The while-we-wait-for-river-cruises photo quiz

[jpalbny]

What and where is this building? 

 

[Ritabob]

The American Embassy  in....?

[capriccio]

US Embassy Prague, Vltava River

[jpalbny]

8 hours ago, capriccio said:

US Embassy Prague, Vltava River

 

Yes, it's part of the US Embassy complex, which occupies the former Schönborn Palace, as well as its grounds and gardens. We walked by this on our way down from Petrin Hill and were amused to see a US flag here in Prague. This particular building is the Glorietta.

 

Over to you.

Edited March 7, 2021 by jpalbny

[capriccio]

26 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

 

Yes, it's part of the US Embassy complex, which occupies the former Schönborn Palace, as well as its grounds and gardens. We walked by this on our way down from Petrin Hill and were amused to see a US flag here in Prague. This particular building is the Glorietta.

 

Over to you.

I recognized it because my DH was frequently visiting the Embassy on temporary duty more than a decade ago and on one of his longer trips I flew over for glorious 3 days of touring Prague with him.  We stayed in the Aria Hotel which is very close to the Embassy (and had an incredible rate for Embassy visitors).

 

Let me see if I can find a photo.

[Coral]

This is totally un-related but this picture made me think of this story. I was visiting a friend who was living with a US Embassy family in Rome. I got to stay in their home which was amazing. It was a building that housed probably 4-5 embassy families. The floor my friend lived on had 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 4-5 living type rooms, 2 kitchens, etc...It was definitely meant for entertaining at a high level. There was a scary looking guard outside of the building with a huge gun what looked like an AK47. I would sort of wave at him every time I would go into the building hoping he thought I was friendly and praying he didn't shoot me or talk to me (neither happened).

 

The American Embassy in Rome has catacombs underneath it. I heard they did tours and they asked if I wanted to go as one was going on that week. I said yes - what I didn't realize was that there were probably 7 of us on the tour and each of us needed to have our US Embassy contact with us - so we had 7 visitors and 7 embassy escorts on the tour. I felt guilty taking my friend's friend away from the job and thought that was somewhat over kill. A year or so after I left - they found a tunnel in the basement and thought it was a possible terrorist plot to release cyanide gas at the American Embassy.

[capriccio]

This is another in our series of interesting roof pictures.  It is an often photographed structure and I suggest we give someone who hasn't won/participated in a while a try first!

 

Name the building, city and river.

 

[capriccio]

Coral - my DH was posted at US Embassy Rome for 4 years in the 1980s.  I know exactly the building you are describing!  We lived on the other side of the Villa Borghese.  We didn't have a guard (he was low on the totem pole then) but the Israeli Embassy down the block had multiple levels of security which made our one block street feel relatively safe.  When we lived in Greece in the late 90s we had 24 hour armed security outside our house because Greek terrorists had killed 5 US Embassy officials in about 20 years (and killed a UK diplomat right before we left post).  The neighbors - including the head of the largest ouzo company in Greece - complained to the Embassy when we moved and the guard was removed because the new family assigned the house didn't 'rate' the additional security. Diplomacy is not all talk and cocktail parties 😏 even in first world countries.

[Coral]

4 minutes ago, capriccio said:

Coral - my DH was posted at US Embassy Rome for 4 years in the 1980s.  I know exactly the building you are describing!  We lived on the other side of the Villa Borghese.  We didn't have a guard (he was low on the totem pole then) but the Israeli Embassy down the block had multiple levels of security which made our one block street feel relatively safe.  When we lived in Greece in the late 90s we had 24 hour armed security outside our house because Greek terrorists had killed 5 US Embassy officials in about 20 years (and killed a UK diplomat right before we left post).  The neighbors - including the head of the largest ouzo company in Greece - complained to the Embassy when we moved and the guard was removed because the new family assigned the house didn't 'rate' the additional security. Diplomacy is not all talk and cocktail parties 😏 even in first world countries.

Yes - it was right across from Villa Borghese!!!! That is exactly the building I stayed at. The Embassy family had a daughter who was hearing impaired and they hired my friend to do sign language at her school for her and she lived with the family. They had one extra bedroom so my friend could bring friends over if she wanted (they just had to coordinate so both the family and my friend didn't have visitors at the same time). I wasn't present for any "cocktail parties". I just remember sometimes I would get lost walking around Rome and would always end up near the American Embassy and then I knew how to walk back to where I was staying. The bus schedule to Villa Borghese always messed me up as it would run during the day but not at night - it was just easier to walk and Rome is definitely a walking city.

 

That is so cool about your DH. I didn't realize that was the work he did!

[notamermaid]

Wow, what stories, kind of makes me happy I am a complete underling in my quite unimportant field of expertise (tourism).

 

Sadly, there are too many idiots and ill-wishers around to feel safe. In Budapest I got some suspicious stares when I was at the British embassy building. I wanted to take a photo of a stone with the British coat of arms in metal on it, about 15m away from the entrance. This very slow street sweeper vehicle was in my line of vision so I waited patiently. I caught the attention of the guard at the entrance, he was getting rather suspicious of me, so when the street sweeper was gone I quickly took the photo and gave the guard the chance to go back to all calm mode.

 

notamermaid

 

[capriccio]

Will be back in about 1 hour after my morning walk...

[notamermaid]

Nice spire. And patterned coloured rooftops look so attractive. To be honest I have actually no idea where this is.

