River Cruising Water Cooler

[CPT Trips]

16 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Did you know that you can travel from New York to Boston in just 20 minutes by car - without speeding? I tried to do that a few years ago when I was in Lincolnshire but a traffic jam did not leave me enough time to go that route before reaching my hotel near Lincoln.

 

notamermaid

 

Would you believe Paris to Norway in 10 minutes or so?  Or Manchester to Belgrade by bike in well under an hour?

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, CPT Trips said:

Would you believe Paris to Norway in 10 minutes or so?  Or Manchester to Belgrade by bike in well under an hour?

Good ones! Where are those, all in the US?

 

notamermaid

 

[jpalbny]

On our trip through Western New York last October, we drove through Salamanca, Panama, Hamburg, Boston, and Bagdad within a few hours.

[capriccio]

3 hours ago, jpalbny said:

On our trip through Western New York last October, we drove through Salamanca, Panama, Hamburg, Boston, and Bagdad within a few hours.

Did you go to Greece too?

 

Our daughter graduated high school in Athens, Greece.  Her first week at college in updstate New York another freshman started making the usual small talk with "Where are you from?"  She replied "Greece."  He got all excited and said "Me, too!  What high school did you go to?"  She replied "The American Community School."  He looked puzzled and said "There isn't a high school with that name in Greece."  She looked puzzled and said "Of course there is. ACS Athens." 

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, jpalbny said:

On our trip through Western New York last October, we drove through Salamanca, Panama, Hamburg, Boston, and Bagdad within a few hours.

Wow. That must be hard to beat as a whirlwind world tour.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Talking of namesakes or shared names. You probably know Neustadt, which basically means Newtown. It is so common that the mostly German Neustadts together with many scattered ones across Europe have formed a friendship, registered as a proper town twinning. Here is the website: https://www.neustadt-in-europa.de/en/

 

Now there is an idea for a mad trip through Europe. "Where are you going in Europe?" "Neustadt." "Where is that?" "In Germany and in Austria and ... ."

 

notamermaid

 

[capriccio]

One more Greece story...

 

Our son was on a 6th grade field trip to the Acropolis.  An older couple (who knows how old since anyone over 20 looks old to an 11 year old) heard a few of the kids speaking English and asked "Where are you from?"  They replied "Athens."  The couple got all excited and said "So are we!"  The kids looked confused because, after all, why was that special?  The couple asked "What part of the city?"  The kids responded with the names of different neighborhoods (obviously Greek names).  The couple looked increasingly puzzled.  So did the kids.  Finally one of the couple said "You all aren't from Georgia are you?"

[jpalbny]

We have been to Neuberg an der Danau, back on one of our Audi trips. We drove there from Ingolstadt, toured the castle, and headed onward. Not a Neustadt but the name reminds me of one.

 

We stopped at High Falls (Rochester) on our NY trip, so we did pass close to Greece too.

[notamermaid]

Rochester - that reminds me of the (original) Rochester in Kent. Another great place in England, been there three times. This will need to feature in my travel series about Britain.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Reminds me of a game we had for our Girl Guides to teach them map reading, is this a defunct art? Find a  very unusual, rudest, name on a map and workout the reference, strangely a popular exercise.

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, Canal archive said:

Reminds me of a game we had for our Girl Guides to teach them map reading, is this a defunct art? Find a  very unusual, rudest, name on a map and workout the reference, strangely a popular exercise.

Check out some of the names in Newfoundland!

[capriccio]

16 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Check out some of the names in Newfoundland!

Lancaster County (Amish Country), Pennsylvania has some too that are very well known in the States.

[KathyK13]

2 hours ago, jpalbny said:

We have been to Neuberg an der Danau, back on one of our Audi trips. We drove there from Ingolstadt, toured the castle, and headed onward. Not a Neustadt but the name reminds me of one.

 

We stopped at High Falls (Rochester) on our NY trip, so we did pass close to Greece too.

I was born in Batavia, lived in Rochester, Avon, and Greece growing up😀

 

[Daisi]

52 minutes ago, capriccio said:

Lancaster County (Amish Country), Pennsylvania has some too that are very well known in the States.

Yes, Lancaster County does have some "interesting" names, especially if you see them all together.  Newfoundland's are also good for a laugh.

