Guess where this is?

[KvHagedorn]

Castle Guyere in Switzerland

[SitFlyer]

Technically, I believe, that's Chateau Gruyere

[Brian Ellis]

Near enough, KvH. I assume it's a typo. Its the ancestral castle of the Comtes de Gruyère. Their coat of arms is a crane (bird), which, in French, is a grue, hence a canting reference to the name. Of course, you may know the name better as a delicious cheese, which is still made mainly in the village adjoining the castle and the surrounding villages. And it should not have big holes, a few very small ones only.

The Château de Gruyère is in a dominant position on a rock, with panoramic views from the Berner Oberland, through the Fribourgeois Prèalpes, to the Vaudois Alpes. The walled village is still medieval, but it was built along a single broad street leading up the hill to the castle gate, formerly protected by a drawbridge and portcullis. This is one of the most beautiful regions of Switzerland and well worth a detour to visit it and partake of a fondue followed by fruit and the special Gruyère double cream. Mmmmm!

[KvHagedorn]

What building is this, where is it, and what is its claim to fame?

[lecter]

It looks like Brussels.

[KvHagedorn]

Well, it isn't.

Somewhat warm you are, though.

[lecter]

It's Aachen Cathedral

Initially I thought there wasn't anything so historically special about the place, but then I saw that its former name was Aix-La-Chapelle, it's the place Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, was crowned (as well as all the other ones for 600 years).

You'll laugh at how I came across it...when I saw that the picture was called "Dresden", I of course fell for the bait and did a search there first. However, the metadata copyright of the pic is from a company located in Aachen

[lecter]

Here...sorry for the teeny size. If there are any serious problems, I'll look for more pics.

[Brian Ellis]

Architecturally, it is as astounding inside, as it is outside. I attended a concert there about 8 years ago, preceded by a guided tour. A very impressive but intimately small cathedral.

Although I've briefly been there, I'm not sure I would have got it, but the post + answer came overnight for me, in any case.

Question: what is the metadata you talk about? I've never seen that.

[lecter]

For ex. with ACDSee (or with any advanced image viewer/processor I think) you get to see the real properties of the picture: it usually includes the date it was made, the camera that was used (if a digital camera was used the model is automatically written), copyright info, etc.

[Brian Ellis]

Ta! Just use the usual things, me!

[az]

I guess he means either the EXIF or IPTC tag or the JPG comment, all of which can be viewed with IrfanView, Photoshop etc. upon saving that picture to disc (copying and pasting doesn't work!)

AZ

[az]

I see I'm too late. The info lecter was talking about is the EXIF tag. With digital cameras it also stores stuff like exposure value, aperture value, metering mode, flash mode, ISO value, white balance, etc. A bit like ID3 tags in mp3s.

AZ

[Brian Ellis]

Some kind of training establishment like a seminary, college, barracks etc. in a warmish climate, say S. Europe???

[lecter]

Warm climate yes, it's definitely one kind of establishment (not any of the ones you mentioned, though), S. Europe definitely no.