Where in the World is Gumbo now? The picture would seem to indicate Gumbo is in the past, and yet he was present. The scene is ancient, but it is still in regular use.
As usual, you are invited to collaborate with others who can puzzle out bits and pieces; our best games have had the most people picking and pecking until the answer appears (or doesn’t!)
Also, as usual, participate here, but if you think you have figured out the final answer—wait at least until Friday night to post it. If your patience is wearing thin, or you want to claim priority (there’s no prize but recognition!) you can e-mail your answer to [email protected]. On Friday night, the vault will be opened, and the e-mails, right or wrong, will be posted.
If the puzzle is cracked by Friday night, there will be another on Saturday…but Gumbo hopes you’ll still be scratching at this one…
See Previous Puzzle # 10 HERE.
I think TravelGumbo is here
I agree with GarryRF.
My profile pic used to be me holding up the Old Roman wall in Chester . Without me there,is it still standing? Lol I especially enjoyed seeing the Racetrack there.
Well, GarryRF didn’t say where that picture is from…even though everyone seems to agree with him.
I can’t say definitively…not that I would, anyway, before Friday evening…but I will say: Keep looking…
My first response to the picture was that it’s the “C”-word location in Rome near my “Frutta Fresca” Pic of the Day noted 10 days ago. That would be the most obvious, hence, likely not it. Maybe the one in Verona.
Verona’s is still in use. Therefore, at least a possibility. Actually known as Arena di Verona.
Here’s another, in Arles, still in use.
Fortunately for the puzzle…those are very common rocks in quite a few places the Romans (yes, it is of Roman origin) lived and built.
Don’t you wish you could read that sign to the left? Gumbo checked carefully to make sure you couldn’t!
And what possible good is a puzzle without a bit of chicanery – by definition, I should think. I haven’t seen the arena at Arles, though it’s already on my list for the next visit to France. I have walked past the arena in Verona as it was between the train station and the garden I’d come to photograph. Likely why it came to mind just after the Colosseum.
Ah, let’s see what tomorrow brings…
I’m always amused when people try to guess where something is based on what I have liked…because I’ve liked nearly everywhere I’ve been (Halifax excepted).
In any case, I’m always hunting for puzzling images, like or not!
I think that TG guru is right. It seems to be about a 5 min walk from a famos statue of Moses with horns.
Is there someone here that knows about the stones that we can see in the structure?
We want to know what type of stone was used and where it was quarried.
The design details of this structure indicate to me that it is Roman. Unfortunately, remains of at least 230 amphitheaters built by the Romans have been found. Of these, dozens are sufficiently intact to provide the type of access shown in the pic. A few are in better condition throughout than this one. A very few are still in use!
The Verona suggestion could be a strong possibility given PHeymont’s affinity for the city, which we are in complete agreement.
Hmmm..Maybe this guess is too obvious and PHeymont is trying to deceive us through chicanery.
I forgot Nimes.
Chester is a Walled City. It has 3 miles of Battlements enclosing the Centre.
The Roman Amphitheatre is just outside the City Gates. The seating was wooden. It has no raised sections like other Roman Amphitheatres.
You can see the remains of this 2000 year old settlement and walk the circuit on the original walls of Chester.
Tudor Buildings
After visiting 8 of the 19 Pubs on the Chester Walls – I thought it was the wall holding you up Rob !
All hail, IAM_NOTATOURIST. Please join us and tell us please, how the heck could you tell the difference between one arena and another? Artsnletters, same question, and the reason I suggested 3 (not 4) as possibilities. Maybe it’s the age-old answer, you just had to be there. But still, I’d like to hear it from the sources.
CICAK. The locals call it the same as the American version of Chester. Nothing different.
Maybe in a wet climate seats made from rock would be cold and damp for most of the year !
Puzzle Master – Clarification needed –
Port Moresby suggested 4 locations – Rome, Verona, Arles, and Nimes. Did the Puzzle Master receive a submission via email with a commitment to only one answer ?
TravelandNature simply supplied information in response to a question. TandN does not participate in the puzzles; they are too hard.
Artsnletters followed the Puzzle Masters instructions “you can e-mail your answer to [email protected]. On Friday night, the vault will be opened, and the e-mails, right or wrong, will be posted.”
Doesn’t this leave artsnletters, in the cat bird seat ?
Tomorrow’s puzzle sounds intriguing. Thanks, Puzzle Master.
Sorry, I thought there where several correct answers!A great puzzle,great responses and a spectacular answer page!Way to go!
Well, here it is Friday night, and I see everyone gathered around to see what’s in the Gumbo (e)mailbag and here…because indeed, the mystery has again been solved. Gumbo was in the Roman Arena at Arles, deep in the heart of Roman France.
First to point at the site (but not to actually claim it) was Port Moresby, who contributed a picture of it at 1 pm on Wednesday while others were pointing out other Roman arenas. PM was followed by TravelandNature at 11 pm that night—you’ll have noted T&N’s extensive geology research above. And yesterday at 10:45 pm another e-mailed correct answer came from artsnletters.
Congratulations to all—and great work by all the others.
Tomorrow, a double treat: a new puzzle, and a full-color full-force Where Gumbo Was, with a small tour of the Roman world, a bridge, two portraits and Vincent Van Gogh.
PortMoresby put the finger on what made this one hard. It was the ancient-days equivalent of being asked to identify a free-standing Barnes and Noble store, or an Exxon station. Easy to know what it is, not so easy to know where.
What’s been fun in these is watching people dig out bits and pieces that then fuel other folks’ guesses. WorkerBee has done that a number of times; in this case, even though T&N doesn’t play as a guesser, the geological analysis of the stones was a stunning piece that may have figured in someone’s final answer.
I hope we’ll hear more from #IAM_NOTATOURIST and artsnletters—they can tell us how they got it!
The puzzlemaster is aghast at his error!
He left the most important piece out of the chronology: the winner!
And the winner, at 5:34 pm on Thursday, is @IAM_NOTATOURIST, one of our Twitter followers, whose guess was e-mailed in by our Twittermaster, TravelRob.
Hey, @IAM_NOTATOURIST!—come on in and join us! The water and the welcome are warm.