Pictures of my home town

I published this in my paper, but thought I'd share it here, too.

Hello, eFriends,

Recently, I have seen a number of articles with pictures of the beautiful places other players live in RL. Having spent a large part of my eLife in close contact with RL Europeans, I realize that a lot of you have no idea what it is like where I live, although you can talk at length and with enthusiasm about one anothers’ homes. So, in order to clear up a few misconceptions – for instance, no I don’t feel any need to carry a weapon when I leave my house – I decided to take some pictures to show you just what it is like here.

First, a few facts and figures to put this in perspective:

I live in the state of Maine, which has a land area of 35,385 sq. mi. (91,646 km²), and a population of 1,328, 188 (estimated 2011), making a population density of 43.01/sq. mi. (16.6/km². It would take me approximately 7 hours to drive from the southernmost point to the northernmost, mostly on interstate highways. In comparison, Belgium has an area of 11,787 sq. mi. (30,528 km²), with an estimated population of 11, 007, 020 (2011), giving a population density of 918.6/sq. mi. (354.7/km²).

The largest city, Portland, has a population of 66,194. Augusta, the state capital, where I live, has a population of 19, 136 (345.4/sq. mi or 133.4/km²). The pictures I have taken also include the nearby towns of Winthrop and Hallowell.

When I was looking for places to take pictures, I realized that even in the heart of the city, the landscape is dominated by water and trees. Many of the pictures include the Kennebec River, which is one of the three principal rivers in the state. The Winthrop area has several lakes, as well. All three towns included here were formerly mill towns, principally textiles and some paper, but those industries are gone now, and the waterways have been cleaned up for recreational use.


Lake Maranacook in Winthrop


West bank of the Kennebec River from Hallowell, looking toward Augusta[/]


[i]This is the Kennebec Rail Trail, which runs from downtown Augusta, through Hallowell, and into Gardiner. I parked by this trail and walked to take all of the following pictures except the last.


From the Rail Trail, looking east across the Kennebec toward my neighborhood (which you can’t see because of hills and trees)


Downtown Augusta about 18:20 on a week night – not much going on


The Old Federal Building on Water Street, downtown in Augusta. This is just to make my European friends feel at home.


Looking downstream on the Kennebec, just off Water Street.


Looking upstream from approximately the same spot. To the right of the bridge is Old Fort Western, a colonial fort that is used for living history/educational purposes.


I was actually trying to catch a rainbow in this picture, but it does show one of the older neighborhoods in Augusta, traditionally a French-speaking part of town.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse into my part of the world. At a later time, I hope to post pictures of more of the state.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse into my part of the world

As a matter of fact, I did. Thank you.

Conneticut FTW but maine is Pretty cool to

Very interesting to see, perhaps others could do the same thing. I very much enjoy learning about the geography in different parts of the world.

Looks a lot like Rhode Island - lots of green.

Can I continue? Great pics MaryamQ!

My home town is Herent in Belgium, but as it is the crappiest, but most expensive, town ever: here is Leuven (where I almost go everyday due to NO activity at all in Herent, except for one festival:

Here is the info for Leuven:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leuven

City hall:


"The biggest bar in the world" (a market place full of bars )


The statue for all the students in Leuven:


University library (burned down in WW1, with a large amount of historical books with it )


Saint-Pieters church (was supposed to be the largest Gothic style church in the world, but as the ground is like swamp, the church collapsed all the time when they made it larger):



Other side (the burned tower is a symbol for WW1, as everything was destroyed):


The station with the statue for the "rape of Leuven" in WW1:



One of the many university buidings:


THE BREWERY!!!

It's really called "the rape of Leuven" ?

well, actually the rape of Belgium, but Leuven had the worst things

Great pictures from both of you!

cooke4444 wrote:well, actually the rape of Belgium, but Leuven had the worst things

How so ? It seems to me that the Ardennes had the worst part, what happened in Leuven ?

Bombed, the sh*t out of it, executed random citizens, mayorand rectors, burned every house to the ground which was still standing up



(that's the library)

Procuste wrote:

cooke4444 wrote:well, actually the rape of Belgium, but Leuven had the worst things

How so ? It seems to me that the Ardennes had the worst part, what happened in Leuven ?

leuven was the largest city to be ransacked by the germans in WW I, the ardennes were mostly villages attacked.

and is it me or is the rape of leuven a very fallus-depicted wise statue :p

Olv007 wrote:Great pictures from both of you!

Maine surely is one of the most beautiful states in the USA.