(For the View From Your Window contest, the results below exceed the content limit for Substack’s email service, so to ensure that you see the full results, click the headline above.)
As always, if you ever have a window view you think could be a good fit for the contest — not too easy, not too hard — send it our way: contest@andrewsullivan.com. Please remember to have part of the window frame showing, and horizontal pics are ideal. As much detail about the window’s exact location (e.g. circled in a photo, a hotel room number) is much appreciated. If we pick your pic, we’ll extend your subscription by six months for free. If the pic isn’t quite right for the contest, we might post it in the main Dish as a regular VFYW. Thanks for all the submissions!
OMG, of course it’s Pokhara. I didn’t recognize Machhapuchhre — its fishtail feature is not really discernible from this angle. Here’s a picture of the fishtail feature that I took in 2007 on a trek to the Annapurna Sanctuary:
As one of your sleuth’s mentioned, Machhapuchhre has never been climbed. The government has closed it to climbers. See this article about the mountain’s closure to climbers.
On to this week’s view, here’s a “first-time listener, first-time caller” — welcome!
This pic has a lot of features that whisper “Caribbean” to me: the metal roofs, the palm trees, the cars with North American aspect-ratio license plates, the mini-split A/C systems that are so prevalent in the Caribbean. Also, that cluster of satellite dishes and the proximity of cell antennas says this is a center of commerce. The view in the distance looks like St. Thomas, St. John, and the BVI.
Are we in St. Croix, USVI, on the north shore somewhere? I can’t think of another place in the Caribbean that would have a vantage point of a far away island arrayed like that.
Another exclaims, “This week’s picture caused a serious rift in our marriage!”
“Japan,” said my husband. “A north/south coastline close to the tropics, picture taken at lunchtime.” Armed with this I trawled Okinawa’s shore to no avail: zero satellite dishes in sight! My hunch was somewhere in the Caribbean, but I couldn’t pinpoint any specific island. I give up!
But I enclose the view from my window last Sunday morning in St Michel de Rivière, where I visited a friend in a lovely outpost of France (Dordogne / Bordeaux region):
The super-sleuth in Yarrow Point cries:
Uncle!
So many satellite dishes! Remote island nation, most likely, but Caribbean or South Pacific? Fiji? Samoa? I even looked at Easter Island, because that would be the best VFYW location ever, but Easter Island is too remote with no other land masses within sight, like the view photo. I’ve run out of time, so my WAG is Puerto Rico.
The old-looking boat in the background made me think of two classic books: Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling and The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. (Interestingly, Spencer Tracy starred in both movie adaptions, filming them 20 years apart.) One rainy afternoon when I was in sixth or seventh grade in the 1970s, my classmates and I sat on the floor in the commons area and watched Captains Courageous. This is one of my most vivid memories of the time, because when the lights came up, I had tears in my eyes. I was teased mercilessly for it, but I challenge any of you to watch this movie and not cry at the end.
The story follows a spoiled boy who falls overboard from his family’s yacht and is rescued by a fisherman, Manuel, off the New England coast. He has to live on the fishing vessel for three months and is made to work hard and earn his keep. I just watched the trailer — perhaps the movie hasn’t aged too well (child abuse, racial stereotypes, bad accents), but to be fair, it was filmed 85 years ago. When you see a movie with Mickey Rooney playing a child, you know it’s really old.
I’ve just checked the book out at the library and I hope it lives up to my memories of it. Rereading something you loved as a child is always a dicy business.
The Old Man and the Sea is set in Cuba, so it’s probably closer to this week’s view. It is classic Hemingway: manly men doing noble acts in the face of great hardship. It was his last book. I read it in my English class in 9th grade and struggled to get through it. My goodness, even the trailer is slow and boring.
Anyway, looking forward to finding out where this week’s view is!
A previous winner jumps to another island:
I haven’t had much time this week, but here are my thoughts. There’s something about this picture that feels ... off. The cars and the guy in the high-vis jacket have an American feel to them. But the buildings, not to mention the roundabout, not so much. All of which makes me think maybe we’re in an overseas U.S. territory, or perhaps near a U.S. military base. So, best guess: Guam?
This next sleuth sends an entry just before the Wednesday night deadline:
Ran out of time so I’m just going with my first guess: Suva, Fiji. Should be an interesting contest this time.
Another for Suva:
Deadline: yikes! I’m tempted to use a technique favored by one of my colleagues. He often manages to convey his entire point in the email subject line and merely adds EOM (End of Message) to the end of that line. The body is empty.
He and I have a long working relationship, so we don’t consider that kind of interaction to be rude. But I wouldn’t want to spring that approach on you with no notice. So I’ll provide a bit more context here. VFYW #372: My guess is Suva, Fiji. I can no longer remember why. EOM.
Getting closer is our weekly sleuth in Vancouver, WA:
We think it’s in the Pacific. We are pretty sure it’s LHT (left-hand traffic) and we don’t think there’s a military base shown. But the satellite dishes make us think a research park or university. Our guess is: Apia, Samoa. Apia has LHT, traffic circles, palm trees, and a coastline. Not all of them match up with the photo, but that’s our guess.
Our super-sleuth in Eagle Rock writes, “Pretty tough to find a shot of the actual window for this week’s contest, so I’ll be curious to see Chini’s lovely high-res shot of it from his global drone network.” Chini abides — and provides a clue:
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