In this column, we’ll be using the internet to try to figure out exactly where people took their random photos.
This week, we have an image provided by Kirsty. We got last week’s entry correct, the photo from Mr. Abel was indeed taken from the cafe at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.
First Thoughts: Okay, very interesting. Looks like Southeast Asia. No, that actually looks like a very European church. Italy…? Not sure about this one. Smoggy as well, though.
On closer inspection, the building in the bottom left has a sign that seems to read “La Pino…zza?” and.. Oh! La Pino’z Pizza! It’s on the other side, too, nice. Let’s google that. Interesting. It’s a pizza chain in India. There seems to be about 20 of them so I’ll just look at all of them on street view. Okay fuck there’s way more than 20, and there’s also no street view, so we’ll have to do this all from aerial imagery.
Jesus Christ, there are so many La Pino’z Pizzas in India. Most of them are in high-rises, so that’s not what we’re looking at here. Not one of the branches in Bengaluru, and not Hyderabad, Mumbai or Delhi, either. Wherever we’re looking has to be quite hilly, as well. I think I have to abandon the pizza route and start looking at the church. Let’s google “red roof church India” and see how we go. It’s quite distinctive, so this ought to work. Red roof, white walls, twin steeples. Let’s see. How many could there be?
Lots. There’s lots. Shoot. Okay well let’s try looking in Kelston, India because they seem to have heaps of churches. I’m on the Wikipedia page for catholic churches in India now, which is pretty interesting. But y’know, I’m not even sure that’s a church in the first place. Let’s try going by pizza locations again. Back to the list of every single La Pino’z in India.
23 locations down and oh, yo, we might have found it. La Pino’z Pizza location number 24: Shimla. This one is looking promising, nice and hilly. This is looking good. Can’t see anything, no 3D buildings, but let’s see if we can google “Shimla church”. Okay, they have a church, but it’s quite grand. No, that’s not our red-roofed one. But wait! Yes! That’s it! Just left and below the church I googled, you can see a green-tipped building and our funky twin-tipped red and white building, which means the photographer must’ve been standing right on the grounds of the church, the real church, which was out of frame originally. Gotcha!
Final Answer: Parking lot of Christ Church, in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. That was a tough one, took me about two hours. But we got there! Cbk for a pizza now, though.
Want to send in your own picture? Send an email to maps@critic.co.nz and we’ll give it a shot. Correct answers will be published next week.