Tired of the view out your windows?
July 12, 2020 2:30 PM   Subscribe

 
What a cool idea. I always take a picture of the view out my window when I travel so this is definitely aimed at my brand of wanderlust.
posted by potrzebie at 2:38 PM on July 12, 2020 [4 favorites]


This is great!
posted by The otter lady at 2:44 PM on July 12, 2020


I love this. Makes you realize just how static your world is compared to some of these.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:59 PM on July 12, 2020 [1 favorite]


This is wonderful. A little disappointed that it isn't live views like I originally thought it may be, but I'll easily get over it.
posted by General Malaise at 3:05 PM on July 12, 2020 [3 favorites]


Oh, wow -- I was clicking through these and idly enjoying each before clicking onward, and then I came upon one (Lyana Mahirah's window in Singapore) that I've been watching for ten minutes now. It's a little enclosed patio/courtyard, with an awning overhead, plants, a hammock and a fan, a clay teapot, a cat drowsing on a table, and on one side a -- waterfall? a gentle steady whoosh of water coming down from above, a little sound of water and breeze, and it's so incredibly restful and peaceful--I wish there were some way to bookmark/save a specific window, because I want very badly to be able to go back there when I'm frazzled. It's like a little magic world that I don't know if I'll ever be able to find again (don't know how often a single view cycles through).
posted by Kat Allison at 3:08 PM on July 12, 2020 [19 favorites]


It's amazing how the views range from "It is obvious where this is" to "This could be anywhere" even when given equally broad views of the environment.
posted by Justinian at 3:11 PM on July 12, 2020 [2 favorites]


i learned one thing from this - there are palm trees in wales

i had no idea
posted by pyramid termite at 3:25 PM on July 12, 2020 [9 favorites]


Kat Allison I saw the same one so hopefully it won't be that hard to come across again. Wish they were live or at least longer though, per the submission page they're asking for submissions of 10m video clips.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 3:26 PM on July 12, 2020


My first window (actually a door onto a balcony) was in Bangalore, India and featured 2 very good and cute dogs. Highly recommended.
posted by amarynth at 3:28 PM on July 12, 2020 [11 favorites]


Kat, here is your video.
posted by bitslayer at 3:42 PM on July 12, 2020 [27 favorites]


and then I came upon one (Lyana Mahirah's window in Singapore) that I've been watching for ten minutes now. It's a little enclosed patio/courtyard, with an awning overhead, plants, a hammock and a fan, a clay teapot, a cat drowsing on a table, and on one side a -- waterfall? a gentle steady whoosh of water coming down from above, a little sound of water and breeze, and it's so incredibly restful and peaceful--I wish there were some way to bookmark/save a specific window, because I want very badly to be able to go back there when I'm frazzled. It's like a little magic world that I don't know if I'll ever be able to find again (don't know how often a single view cycles through

I hit that one also -- that is a fantastic patio.
posted by Dip Flash at 3:44 PM on July 12, 2020 [2 favorites]


I was a little disappointed to realise these weren't live when it opened on a sunny view of Glasgow (at 11:45 pm).
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:48 PM on July 12, 2020 [3 favorites]


i learned one thing from this - there are palm trees in wales

If you're looking at the window I'm looking at, those are yucca. But not really any less surprising.
posted by LionIndex at 4:00 PM on July 12, 2020 [1 favorite]


All I get is black screen after black screen (with names and locations and "another window" button). I guess Chrome doesn't want me to see the world.
posted by achrise at 4:01 PM on July 12, 2020 [1 favorite]


Thank you for posting! I needed this. Such a great idea.
posted by champagneminimalist at 4:01 PM on July 12, 2020 [2 favorites]


I want this as a channel on my tv.
posted by rodlymight at 4:14 PM on July 12, 2020 [4 favorites]


Wait a minute - isn't that Mr. Thorwald? What happened to his wife? And why would a man leave his apartment three times on a rainy night with a suitcase and come back three times?
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 4:22 PM on July 12, 2020 [39 favorites]


Oh my gosh, thanks so much, bitslayer!
posted by Kat Allison at 4:26 PM on July 12, 2020


It's not fair that Lyana Mahirah's window in Singapore opens up to a little sliver of such peace (and the sounds of water!) It's probably not as wonderful out there as it looks--lovely temps in the mid 80s, but with humidity of 88%--gack!