 

Most of the area where I am is named after towns in the UK, and mostly Irish or Scottish by nature,  My Grandfather's family originated in Lochaber Scotland, and ironically, my Dad was born in Lochaber Quebec where on his maternal Grandparents had a farm as his parents were living in the US and they wanted him born in Canada. 

 

We do have Paris, Luxumberg, (New) Hamburg, Delhi and several others. in Ontario.  The ones I've named are all within 1-2 hrs drive (back roads) of each other. 

[ural guy]

Near us in NY is the village of Copenhagen, which is in the town of Denmark.  That fits, unlike the town of Poland with no Warsaw, or the nearby town of Russia with no Moscow.

 

We were in Athens, Greece back in the late 80's.  My wife had her Syracuse sweatshirt on.  Thanks to Rony Seikaly, people knew she wasn't representing for SIcily.  Rony, who was playing basketball for SU, and had been on the Greek National team as a teenager.  Good way to meet people.

[CPT Trips]

12 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Good ones! Where are those, all in the US?

 

notamermaid

 

Ayup! Maine.

 

Just stay away from Derry, Jerusalem’s Lot, and CastleRock.

[dogs4fun]

13 minutes ago, CPT Trips said:

Just stay away from Derry, Jerusalem’s Lot, and CastleRock.

LOL! 🤣 I loved King's books as a teen & young adult.

Edited July 14, 2021 by dogs4fun

[notamermaid]

3 minutes ago, dogs4fun said:

LOL! 🤣 I loved King's books as a teen & young adult.

Yeaah, that is definitely an insider one (American). I cannot relate. But not to worry. My, that sign post must have icon status!

 

Which reminds me of the sign posts in England in the middle of nowhere. Just showing local places of course. Would love to see those again.

 

Here they do these sign posts that show something like Mainz 20km and then some obscure French name or some place with a sign saying 452km (or something). Which means that it is that far to their twin town.

 

notamermaid

 

[CPT Trips]

15 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Yeaah, that is definitely an insider one (American). I cannot relate. But not to worry. My, that sign post must have icon status!

 

notamermaid

 

Yes, it is an insider one. Stephen King is a prolific writer of horror stories, mostly lengthy novels. Many of his books are set in Maine - those fictional towns. I know his books have been translated into German. I don’t know how well they translate as his writing uses a lot of slang, idioms, and “Maineisms.”

[notamermaid]

Thanks for the info. That King. I did not know that he is from Maine. Have never read any of his books. He is famous in Germany, his books are bestsellers here in that genre.

 

notamermaid

 

[CPT Trips]

55 minutes ago, dogs4fun said:

LOL! 🤣 I loved King's books as a teen & young adult.

Guess I’m older than you. Uncle Stevie and I are the same age. I first discovered him with Salem’s Lot . . . Got hooked.

[jpalbny]

Chris was into those books when we first met. I read a few but never got too much into them. In all honesty my favorite by him was "Eyes of the Dragon" which is a totally different genre.

[Coral]

1 hour ago, dogs4fun said:

LOL! 🤣 I loved King's books as a teen & young adult.

I read them also during that time. Haven't touched one since.

 

I remember going to the Stanley Hotel in Estes when I was 20 or so expecting to find a maze in the back of the hotel. Alas, there wasn't one.

 

Edited July 14, 2021 by Coral

[dogs4fun]

11 minutes ago, Coral said:

I read them also during that time. Haven't touched one since.

 

I remember going to the Stanley Hotel in Estes when I was 20 or so expecting to find a maze in the back of the hotel. Alas, there wasn't one.

 

Evidently, The Stanley was King's inspiration for the Overlook (if memory serves, the Overlook in the movie version is a Mt. Hood lodge). King actually wrote The Shining while living in Boulder, CO. I had researched King & the hotel before visiting otherwise I also would have been looking for a maze. 😅The Stanley has drastically changed since my first visit -  it is been nicely refurbished & is now quite expensive.

[Coral]

7 minutes ago, dogs4fun said:

Evidently, The Stanley was King's inspiration for the Overlook (if memory serves, the Overlook in the movie version is a Mt. Hood lodge). King actually wrote The Shining while living in Boulder, CO. I had researched King & the hotel before visiting otherwise I also would have been looking for a maze. 😅The Stanley has drastically changed since my first visit -  it is been nicely refurbished & is now quite expensive.

I think the miniseries was maybe filmed there but I never knew there was a miniseries when I went there. I remember the movie.

Edited July 15, 2021 by Coral