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Jun. 23rd, 2014 07:23 pmI've had a nice couple of days in Baltimore. My travels have been a bit haphazard, but I don't mind. When I don't know a city at all, a little semi-directed wandering is a good start.
I'm starting to know how to get around the area here and names of a few neighborhoods. I biked about fifteen miles yesterday, starting with a trip from our hotel in the Mt. Vernon neighborhood north of the harbor to a Value Village in the Canton area, about two miles east of it. I bought a couple of shirts, and plan to wear a dark purple wrinkle-free one to the meetings tomorrow. Yay!
From there, I biked westward through an industrial sort of area where I photographed a couple of Navy ships that seem to have been docked for a long time. Photographing the Inner Harbor scenes along the way, I went through Fell's Point. It's a heavily gentrified area that I gather was once a bit of a rough sailors' hangout. It's full of cobblestone roads, upscale bars and restaurants, and condos on the waterfront. Nice! Except that I ended up walking (or riding; bad dog!) on the sidewalk frequently because the cobbles were too rough for my skinny road tires. I also followed a walking path that skirts between rows of condos on the north and water on the south as I continued around the harbor.
Eventually I made it down and around to Federal Hill Park, a raised point that overlooks much of the downtown harbor. To be honest, I was surprised at how little one could really see of the city from there. I guess the buildings near the waterfront are all tall enough that an extra thirty or forty feet of height doesn't make a huge difference. Still, it was a nice ride and a good photo-op. Somewhere along the way I passed the hotel that Danae's conference is at, which made me smile. I also found a Public Works Museum, which I'm very tempted to go visit as it's right up my alley. There seem to be a lot of interesting historic ships around. There was another old naval ship docked in the harbor, this one advertised as the last survivor of Pearl Harbor. There was also a sailing ship of some kind, with signs indicating that it is a living laboratory ship. I'm not quite sure what that means, but there were a couple of women on deck behind the signage and barriers asking folks to stay away, chatting and relaxing.
Hungry, I went back to the hotel and looked around online for food. I decided that, since the parking lot near the hotel doesn't let you leave and come back, this would be my day to indulge in Chinese buffet. I found one out west on Baltimore National Pike (a road), drove out there, and couldn't find it. On the way back, I considered stopping at a couple of places, but no. I was determined. I looked up another buffet, this one east, out near where I'd bought my shirts. I drove there, found the place, had Chinese that was everything I expected it to be (That is, mediocre, and with random American food interspersed. And this one must be in a Latino neighborhood, because it even had taco fixings, and lots of folks speaking Spanish. It was exactly what I wanted, which I'm sure horrifies my partners.) Best of all, I drove there, and back, with only minor bits of getting lost, without a GPS! Maps and my written directions got me through! This is a victory for me.
---
Today I rode another 12 miles, this time west and north of the hotel. My first stop was the Westminster Burial Ground, where I visited the grave of Edgar Allen Poe. The entire grounds are fantastic, and really clarify the way internment of the dead has changed over the centuries. The yard had its first burial in the late 1700s, and crypts, tombs, markers and slabs are strewn almost haphazardly about. One portion of small brick path lined with low crypts with small iron doors is interrupted by both a raised slab that intrudes onto the path, and by a larger marker that sits in and flush with the bricks, leaving me to assume I'm stepping on someone's last resting place. Around the back of the yard, part of the church is actually built out and over a small crypt and a few more stones, making me think it must have been a later addition to the building. Interpretive plaques offer more information about a number of the deceased, and also explain that numerous occupants were disinterred and moved to the more rural and prestigious Greenmount Cemetary later on. I'm really intrigued by the thought that it was important to the wealthy of the time for reasons of status to have their ancestors actually dug up and moved to a more 'fasionable' graveyard. Even in death, they had to have that prestigious address, I suppose.
So my next stop was that very same graveyard, about a mile north of my hotel. I was there primarily to see two graves. That of John Wilkes Booth, presidential assassin, was first. Second was Elijah Bond, the inventor of the Ouija Board. Some time after his death, a fan got money together to have a stone replica of a Ouija Board erected at his grave. I rode a circuit through the rest of the grounds as well, seeing a large number of really interesting monuments and sculpture. Interestingly, the guestbook I signed includes an admonition for photographers against identifying the location of photos taken in the graveyard. I asked the woman at the cemetery office about it, and she said that it is a private graveyard and that people don't want their family's graves put up on Facebook and things. It's a sentiment that I'm going to think about off and on, because I'm not sure that I understand it. What do you think? Would you object to pictures of grave markers of your relatives being posted publicly as examples of interesting art or something?