 

Now, who can tell us, someone who might have been lurking in the background for days? Come out of hiding. The regulars would like to hear from you with a guess.

 

notamermaid

 

[dogs4fun]

Beautiful place to visit - hope a lurker will identify it. 🙂

 

I'll bet you have some interesting stories to tell @capriccio - you must have had some very unique experiences.

Edited March 7, 2021 by dogs4fun

[Coral]

9 minutes ago, dogs4fun said:

Beautiful place to visit - hope a lurker will identify it. 🙂

 

I'll bet you have some interesting stories to tell @capriccio - you must have had some very unique experiences.

I agree - it seems like a dream job!

[dogs4fun]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

I agree - it seems like a dream job!

Yes, in terms of travel, it sure does. Not so sure about the political aspect - would it still be a dream job? I’m thinking of those unfortunate diplomats that were pretty disparaged & lost/left their posts over the course of the last few years. 😐

Edited March 7, 2021 by dogs4fun

[Coral]

7 minutes ago, dogs4fun said:

Yes, in terms of travel, it sure does. Not so sure about the political aspect - would it still be a dream job? I’m thinking of those unfortunate diplomats that were pretty disparaged & lost/left their posts over the course of the last few years. 😐

Growing up it would have been my dream job. I was a poli sci/history major. I had to take care of a sick parent starting in college so I was grounded and I never could pursue it.

 

I have to agree that there have been some very bad situations that we all know about - so I know it is not the picture I thought of as a young person. It still sounds exciting.

 

I have a friend whose daughter got her dream job in the UN and has had some great assignments. She has been stuck this past year in her apartment in Kosovo. The previous year - she traveled every weekend in Europe.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Coral

[capriccio]

I know that in our case neither of our two children had any interest in following in their father's footsteps and when a niece working on a masters degree in international affairs asked my DH for his opinion he gave her the unvarnished truth, both the good and the bad.  She did take the foreign service exam but just missed a high enough score to move to the next level for consideration.  She is now very happily working for a non-governmental health organization that allows her travel and gives her a great sense of satisfaction.

[Daisi]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

I agree - it seems like a dream job!

 

I have a friend who is higher up in the diplomatic ranks, probably because she will go anywhere so ends up in a lot of trouble spots.  Yes, she gets to travel, but it can get pretty scary waiting to hear that she has gotten out of some places.  My Niece on the other hand works with embassies through other areas, and is usually one of the first to go out, even if she goes to some places that are a bit risky.

[notamermaid]

I once applied for an embassy job, when they were all still in Bonn. Did not get it. I have never regretted not having got the job. Things worked out well for me in a less prestigious but still international institution (company).

 

A few years later I would have had to move with the embassy to Berlin. No way would I have done that.

 

notamermaid

 

[capriccio]

DH did TDYs in both Somalia and Kosovo where he was armed the entire time and actually came under fire a couple of times in Somalia.  That was difficult since he was only allowed 1 call a week if the Satellite phone was working and, depending on what was being reported in the news I would get a call from the Department saying he was okay. 

 

The funniest story from that time was that our 10 year old daughter was going to sports camp in Arlington County (VA) and came home and said that VP Gore's son, Albert, was in camp with her.  I didn't believe her (no security was evident) but asked the counselors the next day and it was true.  One day she came home and said that Albert hated his father's job because he was never home.  Our daughter's response was she hated her father's job because Albert's father sent him to Somalia.  I explained that wasn't quite the way it happened but she was having none of it.

[Coral]

3 minutes ago, Daisi said:

 

I have a friend who is higher up in the diplomatic ranks, probably because she will go anywhere so ends up in a lot of trouble spots.  Yes, she gets to travel, but it can get pretty scary waiting to hear that she has gotten out of some places.  My Niece on the other hand works with embassies through other areas, and is usually one of the first to go out, even if she goes to some places that are a bit risky.

A friend of mine's brother in law is a CNN correspondent and gets all of the dangerous assignments and seems to enjoy them. He speaks several dialects of Arabic . He has been shot at, was in a van when someone with him was kidnapped, etc.... When I mentioned the kidnapping situation to my friend her response was "his wife is going to be so upset with him"..... He must be pretty daring in real life.

[capriccio]

Back to the picture in post 3032. 

 

Time for a clue:  this is in a city known as the terminus for many river cruises.

 

Still hoping, as notamermaid put so well, that " Now, who can tell us, someone who might have been lurking in the background for days? Come out of hiding. The regulars would like to hear from you with a guess."

[Canal archive]

Wow just worked it out! Great angle to confuse us capriccio. At first I thought it was a country on my bucket list but I’ve been there more than once. CA

[Coral]

4 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Wow just worked it out! Great angle to confuse us capriccio. At first I thought it was a country on my bucket list but I’ve been there more than once. CA

I did the same thing. I recognized one part but not the other.

[notamermaid]

57 minutes ago, capriccio said:

Time for a clue:  this is in a city known as the terminus for many river cruises.

So just looking at this the other way round it means it is not in Vienna as that is usually a city in between. I think there is an important clue on the roof, a symbol. I have just looked around the internet and it came up with a pub near Bath that has the name of the symbol. Err, not the place you are looking for. Looks a nice traditional pub though.

 

Edit: I have of course ignored the other symbol. I suggest looking at that one a bit more...

 

notamermaid

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by notamermaid