.

[Tank]

there is a koala hospital

OK, I don't think anything beats a koala hospital.

You know I think you may well be right, I couldn't think of anything either.

[xSilverPhinx]

This thread is making me want to travel

This is an area called "The Tablelands" in Gros Morne national park. I went hiking there a few years ago, and it feels like you're walking on the surface of mars.

There's a joke that goes around Brasília that says that if you removed all the vegetation from the preserved natural environments, it would look like Mars, because the soil is naturally red and very poor. But it couldn't beat this. Stunning scenery. Newfoundland looks very interesting.

[jsprouse]

I am from Texas, where you can never predict what the weather is going to do. Except for this summer it has been nothing, but really hot. Not everything is bigger in Texas, but everyone feels like they have to drive a big truck anyways

[Scissorlegs]

I'm from Brasília, which is the small planned Capital of Brazil, a symbol of modern architecture, is classified as a World Heritage (Unesco) and really pisses some people off.  
Especially those that feel a bit small in comparision, such as the southerners here, who live close to Argentina.  

Truly beautiful!

I, however, am from a smeggy part of a putrid city in a miserable country. Just a molatov cocktail's-throw from the unwashed masses of looting, uneducated, miscreant London youth. The plan is to make my money in the big city then run for the hills... Meanwhile I'll stay here and moan about it in that inimitable English style...

And anyone who wants to tell me how lucky I am to live in such a country can come and experience for themselves how a Nanny-State can destroy a nation.

On the plus side, we've got Steven Hawking....