From there, I went northward to a life-size Moai statue in a neighborhood that I gather is near an art school. It was fun going through there; the whole neighborhood had tons of interesting public art, some of which I photographed. As I was photographing the Moai, a local guy asked if I wanted one with me in it. I hesitated for a moment about handing my camera over to a stranger, but I decided to go for it. He took a picture of me (or tried to; I realized later the shutter didn't trip, alas), and then we chatted a bit about the art around here. He talked about watching the sculptor at work on the Moai, and about how he likes to show off all the murals and other works around. As we parted, he gave me his name and address, and said that if I need anything or get a flat or something, I should come by. Neat! And here I was originally feeling a little nervous about the neighborhood. People are generally good folks.
Next, I made my way northwest, to visit Druid Hill Park. Given its name, it was a mandatory stop. On the way, I got a little bit confused as to the bike route. There was supposed to be a signed path, but it disappeared on me. Fortunately, another cyclist came by, and I got directions from him, then followed him most of the way. Once at the park, I only took a lap around the large resevoir in the southeast corner, then headed back home. As I've noted before, I'm a city boy, and this, while a nice big park with open bike paths, was not a city. I can ride bike paths at home.
On the way back, I stopped at a pleasant cruciform park centered on an enormous monument to George Washington; the first in the nation I gather. It was under restoration, so in my photo of it it's covered in scaffolding and a construction elevator. I don't mind; it makes for a different picture than most at least!
I photographed a couple of old, abandoned movie palaces today too. The 1880 Mayfair this morning, before getting on my bike (it's right down the street), and the 1915 Parkway on the way home from Druid Hill. both very pretty structures, both showing the signs of long neglect. The Mayfair is particularly bad off; I could see daylight through the windows, and Cinema Treasures says that the roof collapsed about a decade ago. It's sad; that's one of the older extant movie houses.
And now I'm back at the hotel. I have a schedule for my Penn State meetings tomorrow in my inbox, so I'm going to do some preparations, seeing what the people I'm meeting with have written. My first meeting isn't 'till one o' clock, which is a relief. I was willing to leave here at five in the morning for morning meetings, but I'm glad I don't have to! I'm still a little nervous about meeting with the faculty there. I feel like there's so much I don't know, and I want to present myself well. Wish me luck?
I'm starting to know how to get around the area here and names of a few neighborhoods. I biked about fifteen miles yesterday, starting with a trip from our hotel in the Mt. Vernon neighborhood north of the harbor to a Value Village in the Canton area, about two miles east of it. I bought a couple of shirts, and plan to wear a dark purple wrinkle-free one to the meetings tomorrow. Yay!
From there, I biked westward through an industrial sort of area where I photographed a couple of Navy ships that seem to have been docked for a long time. Photographing the Inner Harbor scenes along the way, I went through Fell's Point. It's a heavily gentrified area that I gather was once a bit of a rough sailors' hangout. It's full of cobblestone roads, upscale bars and restaurants, and condos on the waterfront. Nice! Except that I ended up walking (or riding; bad dog!) on the sidewalk frequently because the cobbles were too rough for my skinny road tires. I also followed a walking path that skirts between rows of condos on the north and water on the south as I continued around the harbor.
Eventually I made it down and around to Federal Hill Park, a raised point that overlooks much of the downtown harbor. To be honest, I was surprised at how little one could really see of the city from there. I guess the buildings near the waterfront are all tall enough that an extra thirty or forty feet of height doesn't make a huge difference. Still, it was a nice ride and a good photo-op. Somewhere along the way I passed the hotel that Danae's conference is at, which made me smile. I also found a Public Works Museum, which I'm very tempted to go visit as it's right up my alley. There seem to be a lot of interesting historic ships around. There was another old naval ship docked in the harbor, this one advertised as the last survivor of Pearl Harbor. There was also a sailing ship of some kind, with signs indicating that it is a living laboratory ship. I'm not quite sure what that means, but there were a couple of women on deck behind the signage and barriers asking folks to stay away, chatting and relaxing.
Hungry, I went back to the hotel and looked around online for food. I decided that, since the parking lot near the hotel doesn't let you leave and come back, this would be my day to indulge in Chinese buffet. I found one out west on Baltimore National Pike (a road), drove out there, and couldn't find it. On the way back, I considered stopping at a couple of places, but no. I was determined. I looked up another buffet, this one east, out near where I'd bought my shirts. I drove there, found the place, had Chinese that was everything I expected it to be (That is, mediocre, and with random American food interspersed. And this one must be in a Latino neighborhood, because it even had taco fixings, and lots of folks speaking Spanish. It was exactly what I wanted, which I'm sure horrifies my partners.) Best of all, I drove there, and back, with only minor bits of getting lost, without a GPS! Maps and my written directions got me through! This is a victory for me.
