Your Hometown

[Hanske]

I'm not a fan of lounging on the beach, but I love playing in the ocean. Also, the smell of salt air and creosoted wood is one of my favorite scents, bar none.

To me it's just a waste of time. In the summer, when it can be 30celsius here in Oslo, I'd rather just take a shower than wasting my time on the beach. If I'm in Italy or Spain, I might go for a swim, but then it's just a swim - nothing else!

[Jakob]

i agree with you i never understood why the beach is a big deal, i hate saltwater ****s my eyes up i dont like the sand and why id rather sit at home and make a prilla of freezer snus.

[Snuts]

Nice photos and great topic.


I'm from the beautiful city of Porto. An old city (it goes back since the I century), smogy, rainy and with some beautiful shiny days too.

Our City Hall




The Rabelo boats (they carry the famous Porto wine down the Rio Douro (golden river))



The Clérigos Tower

[Snuts]

A controversial building (because of the looks and the money it costs). This is the House of Music:

[Snuts]

This is the annual city party called S. João. Everybody grabs his plastic hammer and goes to the streets and hits friends and total strangers in the head. Of course that the good looking girls are hit the most.
Oh and it's forbidden to drink water.

[Hanske]

Beautiful city! That city hall is just breathtaking. I like the looks of the house of music, but I feel that modern architecture shouldn't be mixed up with older. If it's placed alone, or together with other buildings of the same period of time, it would look good, but not if it's located in an area of older buildings.

[bipolarbear1968]

I know some of you don't particular care for the beach life, but here is a pic taken a few years back.

Just going for a walk....

[Hanske]

Just taking a walk on the beach is nice. I like your dog

[lxskllr]

Part 2


Honestly, what I really consider home is the past I went when I first moved out on my own, Havre De Grace. It's still in Harford county, but ~15 miles north east. When I moved there in the early 90s, it was like time passed it by. It could have been 1960 for all anyone knew. The town was full of small shops of the kind you saw 30 years previous, and it even had a 5 & 10 store. Along with time, prosperity passed it by also. It was a blue collar town, and while stable, there wasn't a ton of money there, except for some localized areas. The problems weren't really problems as far as I was concerned. We had old style drunks, and some junkies, but they were harmless. You could go out walking at any time of the day or night, and not be concerned about anything. Which brings up another point. While it was a small town, it had big city amenities. There wasn't a single thing I needed in life I couldn't walk to. Groceries, restaurants, bars, car repair... It was all within a 15 minute walk, yet you didn't take your life in your hands crossing roads, it was awesome :^)


The place I lived in was just outside the business district, right on the corner. What that meant, was I could sit upstairs, and watch what was going on in town, but didn't get the traffic. I couldn't have asked for a better place. The old part of the apartment was built in 1820, and added onto at some later point. If I had to guess, I'd say around 1870. It was one of the oldest buildings in town, as the town got sacked by the British in 1813, and only 2 buildings were left standing.


My apartment was 10 metres behind, and about 5 metres to right of where this picture was taken. View downtown.






Concord Point lighthouse





Plaque commemorating Lt O'Niell's defense of Havre De Grace against the British






It sits along the Susquehanna river, where it turns into the Chesapeake bay at Concord point. The Chesapeake bay is one of the world's greatest inland waterways. It used to be full of fish, shellfish, and water animals. Overfishing, pollution and “progress” have kicked the bay's ass, and it's only a pale shadow of what it once was. There's programs to try restoring the bay, but I think it's hopeless. There's just too many people on this planet.


They've been “improving” the town over the last bunch of years. What that means is yuppies and money have been moving into the area, and there's a delightful array of 3 story condos blighting the waterfront now. As is usually the case, the water goes to the rich, and everyone else can get screwed. I used to spend a lot of time by the water picking up driftwood, and various flotsam, but most of the water access is restricted now. Besides, it just isn't the same. You could go to the water, and get lost in a whole different world for awhile. It's hard to do condos imposing themselves on you every second. Also, the local police now have a gang unit :^S They've replaced those awesome drunks and junkies with crackheads. Now, there's places I wouldn't walk at night, in contrast to way things used to be. I don't know if I could go back there and live anymore. It just isn't the same, and it makes me sad seeing the changes :^/


Good condos – The renovated Bayou hotel. Popular in the 1920s, they featured upscale dining, and jazz music. Fire, and the great depression did it in. Turned into condos in the 90s I believe. Not the most revealing photo, but it's a great angle, and captures the spirit well :^)





Shit condos blighting the waterway :^S

Too many pictures, and they aren't worth looking at anyway. Just imagine some generic piece of garbage that you'd see next to the water just about anywhere. They have all the architectural imagination of the McMansions you find in Fallston, or a strip mall in anytown USA :^/

[Jwalker]

Eh to be fair you need to show oslo in the middle of winter, same for seattle the place is amazing during the summer I think people come up there on vacation during summer and go wow but in the fall it's rainy which I kind of like but most people won't.

[lxskllr]

Eh to be fair you need to show oslo in the middle of winter, same for seattle the place is amazing during the summer I think people come up there on vacation during summer and go wow but in the fall it's rainy which I kind of like but most people won't.

Both of those sound great. Norway's supposed to be cold and snowy. If I went there, I wouldn't want to see it any other way. One of my clan mates goes to Florida every xmas. I can't imagine that. Palm trees have no business being mixed with xmas. I'd rather go to Germany or Sweden for the holidays.

If I left the east coast, Washington is really the only state that appeals to me. Cool and wet are my favorite conditions. If I could live anywhere in the world, it would likely be the west coast of Ireland. I could hardly imagine better weather :^)

[Jwalker]

Oh I don't mind the cold but 18+ hours or more of darkness sounds like too much.

[lxskllr]

Oh I don't mind the cold but 18+ hours or more of darkness sounds like too much.

But the northern lights! I've never seen them in my life. They were supposed to be visible in MD once, but when I went to look, there was too much light pollution :^(

[Hanske]

Eh to be fair you need to show oslo in the middle of winter, same for seattle the place is amazing during the summer I think people come up there on vacation during summer and go wow but in the fall it's rainy which I kind of like but most people won't.

I don't see how you think it was unfair to show the spring/summer/fall pictures, as it is like that in 8 of the 12 months we have. But to do as you say, here's Oslo during the winter. It's still beautiful



http://www.vg.no/uploaded/image/2009...erferie834.jpg

[Hanske]

But the northern lights! I've never seen them in my life. They were supposed to be visible in MD once, but when I went to look, there was too much light pollution :^(

Nice! You can't see it from Oslo. Or you can, every 60 years In Norhern Norway it's common, though. Many people come to Norway to see Oslo, Bergen and the fjords, but actually, thousands of Brits, Americans, Japanese and Chinese come just to see the northern lights. They say they feel like they are close to their dead relatives.. I've never seen it.