Monday, April 30, 2012

OUR WORLD - Peterborough Sunrise



                 Well, I'm safely back from our 1,400km trip to the wonders of our arid lands.
I have no idea why Blogger had to 'fix' something that was working well, at least much better and easier than now where every time I try to change something, I lose the whole post! This is my fourth attempt to get up an Our World post and I sincerely hope it works.


Once a thriving and important railway town with a prosperous agricultural base, Peterborough now still boasts a main street with four large hotels of the colonial era as well as the most imposing YMCA building I have seen anywhere.


Our overnight stop proved to be a goldmine of 18th and early 19th century architecture built to outlast the usefulness of the town itself.
The railway station has gone and unfortunately, there are many gaps in the once splendid main street.


The four hotels still left are the 'Federation', the 'Railway Hotel', the 'Peterborough Hotel' and, if I remember rightly, the 'Commercial.


A view to the YMCA and Town Hall with a typical palm tree of the 1870's still growing strong.


At left, the YMCA, a massive building with 15-18 foot ceilings and flanking it is the equally impressive Town Hall. Sorry, the photo does not capture the grandiloquence of either building and leaves out entirely the third in this row which is an even more opulent mansion, complete with ballroom.


For a sunrise walker, even the backstreets offer dear little cottages as well as many other houses marking the passage of the well-to-do of another era.


A little further back, there are also somewhat less salubrious sights.


And, lucky last, a peep at what lies ahead for a week or two of other posts to come.

15 comments:

  1. It did indeed work, and is a joy. I loved your photos. Every rural town of any size I know has a Railway and a Commercial Hotel.
    I chickened out of the new look blogger because I found it a pain. Perhaps it will be better by the time all of us are forced to use it.

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  2. I love your photos..I am so sorry Blogger was giving you a hard time. That is so annoying..hope all is well...hugs..Michelle

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  3. i really like the morning light you captured these in. yeah, every town has those less than stellar scenes hidden off main street. :)

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  4. What a wonderful place and I'm so glad you got blogger to work! Marvelous captures as always, Arija! Hope your week is going well! Enjoy!

    Sylvia

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  5. Kind of like walking back in time. Love the old buildings.

    Have heard lots of complaints about the new blogger. Sure glad I went to WordPress when I did.

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  6. I love your appreciation of Peterborough's history, and am really impressed with the sunrise lighting on the buildings. Just beautiful.

    Separate note: I have just posted for the first time on My World Tuesday, but for some reason, my post shows up in draft form. I'm sorry about that. Hopefully, I will get the hang of things by next week.

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  7. Some wonderful photos of the old town. So different from Peterborough UK!

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  8. Welcome back! I'm so glad I'm not on Blogger...

    Love the golden light in your shots.

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  9. Welcome back and thanks for sharing the good things you discovered.

    You can still get the old Blogger editor back. Click on the gear wheel "Blogger options" and a dropdown box will have "Old Blogger interface."

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  10. Looks like you finally got your post on and it looks like a great place for a walk by, just lovely old buildings and it must give your life a sweet freshness~

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  11. Beautiful old buildings!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  12. That stop if I experienced something like that, would be a serendipity to me. I just love old architecture. Your finds are beautiful.

    P.S. Discovered I missed writing my country next to my name right after I entered the linky (will not forget it next time). My apologies.

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  13. Love the architecture! And you are right, that is the most grand YMCA I have ever seen!

    Looking forward to more.

    xoxo

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  14. Now need to catch up. I can see by these marvelous buildings that this was once a very thriving city. Thanks for sharing Arija. Hope Blogger gets itself straightened out. I opted to go back to the original setup. Don't like the new one.

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  15. What a joy to see your posts to catch up on (after I've been away myself for a bit more than a week). So glad you had a wonderful trip and so glad that you got the "improvements" figured out (I don't use blogger, but my host does the same thing every s often! Why can't they all just leave well enough alone?) I enjoyed the town tour here and that you showed the bad as well as the beautiful, because it makes me realize that the "not so salubrious" scenes aren't just in ..wherever I am!
    Your lovely pictures are of course as always most appreciated!

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