---
Today I rode another 12 miles, this time west and north of the hotel. My first stop was the Westminster Burial Ground, where I visited the grave of Edgar Allen Poe. The entire grounds are fantastic, and really clarify the way internment of the dead has changed over the centuries. The yard had its first burial in the late 1700s, and crypts, tombs, markers and slabs are strewn almost haphazardly about. One portion of small brick path lined with low crypts with small iron doors is interrupted by both a raised slab that intrudes onto the path, and by a larger marker that sits in and flush with the bricks, leaving me to assume I'm stepping on someone's last resting place. Around the back of the yard, part of the church is actually built out and over a small crypt and a few more stones, making me think it must have been a later addition to the building. Interpretive plaques offer more information about a number of the deceased, and also explain that numerous occupants were disinterred and moved to the more rural and prestigious Greenmount Cemetary later on. I'm really intrigued by the thought that it was important to the wealthy of the time for reasons of status to have their ancestors actually dug up and moved to a more 'fasionable' graveyard. Even in death, they had to have that prestigious address, I suppose.
So my next stop was that very same graveyard, about a mile north of my hotel. I was there primarily to see two graves. That of John Wilkes Booth, presidential assassin, was first. Second was Elijah Bond, the inventor of the Ouija Board. Some time after his death, a fan got money together to have a stone replica of a Ouija Board erected at his grave. I rode a circuit through the rest of the grounds as well, seeing a large number of really interesting monuments and sculpture. Interestingly, the guestbook I signed includes an admonition for photographers against identifying the location of photos taken in the graveyard. I asked the woman at the cemetery office about it, and she said that it is a private graveyard and that people don't want their family's graves put up on Facebook and things. It's a sentiment that I'm going to think about off and on, because I'm not sure that I understand it. What do you think? Would you object to pictures of grave markers of your relatives being posted publicly as examples of interesting art or something?
From there, I went northward to a life-size Moai statue in a neighborhood that I gather is near an art school. It was fun going through there; the whole neighborhood had tons of interesting public art, some of which I photographed. As I was photographing the Moai, a local guy asked if I wanted one with me in it. I hesitated for a moment about handing my camera over to a stranger, but I decided to go for it. He took a picture of me (or tried to; I realized later the shutter didn't trip, alas), and then we chatted a bit about the art around here. He talked about watching the sculptor at work on the Moai, and about how he likes to show off all the murals and other works around. As we parted, he gave me his name and address, and said that if I need anything or get a flat or something, I should come by. Neat! And here I was originally feeling a little nervous about the neighborhood. People are generally good folks.
Next, I made my way northwest, to visit Druid Hill Park. Given its name, it was a mandatory stop. On the way, I got a little bit confused as to the bike route. There was supposed to be a signed path, but it disappeared on me. Fortunately, another cyclist came by, and I got directions from him, then followed him most of the way. Once at the park, I only took a lap around the large resevoir in the southeast corner, then headed back home. As I've noted before, I'm a city boy, and this, while a nice big park with open bike paths, was not a city. I can ride bike paths at home.
On the way back, I stopped at a pleasant cruciform park centered on an enormous monument to George Washington; the first in the nation I gather. It was under restoration, so in my photo of it it's covered in scaffolding and a construction elevator. I don't mind; it makes for a different picture than most at least!
I photographed a couple of old, abandoned movie palaces today too. The 1880 Mayfair this morning, before getting on my bike (it's right down the street), and the 1915 Parkway on the way home from Druid Hill. both very pretty structures, both showing the signs of long neglect. The Mayfair is particularly bad off; I could see daylight through the windows, and Cinema Treasures says that the roof collapsed about a decade ago. It's sad; that's one of the older extant movie houses.
And now I'm back at the hotel. I have a schedule for my Penn State meetings tomorrow in my inbox, so I'm going to do some preparations, seeing what the people I'm meeting with have written. My first meeting isn't 'till one o' clock, which is a relief. I was willing to leave here at five in the morning for morning meetings, but I'm glad I don't have to! I'm still a little nervous about meeting with the faculty there. I feel like there's so much I don't know, and I want to present myself well. Wish me luck?
