Omniglot - the blog

Where in the world?

Simon on 11 Nov 2007

Language and Travel and Quiz questions | Comments (13)

13 Responses to “Where in the world?”

1. Chris on 11 Nov 2007 at 7:58 pm #

   Is it Tallinn? If so, the language is Estonian, with a minority of Russian speakers.

2. Simon on 11 Nov 2007 at 8:58 pm #

   No, it’s not Tallinn.

3. Mike on 11 Nov 2007 at 9:54 pm #

   Is it Warsaw? If so, the language is Polish.

4. Martin on 11 Nov 2007 at 10:02 pm #

   Edumacated guesses:

   The sun seems to be off to the left of the picture, so we’re very likely facing north/northwest. It’s flat, and there’s water off in the distance. And it’s overcast.

   Plus the brick-facade merchant houses. Everything suggests northern Europe rather than the Adriatic. Probably the Low Countries, though it could be the Baltic — given the onion domes — as your other reader suggested. Ruling out Tallinn, that suggests places like Riga, Vilnius, Gdansk, Bruge, Antwerp or Amsterdam. But I don’t recall anything of the sort in those cities.

   Stumped!

   Wish I knew my architecture — that merchant house beyond the square is really striking!

5. H.E. on 11 Nov 2007 at 10:46 pm #

   hmm… my guess would be Prague.

6. prase on 11 Nov 2007 at 11:31 pm #

   Definitely not Prague.

   It looks like Filharmonijas skvērs in Rīga, Latvia.

7. luningning on 12 Nov 2007 at 4:17 am #

   it’s in Warsaw, in the royal castle square.
   of course Warsaw being the capital of Poland, the language spoken would be Polish.

8. Tony Allan on 12 Nov 2007 at 6:35 am #

   My guess is Riga, where they speak Latvian.

9. TJ on 12 Nov 2007 at 9:10 am #

   Martin, nice guess!
   but what if it was the sunrise and the direction we are facing in the picture is south?
   That might change the whole thing hmmmm…

   Romania ? (Bucuresti or Bucharest?)
   It is some where in Eastern Europe this is for sure I guess!

10. Simon on 12 Nov 2007 at 9:46 am #

    Mike and luningning got it - it is indeed Warsaw (Warszawa), the capital of Poland, where Polish is spoken. The photo shows Royal Castle Square (Plac Zamkowy).

11. Martin on 12 Nov 2007 at 2:15 pm #

    And I’ve been there, too! Awk! Guess I best remember the place from ground level, but now that I look carefully, it’s certainly the spot!

    Did you know the entire square is a careful restoration? Warsaw was not only bombed in WW II, as anyone who’s seen the Pianist will know, but actually demolished block by block by the Nazis as they were forced out. Krakow (near Auschwitz) escaped the same fate only because the collapse was prepared in far more haste….

    Thanks! Great quiz!

12. Antoine Cassar on 14 Nov 2007 at 5:04 pm #

    Greetings from Luxembourg.

    I didn’t manage to guess the city when I saw this post a few days ago, but searching for songs of Franco Battiato on Youtube, I just came across this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku5Gwhseeik (Radio Varsavia).

    I very much like the sound of the Polish language… I hope to delve a little deeper into Polish some time soon.

13. Karolina on 15 Nov 2007 at 9:56 pm #

    Hi - nice to know that someone guessed the place.
    Greetings from Warsaw! (Warszawa)