Yesterday it was triple digits in the desert, high 80s today and the humidity is nonexistent. I can feel myself shriveling. Just listening to the waterfall is refreshing.

If I were lucky enough to have a west window, I could film a fantastic and unearthly red and purple sunset with billowing clouds, but my windows face north and south--all is sere and brown. :(
posted by BlueHorse at 4:48 PM on July 12, 2020 [1 favorite]


I want these as zoom backgrounds!
posted by xris at 4:55 PM on July 12, 2020 [4 favorites]




I love this! Too much actually, because the internet will eventually ruin it :(. How long until I see chatroulette style dick pics?
posted by Popular Ethics at 5:41 PM on July 12, 2020


Oh I see - they're not live, and the videos are (presumably) moderated. Huzzah!
posted by Popular Ethics at 5:43 PM on July 12, 2020


Love the kitty in Qatar!
posted by Preserver at 5:50 PM on July 12, 2020 [6 favorites]


Sebastian Correa's window in China features his building which has struts sticking out at about 16' above the street which have rods spanning them. Laundry is then hung from the rods using a long stick. Cool solution to presumably no yard space.
posted by Mitheral at 6:02 PM on July 12, 2020 [2 favorites]


That's awesome.
posted by bquarters at 6:04 PM on July 12, 2020


What point did you guys start crying, it was around window six for me
posted by babelfish at 6:09 PM on July 12, 2020 [16 favorites]


These are so nice! A few even have From Another Room-style music playing in the background for maximum ambiance.

I like the sunny window in London with the six cute potted cacti on the windowsill. Also the window in Bavaria that looks out onto a lovely garden with a little pond. There was a window in Gurgaon, India, featuring a beautiful rainstorm falling on lush greenery. And I long for the window in Villongo, Italy, with the knockout mountain view. I do wish I could bookmark my favorites!

Also, I have seen three cats and two doggos so far! A+ website.
posted by merriment at 6:15 PM on July 12, 2020 [3 favorites]


Well that's friggin' cool :)
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 6:16 PM on July 12, 2020


Tired of the view out your windows?
Almost never, for I am ridiculously fortunate in my view (except for that pesky power line..)
posted by Nerd of the North at 6:21 PM on July 12, 2020 [13 favorites]


What point did you guys start crying, it was around window six for me
I think it was around window three or possibly four for me - the window in Gurgaon, India. But it's been a tough morning.

My favourite kind of travelling though - don't have to cope with airports and planes, don't have to see exotic things, just a change of scenery. Homey, just not mine.
posted by Athanassiel at 6:40 PM on July 12, 2020 [2 favorites]


There is a window in Dortmund that purportedly belongs to one Horst Wessel. That's got to be a troll, right? Surely no one in Germany is actually named that?
posted by Clandestine Outlawry at 7:26 PM on July 12, 2020


love it. My only gripe is the lack of accessibility - sometimes the white text on a light image means you cannot see the location, or the person. So easy to fix.
posted by greenhornet at 7:30 PM on July 12, 2020 [1 favorite]


I love this. Thank you for posting it!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:31 PM on July 12, 2020


I love this. But I’m confused by the Dundee Scotland window. It appears they have a bunch of thin sky scrapers (in the distance, far left side of window)? Is that right? I can’t find confirmation via any other photos of Dundee’s CBD.
posted by saucysault at 8:00 PM on July 12, 2020


I just get a black window and the link is script rather than a URL. If they'd spawn a window with controls or show me the URL I might be able to resolve it but they don't.
posted by bz at 8:06 PM on July 12, 2020


Love this
posted by lazaruslong at 8:24 PM on July 12, 2020


saucysault, I think those might be jack-up oil rigs.
posted by whatnotever at 8:27 PM on July 12, 2020 [1 favorite]


sometimes the white text on a light image means you cannot see the location, or the person.

