Each of the first set of photos shows a Google Street View image from a certain European capital city. Upon submitting this city, we are given a second photo. which shows an image from an American city or town with the same name as the European city. We can use various clues like landmarks or street signs to find the cities and the exact locations the images were taken from (see Appendix1). As clued by the flavortext, we can then look at the compass directions the two images for each city pair face in. These pairs of directions can then yield semaphore letters, which spell out the answer, GREAT LAKES.
| European Capital | Direction 1 | American City | Direction 2 | Semaphore Letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London, United Kingdom | S | London, Ohio | SE | G |
| Berlin, Germany | E | Berlin, New Hampshire | W | R |
| Paris, France | S | Paris, Texas | NE | E |
| Rome, Italy | S | Rome, New York | SW | A |
| Dublin, Ireland | NW | Dublin, Ohio | N | T |
| Madrid, Spain | SW | Madrid, New Mexico | NE | L |
| Prague, Czechia | SW | Prague, Oklahoma | S | A |
| Moscow, Russia | SW | Moscow, Idaho | N | K |
| Athens, Greece | NE | Athens, Georgia | S | E |
| Vienna, Austria | W | Vienna, Virginia | SE | S |
Author's Notes
Instead of cities with the same name, we originally had pairs of images from near major world monuments and replicas. Examples included the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Texas, or the Leaning Tower of Niles. However, we found it too constraining to take all of our images from near such monuments, so we switched to this version of the puzzle instead.Appendix
Here are the clues we can use to identify the exact locations of each of the images:| London, UK: Nelson’s Column, King George IV Statue |
| Berlin, Germany: Brandenburg Gate |
| Paris, France: The Louvre |
| Rome, Italy: The Pantheon |
| Dublin, Ireland: The Custom House |
| Madrid, Spain: Puerta de Alcalá (Alcalá Gate) |
| Prague, Czechia: Dancing House |
| Moscow, Russia: Lenin’s Mausoleum, Red Square |
| Athens, Greece: Nosokomeio Paidon I Agia Sofia (Hagia Sophia Children’s Hospital) |
| Vienna, Austria: Friedensbrücke (We can find this by searching for bridges over the Danube or the Danube Canal that are immediately adjacent to a tram stop) |
| London, Ohio: OH-665, High Street, other highway numbers, and Huntington Bank |
| Berlin, New Hampshire: Unity Street |
| Paris, Texas: Medicine Chest |
| Rome, New York: JCPenney, Tops, Rue 21 stores |
| Dublin, Ohio: Bridge Street, Mezzo |
| Madrid, New Mexico: NM-14 highway, (Lori Musil) Art & Antiques |
| Prague, Oklahoma: Jim Thorpe Boulevard, Main Street |
| Moscow, Idaho: Elm Street, University Avenue, University of Idaho |
| Athens, Georgia: Finley Street, Tree That Owns Itself |
| Vienna, Virginia: Coldstone, Noodles & Company, Alfa Shoe Repair |