Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: United States

  • Baltimore – What is Happening?

    As some context for this post, my second trip to Baltimore was in the summer of 2015. I liked my first trip to Baltimore, although it was apparent that there were some issues with regards to poverty and exclusion.

    In April 2015 there were some substantial riots which took place in Baltimore, with tens of buildings being looted, 150 vehicles destroyed by fire, multiple buildings damaged by fire and 250 arrests. It wasn’t a great time for the city, and it caused significant damage to the economy of Baltimore.

    Anyway, I was in my hotel one early evening, which was the Holiday Inn Express downtown. There was a loud bang, and I looked out of my window to see the below.

     

    My first thoughts were that there was some form of dispute going on, as the city were keen to stop any form of unrest very quickly to avoid the reputation of Baltimore being damaged any further.

    So, now deciding that I could be an inner-city riot reporter, I bravely went down to see what was going on. Although, I’d add that it was with the safety of tens of police officers in front of me.

    The actual incident was though something a little more mundane (although not to the people involved) as a car had been accidentally driven into a building next to the hotel. It was on the local news that the fire brigade were concerned that there might be a fire or building collapse, which is why there were more fire fighting vehicles than anything else.

    All told though, it was an interesting little piece of drama for the evening….

  • Baltimore – 9/11 Memorial

    Located next to the World Trade Center building in Baltimore is this memorial to all those who died in the 9/11 tragedy in New York in 2001. This memorial was unveiled in 2011 to mark the tenth anniversary and the names of 68 people from Maryland who died on the day are inscribed.

    The steel on top of the memorial comprises of three beams which were once part of the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York. I didn’t realise at the time the significance of this, but around the marble there are times of what happened during that dreadful day, and on 9/11 every year the shadow from the sun corresponds with that time of the day.

  • British Airways (Heathrow T5 to Baltimore)

    This post is more just to upload the photos than anything else, as I can’t remember much else about the flight now. I flew from London Heathrow T5 to Baltimore on an A380 in August 2015. Unfortunately, the photos aren’t very clear, but since they’re the only ones I’ve got of that flight, they’ll have to do.

    I was travelling in Club World and obviously I wasn’t paying since otherwise I’d have been in World Traveller.

    The aircraft at Heathrow T5.

    The Club World cabin during the boarding process.

    This happens too often….

    The starter and salad.

    Corn fed chicken, mashed potato and batons of carrot.

    Some sort of mousse.

    An ice cream from later on during the flight.

  • Atlanta – Georgia State Capitol (John A. Treutlen Bust)

    The bust of John A. Treutlen in the Georgia State Capitol, a German born merchant who became the first post-British Governor in the state. His family’s trip to get to America was an eventful one, with the boat sailing from Gosport in the UK to Georgia. The crew died en route from illness, so another passenger with no sailing experience had to use his knowledge of geometry to get them there. That’s quite a story in itself.

    Treutlen became one of the early revolutionaries who was opposed to British rule over the Americas and he was involved in 1777 with drafting Georgia’s first state constitution. His governorship was a troubled one politically and he made many enemies within the state as factions started to fight each other. He was replaced by John Houstoun in 1778, who was one of the attendees at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Treutlen was killed by a mob in March 1782 and it’s thought that it happened in front of his family.

  • Atlanta – Georgia State Capitol (Jimmy Carter Portrait)

    Around the walls of the Georgia State Capitol are portraits of former state governors. One of the best known of all the governors of the state was number 76, Jimmy Carter, who was the democratic governor from 1971 until 1975. He was the 39th President of the United States, and the only governor from Georgia to go on to hold that role.

  • Atlanta – Georgia State Capitol (Gold on Rotunda)

    A slightly quirky exhibit in the Georgia State Capitol, which is the box which the rotunda’s gold travelled in. The gold was sent from Dahlonega and Lumpkin County in August 1958 and to add some theatre to the proceedings, it was carried in an 1830s train.

    The building’s rotunda wasn’t originally made from gold, it was made from the decidedly less impressive combination of tin and wood. This didn’t last that well and repairs were frequent, so someone had a marvellous idea to use gold instead. Actually, the arrangements weren’t great, as it wasn’t clear that the Governor knew that the gold was coming on an 1830s train and it got a little ignored.

    So, the story ends nicely. Well, it doesn’t quite. The state didn’t quite get the gold to adhere correctly to the rotunda and by the 1970s half of it was missing. In 1979, it was decided to repeat the whole collecting gold and sending by wagon train thing, which worked well. And today the rotunda is safe, with the gold adhering this time, so there might not be a wagon train carrying gold being sent to Atlanta again for some time…..

  • Atlanta – Replica of Liberty Bell

    This feels a little more relevant to me now that I’ve seen the actual Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. It’s a replica of the original bell and this is one of 55 replicas which were cast as part of the Liberty Bell Savings Bonds drive in 1950. The 55 that were made were for one each for the 48 states, one for the District of Columbia and several for the territories. Only one of the bells has gone missing (although goodness knows how you lose a bell like that) and there’s a list of their whereabouts at http://tomlovesthelibertybell.com/liberty-bell-replica-locations/.

  • Atlanta – Atlanta Zoo

    Some photos from my visit to Atlanta Zoo in October 2015. Unfortunately writing this over three years after means I’ve forgotten parts of the visit, but I do remember seeing the pandas close-up. It was all clean and organised, with plenty of space for the animals and I don’t recall there being that many other visitors there.

  • San Juan Capistrano – Morning Walk

    From mid-May 2019, these are the photos from my little morning walk along the seafront at Capistrano Beach. Capo Beach was badly damaged by the weather last year and so there are some construction works afoot to try and fix it, with evidence of the half disappeared basketball court in the below photos.

    There are some photos of the damage at http://www.meetsanclemente.com/south-orange-countys-beaches-are-rapidly-disappearing/.

  • Los Angeles – Laguna Art Museum (The Cook Book by Ruth Peabody)

    Painted by Ruth Peabody in 1925, this painting is apparently showing a pensive looking women planning what meal to cook. Peabody gave the painting to Laguna Art Museum in 1966 and I liked the pose and look of the woman in the artwork. Although, as ever, I’m confused as to why the items on the table are painted in what I consider a clunky way which is out of perspective, but I’m sure it’s very artistic indeed.