I had this problem and resizing the window to be a tall rectangle put black bars top and bottom and let me read the text.
posted by Mitheral at 8:43 PM on July 12, 2020


Also liking the ambient audio. Very good, Best of the Web, thanks!
posted by Rash at 9:33 PM on July 12, 2020


This was refreshing. Will see if they want my window, but it would also be fun to share windows amongst mefites, if anyone would be interested.
posted by notquitemaryann at 9:44 PM on July 12, 2020


also pls just transport me straight through to Lina Blau's alpine vista. It looks like it's just across the Thunersee and up the hill from one of the villages where some of my ancestors lived.
posted by notquitemaryann at 10:06 PM on July 12, 2020 [2 favorites]


I started crying as soon as I started seeing scenes from Switzerland. I've been dreaming about the Swiss countryside for years and desperately want to visit.
posted by Kitchen Witch at 10:51 PM on July 12, 2020


There is a window in Dortmund that purportedly belongs to one Horst Wessel. That's got to be a troll, right? Surely no one in Germany is actually named that?

That was the first one that popped up for me, and I have similar questions/concerns. At a minimum, that would be a terrible name to burden someone with...
posted by pleasant_confusion at 11:12 PM on July 12, 2020


According to the phone book (yes, yes, the digital one) there actually is a man with this name in Dortmund. So probably not a troll.
posted by dominik at 12:07 AM on July 13, 2020 [1 favorite]


This is really, really wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing it.
posted by forza at 1:03 AM on July 13, 2020


Nice! I like the bleak-rainy-New York one, and the warm-rolling-hills-Bergamo one.
posted by Klipspringer at 2:48 AM on July 13, 2020


Wow, that's great! I thought I was looking at live video. But when I saw the one in NYC and it was raining, the penny dropped. No matter, still a very cool idea.
posted by james33 at 3:52 AM on July 13, 2020


This is great, but I really need to clean my windows.
posted by freakazoid at 4:58 AM on July 13, 2020 [1 favorite]


This is a non-Facebook (and possibly less pandemic-related) variant of a group I've been following on FB since mid-April. I cannot say how much it has meant to me.

On one of the first days I looked at it, I saw a view from a window in Nigeria that included a birdhouse. Someone asked in the comments what lived there and the OP said, usually little gray sparrows. I thought about my own little sparrow colony in the backyard and got choked up at the sense of connection.

I love the casualness of people who can post "oh, here's my backyard with my laundry on the line and THE ACROPOLIS" or "here's a big tree in my yard and THE PYRAMIDS." Animals are often similar--the folks in Australia who see kangaroos and the folks in African countries who see giraffes. I saved and shared a picture of rainbow lorikeets from Australia because I loved them so much and all one of my Australian friends said was "OMG they're so loud."

I've kept a list of all the countries I've seen so far--at last count it was around 180 out of 195.
posted by dlugoczaj at 7:13 AM on July 13, 2020 [10 favorites]


What's the best way to record a window for submitting to this? I have a great window but no experience recording video.
posted by The otter lady at 8:25 AM on July 13, 2020


The otter lady, do you have a smart phone? In your camera app, there is usually an option to switch to video, and you can record where your phone is pointed. I would suggest first putting your phone on something level and stable when making the video. :)
posted by BeBoth at 8:56 AM on July 13, 2020


Lina Blau's window was just what I needed right now.
posted by Mchelly at 9:04 AM on July 13, 2020


Thank you for sharing this. I didn't know that I needed to look out others' windows but it is, in fact, exactly what I needed today.
posted by gursky at 9:35 AM on July 13, 2020


I think I'm actually glad these aren't live -- perhaps I'm too cynical about the Internet (is that possible?) but it seems like a worldwide network of decentralized live cameras would lend itself to both more nefarious uses by trolls as well as unintended accidental shots by those who might have forgotten that the camera was rolling.

Seeing some of these places makes me ache to travel though!
posted by andrewesque at 10:02 AM on July 13, 2020 [2 favorites]


OMG, if my new phone cooperates I am totally submitting my window to this. I'm in NYC and have spent all of lockdown futzing with my fire escape garden, and especially since adding a bird feeder I just sit and stare out that window for 20 minutes at a time easy. It's completely in my control and it's alive and it's beautiful. The ultimate antidote to Fucking Everything Currently.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:24 AM on July 13, 2020 [16 favorites]


I'll do one if I can find a day that's not murderously hot and Vash agrees to hang out on the balcony in His Chair for the ten minutes. And there's no banging sounds from renos.
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:01 AM on July 13, 2020


> What point did you guys start crying, it was around window six for me

Copenhagen, for me.
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:04 PM on July 13, 2020 [1 favorite]


