Diomita and Jenny Maurer’s Blog

For my simploring tour on Wednesday, April 10th, I picked HoPe from scoop.it SL Destinations. HoPe is an adult homestead owned by Fred Hamilton (frecoi). According to the two blog posts already published when I visited, also Lotus Mastroianni is owning HoPe. I checked Lotus’ and Fred’s profile but I couldn’t find any hint. What I did check is that many objects at HoPe are owned by Lotus Mastroianni.

Impressions of HoPe (1) – overview and around the landing point

The landmark description consists just of one sentence: “The World wouldn’t die without the Humankind.” HoPe is a sunken city, giving us a picture of how the world might look like when humans have left. All streets are broken, the buildings are ruins, some are in better order, some are fully broken and fallen apart. Trees and bushes grow from every crack, car wrecks block the streets. You need good and waterproof footwear for exploring as you’ll walk through puddles and water and you’ll have to climb over blocks of concrete. It’s an apocalyptic scenario.

Impressions of HoPe (2) – inside a building (upper pictures) / and outside (lower pictures)

There’re some eye catchers and curiosities at HoPe. Right close to the landing point you see a big and broken statue of a boy swimming on the water, some birds sit on it as if they have conquered it. Walking through the streets you see old bill boards, graffiti on the facades and of course a lot of broken windows. I walked inside of some buildings, just trees and bushes are inside, no left over furniture or other objects. In one building the lights were still switched on – I wonder where the power for the lights comes from.

Impressions of HoPe (3) – exploring HoPe (upper pictures) / the plane wreck (lower pictures)

Around the city there once was an elevated highway that it now brocken into pieces, some pieces stick out like after an earthquake. And there’re also cars and trucks on the rests of the elevated highway, just as if there was a sudden catastrophy. Another curiosity is a building shell for what might have become an office building. There’s still a hoarding around it and many building machines which look quite functional. I entered the worksite and walked upstairs. From the higher stories you have a good view over the abandoned city. And there’re many cats, who have taken over the place. It conjured a smile on my face watching them.

Impressions of HoPe (4) – the building shell and the cats

What happened to this city? Was it an earthquake? A tsunami? And how long ago was this catastrophy? According to the vagetation the catastrophy must have been decades ago. Where does the wreck of an airplane came from, that you find in one of the streets? And why is it that the building shell looks that intact? These questions will remain unanswered.
And what does HoPe stand for? For the hope that the world won’t die even without humans? Or for the hope that the mankind will avoid such a catastrophy? Or is it an abbreviation of two terms Ho & Pe? Hotel Peter?

Impressions of HoPe (5)

Anyway, HoPe is a place to explore and discover. It offers an apocalyptic background for photographs and many details to explore. The whole scene together with the sentence “The World wouldn’t die without the Humankind.” gives reason for many thoughts. And last but not least the building shell with the cats is fun.

Thank you Fred Hamilton (frecoi) and Lotus Mastroianni for providing HoPe and for sharing it with the public!

Landmark to HoPe
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Syn%20Isles/204/132/22
HoPe on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/groups/-hope-/