So my final destination was Albany, visiting Jordan from camp, and touring the fantastic range of architecture in the city.
Albany is the capital of New York state, but it remains a small city with earlier trading and industry replaced by the administrative centres and colleges. It was originally settled by the Dutch and there is still some influence in the town, including decorative clogs spread throughout the town centre!
Approaching the city, downtown seems to rise out of the forest, as the city is hemmed in by a river, so no urban sprawl. kinda neat!
Just watched Murray win the first set tie break against Djokovic in the US Open final. Looks very windy there! (No tornados though)
So after much procrastination i decided to spend my last week visiting Baltimore and Albany.
The cheapest flight to Baltimore involved flying an hour further north to Boston, and then flying back south. Unfortunately my flight to Boston was late so i missed the connection, but no worries as there was plenty of space on the next flight that evening.
However that meant i only had one day to explore the city.
So i walked around a couple of neighbourhoods in downtown Baltimore, including the very hip Hampden, including giant pink flamingos and flying spaghetti monsters, and checked out the art gallery (free entry) which had a decent collection of impressionist paintings. Unfortunately the contemporary section was closed for renovations.
Baltimore has a great free bus system running around downtown which is nice, so i was able to get back into town and check out the horribly touristy Inner Harbour area. Terrible. so i walked out to the Tattoo Museum in Fells Point. Lots of nice pubs in the area also.
In the evening i headed over to the baseball stadium, and picked up a reasonably cheap ticket ($32). The Baltimore Orioles just happened to be playing the New York Yankees in a top of the table clash. And it proved to be a great game, great atmosphere and great experience! Lots of colour as the home fans all wear orange, chanting, jumping up and down, mexican waves, and vendors walking around selling hotdogs and beer, including the local favourite, "Natty Boh"
Baltimore is supposed to be known for its social problems and run down areas, but i didn't see that part of the city. I would be keen to stop off here again in the future and explore more.
3 hour bus
6 hour flight
body clock midnight, local time 6am
6 hour bus
home
sleep
update blog with Baltimore and Albany.
6 hour flight
body clock midnight, local time 6am
6 hour bus
home
sleep
update blog with Baltimore and Albany.
So after ploughing through Steinbeck's East of Eden, which i did enjoy, despite the overuse of biblical parallels, and Dicken's Hard Times, which i have to say was a bit of a let down compared to his usual high standard, i am now ploughing through Dostoevsky's "The Idiot". And it certainly requires some concentration, a huge cast of characters each referred to by two or three different russian names, lots of long passages and monologues and almost shakespearean farce and confusion.
So i was delighted when amidst Lebedyev's drunken exposition about how society is changing, and how extreme situation decrees what is natural behaviour, he spends a page or two talking about a man who during famine turning to cannibalism and devoured 60 monks. Also 6 young laymen. And then the ethics of eating so many monks but only a few children. Were the children less nutritious or just more of a toll on his conscience than eating a monk, or were monks just easier to lead into the woods and kill due to their inquisitive nature!! etc. I guess you had to be there.
So i was delighted when amidst Lebedyev's drunken exposition about how society is changing, and how extreme situation decrees what is natural behaviour, he spends a page or two talking about a man who during famine turning to cannibalism and devoured 60 monks. Also 6 young laymen. And then the ethics of eating so many monks but only a few children. Were the children less nutritious or just more of a toll on his conscience than eating a monk, or were monks just easier to lead into the woods and kill due to their inquisitive nature!! etc. I guess you had to be there.
So when I return to the UK I'm planning to walk the coast to coast route (inspired by the appalachian trail).
First up though my good friend Tim invited me to cycle the approximate route on the weekend after I get home. He would like to raise a little money for a cause close to his heart, the British heart foundation, so if you feel charitable have a
look
http://www.justgiving.com/timtim28
First up though my good friend Tim invited me to cycle the approximate route on the weekend after I get home. He would like to raise a little money for a cause close to his heart, the British heart foundation, so if you feel charitable have a
look
http://www.justgiving.com/timtim28