I was really fooled into thinking these are live. The very first window was a dusk vista from São Paulo, that's where I am, and it's dusk right now. What are the odds!
posted by Tom-B at 1:13 PM on July 13, 2020 [1 favorite]


Huh -- whenever I restart this page I get a frozen, silent view of NYC at dusk. After I click on to the next, then it's a 'live' (or at least, moving) view, with sound.
posted by Rash at 1:19 PM on July 13, 2020


This gives me so much longing for places I've never been and am afraid I never will see in person. People have such lovely homes and views!
posted by Space Kitty at 5:43 PM on July 13, 2020 [2 favorites]


Ha, I know exactly where Scott Rubin's window in Astoria is. I've walked by there many times. That and Nomadic Ambience's window (I think it was) in Montreal got my cats super excited, looking for the source of all the birdies. Manasa Prithvi's dogs and porch or balcony in Bangalore, India, are also quite nice.

I'm a little unclear where on Long Island you can get the view that Fernando Mattei has. I'm wondering if it was supposed to be Long Island City.

Joey Hwang's window in Rowville, Australia, looks just like L.A. I don't think I could deal with Stockholm, Sweden; there's something about every view of the town that gets to me. The cloudiness and denseness of the UK cities would start to get me too, I think (though I like Simon Cotts' London cacti and Derek Lui's succulents). Of course, I live in Astoria right now, but with a bit more greenery in my view than, say, Nomadic Ambience's New York City window. For city views with greenery, I like ones such as Dayanara Viojan's view of Shanghai, China, or Polen Hinojosa's view of Mexico City, Mexico.

So many of these are so beautiful: Arnulf's window on Bavaria, Germany; Pest Brand's window on Haar, Germany; Beate Schröder-Wettwer's window on Lüneberg, Germany; Lina Blau's window on Aeschiried, Switzerland; Kevin Arffandy's afternoon light from windows in Tangerang Selatan, Indonesia; Sitara Menon's window on Gurgaon, India; Simone Tengattini's window on Villongo, Italy; Rexina Devraj's place in Bangalore, India; Sitara Hussain's porch or balcony on Chennai, India... I wish I could experience the scent of the rain on the wind from Aditi and Marc's window in Zushi, Japan. I feel kind of instinctually drawn to so many of the German views, with such dense greenery and gardens and ponds; I have ancestors from there, so maybe that makes sense.

After seeing Nomadic Ambience's view of Monterrey, Mexico, I'm starting to wonder if they did Remote Year or something. After seeing so many of Singapore, I'm starting to be intrigued by the idea of visiting there someday. I had a suitemate once from there.

Guillaume Baley's Paris window's audio is haunting. Definitely sounds like COVID times.
posted by limeonaire at 7:05 PM on July 13, 2020 [1 favorite]


great googly moogly, all of the views from the place I'm staying are hideous and depressing.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 7:36 PM on July 13, 2020 [1 favorite]


I got so excited to share the view from my home office window, which is always so green and interesting, and then remembered that I don't live there anymore.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 7:37 PM on July 13, 2020 [2 favorites]


I found this really captivating, in a weird hybrid of old timey internet and contemporary internet and COVID times. Thanks for posting.
posted by deludingmyself at 10:10 PM on July 13, 2020 [3 favorites]


This reminds me of a feature on Andrew Sullivan's old blog, the View From Your Window Contest. He posted a still photo of somebody's view; it could be from anywhere in the world; the challenge was to figure out where it was, including identifying the exact window in question, solely from clues in the photo. Part of the fun was the solution post (for example) which quoted the guesses and reasoning of a number of erroneous entries before closing in on the winner's solution.
posted by beagle at 6:17 AM on July 14, 2020


Manasa Prithvi in Bangalore gave me a couple of minutes with two Very Good Dogs and then six or seven more minutes with wind gently rustling the leaves of a cavalcade of potted plants on the terrace and the sound of dog tags jingling, and I bless him/her for it.
posted by alleycat01 at 8:45 PM on July 15, 2020


Important update! There are so many new windows now and one of them features someone in Halesowen, UK who is feeding wild badgers in the night! You can watch four wild badgers having noms outside the window!
posted by merriment at 7:54 PM on August 6, 2020 [5 favorites]


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