VFYW: Crazy Rich Nation

For contest #335, we are surrounded by tall towers and stacks of books.

(For this week’s View From Your Window contest, the post exceeds the content limit for Substack’s email service, so to ensure that you see the full results, click the headline above.)

An update on last week’s contest in Georgia:

You stated that several of us (including me) incorrectly answered the V&M Guesthouse: “Sleuths this week guessed a multitude of lodgings, such as V&M Kazbegi Guesthouse and Ketino’s Home. But only two contestants guessed the right guesthouse” — the Temur Sujashvili. But we were talking about the very same building. Here’s the pic from my submission:

And here’s Chini’s:

My guess is that the name of the guesthouse had simply changed. Booking.com, for example, states that the “Guest House Temur Sujashvili has been welcoming Booking.com guests since 26 Apr 2019.” But I’m not sure it makes a difference as to who the winner was, and “what’s in a name” anyway?

Our super-sleuth in Warrensburg, though, is in a state of high dudgeon:

This is a controversy on par with the Chefchaouen dust-up! Is this a Caucasian cover-up? A Georgian jumble?? A post-Soviet scandal??? And since I’ve been led to believe that everything on the internet must be true, this can’t simply be a case of some random person assigning an image to the wrong guesthouse!

Call it Dish-information. On to this week’s challenge:

This week’s view is a clever guise to suck some of us back in with an “easy” view.

It looks likes the United States. Red roofs and architectural shades suggest a warm climate, but there aren’t enough palm trees for southern California or most of Florida. There’s water and a large ship in the background. Somewhere on the Gulf Coast — Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida — or maybe Florida, Georgia, or South Carolina on the Atlantic? I tried searching Getty Images for skyline views. Lots of things similar but not an exact match. I’m beginning to think this is not the United States, but I don’t know where else to search.

Jacksonville, Florida? Pretty sure I’m wrong. But eager to see this week’s magic Google phrase.

Another sleuth also goes with the States:

Those palm trees, and the red-tiled roofs atop ‘70ish white stucco buildings in the mid-ground just scream “Southern California.” The skyscrapers would make you think of one of our larger cities, but that’s the red herring. In fact, Long Beach, CA has a fairly decent modern skyline. And do I see the Queen Mary parked out there in the water?

Nope, it’s another ship. Another jumps north:

Ships in the harbor, white structure that looks like Canada Place, rounded skyscrapers ... Vancouver, BC? That’s all I’ve got, a hunch.

Another jumps over the Atlantic:

I’m almost certain this was taken from One Churchill Place (Barclays HQ), as one can see One Park Drive pretty clearly in the center of the image. One Churchill Place appears to have the right atrium style, and One Park Drive is to the south, and I believe the KPMG HQ to the west? I’ve attached a screenshot to show a very general layout:

I also noted that the older-looking, low-rise buildings seemed “authentically” Old World in a way that led me to discount any of Australia’s major cities or any North/South American metropolis. Finally, it appeared as though the traffic as such was on the left.

Am I right?

Nope, but it’s a persuasive guess. Another sleuth moves east:

My guess is Tel Aviv. At first it felt like India (all those air conditioners!), then China (lots of big cities to choose from). It has no sign of all the satellite dishes on Tel Aviv rooftops, but nevertheless, it’s the best I can do during a limited-time week. I know it’s a bad guess, but you gotta be in it to win it.

Chini always does: