Setting Inspiration: Steepest Street In The World

This might be cheating a bit--a way of sharing some fun pictures for no real reason--but I betcha I can tie it into writing somehow.

Dunedin, New Zealand, is home to the steepest residential street in the world. Naturally, we made it one of the stops on our journeys.

Baldwin street

The bench at the top:

Baldwin Street

Baldwin Street

Turn around 180 degrees and this is the view:

Baldwin Street

Down at the bottom, there's even a gift store with magnets and bumper stickers. It's a completely unremarkable section of the city, and the store is tiny, but it's somehow both very touristy and very everyday. Lots of people drove to the bottom to see it, or walked up the steps along the side, but not so many at once that it felt crowded. A number of brave souls, with cars less tiny and useless than mine, drove all the way up to the top.

We had a different plan. We had leftover cherry tomatoes that weren't good for eating anymore, and brought them up with the intent to roll them back down. Considering the steady stream of other tourists, husband and I asked anyone who came by if they would like to roll a tomato with us.


The tomato race ended up being a good success.

tomato race

 No clue who won. Some of them made it pretty far, though.

tomato race

Now's the part where I relate this to writing. Umm... A city with very steep streets. A tomato race. How about rolling messages downhill between two halves of the society. Not being able to make it all the way up to your driveway... Use your imagination! 

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This post is part of a series focused around pretty or interesting places that I think would make great settings for sci-fi and fantasy (or anything else!). It includes settings I have used in writing, will use, or simply admire.

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