Guess the City

i don't get a german american vibe fwiw (i get that this is a museum or whatever, but those pink vestments do feel v catholic)

That Santa photo on the right, taken outside next to a large sign. Lifts? Litts? Maybe an old deparment store?

There's another set of letters in the background, KUM, could be a radio station? There's a WKUM in Puerto Rico

this all feels like some "here's how pope X celebrated christmas when he was a child" display to me - and those three tower pictures... Germany/Austria/Switzerland/Italy?

I don't think it's Ratzinger, this is in his childhood house in Marktl, Bavaria (where they have a couple of free standing square towers but nothing 100% like on those pics): https://www.papsthaus.eu/index.php?page=biografie-raeume

not John Paul II either https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOizlB4Guq8S5BuN8i-qyBkKkaf1P22OBeFmsa6ifPlIaKtPIoqo-BzmAGJsRXg-g?key=MGlVZW85VWx3Qmo1TlJ2dWppZHhjLTd5WGxIY3Fn

That totally makes sense. Though it looks a bit threadbare for a pope's museum. Maybe a cardinal or other luminary of the church?

a small parish when they worked before they got promoted maybe - but we can't go too far back either - when was Santa invented again? he did exist before coca cola gave him the red suit in the early 20th century, right?

it's the saddest christmas tree ever as well. a sign of poverty/famine/wartime?

oh yeah, father christmas and saint Nicholas existed before. but that Santa Claus look isn't too old imho

don't think it's a real tree, but in general I love spindly christmas trees

the wooden shepherd's cane could be famous, dunno?

not Father Pio either I think (stigmata dude in italy)

it could just as easily be "this is what (priest dude) brought with him from his home land" - turning it into a "could be anywhere in the world" deal. In short, I give up. Can I request a second pic?

Salzburg Christmas museum / Weihnachtsmuseum?

that looks way more professional than the pic we've got, I think

that "ho ho ho" got me wondering... Was that associated with Father Christmas in continental Europe forever or is it a relatively recent import from the English speaking world?

The one label I could read was in English ("Christmas Pyramid" with no apparent non-English co-label) so I assume it's in the English speaking world.

I think this has got to be US - English writing puts it in the Anglophone world, and this just doesn't feel very British/Commonwealth. Popish robes a bit of a mystery though. Writing in the Santa photo looks like 'Tafts' maybe?

cardinals wear red too - do any famous imported german/european ones spring to mind?

The power outlets are American

Looks like pianos in the Santa Claus vintage photo? Don't think that helps much

Oops already noted

Need something to grease these wheels

Not a huge fan of these indoor ones if I'm being honest

I feel like we haven't been able to get enough info from those three drawings/paintings of 1. a church that looks a bit like Notre Dame in Paris (two towers at one end but this one has a bigger one on the other end so it's not Notre Dame) - then below that 2. a big white castle/fort type building in the mountains and the third pic is a 3. rectangular tower + horses + something with stairs... None of this rings a clear bell with me though, no idea where/how to start searching for them.

The family photo with a way more healthy christmas tree... grandad, dad, 4 kids and mother? (I thought people had like at least 15 kids before WWII, is this a wartime/depression inspired tiny family?)

Top left corner of the "Santa on the street with a white piano (and maybe a second piano?)" picture: it's a store's name I guess, but what does it say? Lafis? Tafis? Tafts?

the KUM that waterface already mentioned in that same pic (organs instead of pianos maybe?) : could be KUH or XUH too?

Yeah sorry, I'm repeating info other people had already noticed aren't I - meh

Not a huge fan of these indoor ones if I'm being honest

― ignore the blue line (or something), Wednesday, November 10, 2021 9:03 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

heavy cosign. this isn't "Guess the Interior"

agree, jeez

I kinda like the inside ones because when I first see them I'm like "this is so crazy, but *someone* is going to figure it out"

I’m fine with an interior as the first photo

the interiors are interesting to me because guessing at them involves different referents than the exteriors. that being said, i basically follow this thread now to look at foliage in different photos and wonder about it, so i'd be disappointed if they weren't posted as much.

Even if you like the indoor ones (NB: you are wrong) no one’s been able to guess this one and cherry blossom has apparently taken a powder.

Which is fine, of course— cherry blossom almost single-handedly keeps the thread going

but yeah, this is an inscrutable pic, no one has a clue.

Feel like we've at least nailed it down to a small city in the US that had immigration from a Catholic country. (Having put all that down in black and white now it's probably all wrong!)

I had thought the correct guesser got to set the next challenge, but that's not the case?

That used to be be they way it worked, but it seems many guessers don't jump in with a new one soon enough, or at all.

Yeah tbf cherry blossom's heroic efforts in starting my favourite thread and keeping it going ensure I'll cut their idiosyncrasies plenty of slack

Those Christmas pyramids are characteristically (but not exclusively) German fwiw.

Definitely not throwing shade at cherry blossom, just that we are foundering without them lol. Hope they’re just busy.

Not sure what to make of the German origin of Christmas pyramids, as it doesn't jibe with what looks like Catholic clerical garb.

the photo has already disappeared behind the fold in this ~8000-post thread. it's obviously stitched together from at least a few images

There are Catholic Germans, right?

Yes but they’re in bavaria and I think they’re kind of under represented among German Americans.

Fair warning I’m like 80% certain that’s a US outlet and catholic vestments, but I could be completely wrong.

https://i.ibb.co/Ms4bk3X/Screenshot-2021-11-12-at-04-39-45.png

Back in the streets

Wisconsin is filled with descendants of Catholic immigrants from Bavaria fwiw

It's flat, there's a pick up truck, I'm guessing somewhere midwest