Sorry, everyone -- you'd think that with all the soggy weather we've had (I think we were up to 10 days of recorded rain in a row until the wet spell broke on Friday) I'd have spent more time in front of the computer. I haven't been feeling very chatty recently, I guess, or even much like sitting at my messy desk.
I'll try to catch everyone up in the next few posts.
May 9 and 10 Paul judged his science fair in Indianapolis and I explored the city some. I had a great time. I was hoping to see some practice runs at the Speedway, but I spent they sunny afternoon Tuesday checking out Broad Ripple neighborhood, a locale one of Muncie's businessmen referred to in our latest show on downtown development, and it turns out they don't race in the rain which threatened all day Wednesday.
Anyway, so when we got into town, Paul went right to his judging duties, not to return until 11pm. I checked in at the hotel, caught a bus, and headed up to Broad Ripple, an area of several blocks with cute little boutiques and cafes and some bars. It reminded me of Elmwood in Buffalo. It seemed like the kind of place hip singles would frequent. I found a pseudo-"Bread and Circus" that carried our favorite Spicy Thai potato chips and bottles of Monty Python's Holy Grail Ale. I'll have to go back when I have a car at my disposal.
I had dinner at a wonderful (and unexpectedly FANCY) German restaurant, the Rathskellar, in another part of town. It was recommended by all the city spokespersons I've run into. Unfortunately, the city directory gives no indication of what one should expect to spend at the restaurants in their listing. I had initially tried to go to the City Market (Indy's "Quincy Market"), but it turns out they close at 4:30pm, so I decided to explore some and try to find the German restaurant I had heard so much about. The streets in Indy seem to have no rhyme or reason to them, with the possible exception of Meridian St. which runs north and south and supposedly cuts the city in half. Most of the other downtown streets are named for states, but without regard to geographic reference, so Massachusetts, Alabama, and Delaware are all in the same neck of the woods. I spent a while wandering around on foot and found it very difficult to get my bearings. This restaurant being in the basement of what otherwise looks like an apartment building didn't help matters. I had a sausage platter for dinner and ordered Sucher Torte to go.
Wednesday, I was pretty tired from all my walking around the day before. I had to check out by 11pm and meet Paul at 9pm, so I had a whole day to fill, and it started POURING between 3 and 3:30pm. I spent the day on foot, exploring the downtown. I wandered through the mall in the morning, then headed over to the City Market for lunch. I happened to catch the Wednesday Farmer's Market just before closing and scored a raspberry pie at one of the Amish vendors. The people I spoke to seemed to mostly come from south of town -- a lot of places I wasn't at all familiar with. I had a BBQ Pork sandwich at Jumbo's in the City Market and it was the best BBQ I've had since leaving Buffalo.
I checked out Circle Monument, but decided against going up to the top (26 stories to an observation deck), since that's probably not the kind of thing one needs to do more than once and I figured I could wait and go with Paul sometime. I headed north from there and found myself at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in time for a tour -- only to discover that it's not a "cathedral" at all, despite its exterior appearance. "Scottish Rite" is an order of Masons! Pretty building, but I lost interest very quickly.
One of the most striking things about downtown Indianapolis is that there are five or six city blocks right in the heart of the city that are dedicated to things veteran (which I will try to recall from memory and will correct at a later date): Circle Monument, dedicated to freedom fighters shortly after 1900; the full-city-block Indiana World War Memorial and Museum; two city blocks of parks and war memorial monuments, one of which looks like the Washington Monument, except that it's black with a gold pyramid on top; and the American Legion building at the north end. I was surprised by the sheer amount of information at the World War Museum and by the quality of the exhibits, but was sadly too exhausted to comprehend much. I look forward to going back with fresh feet and eyes some time.
While I was browsing the exhibits, the rains came, not to let up for many, many days. I rushed back to the shelter of the mall; bought new shoes and insoles at my new favorite shoe store, The Walking Company; and then settled in at the convention center and read "The Devil in the White City" until Paul arrived for our rendezvous.
If I had to put up with the hustle and bustle of the city on a daily basis, I'd probably long for wide open spaces, but sometimes I think I'm a city girl at heart -- even if only for two days at a time.
By the way, Paul was pretty disappointed with the Computer Science projects at the science fair. A great deal of that disappointment is owed directly to the general misunderstanding of the field of computer science that seems to plaque the field. For example, the kids are given a list of categories from which they select the area that best fits their projects. Computer Science was listed as simply "Computers", resulting in a great many projects being misclassified.
I'll try to catch everyone up in the next few posts.
May 9 and 10 Paul judged his science fair in Indianapolis and I explored the city some. I had a great time. I was hoping to see some practice runs at the Speedway, but I spent they sunny afternoon Tuesday checking out Broad Ripple neighborhood, a locale one of Muncie's businessmen referred to in our latest show on downtown development, and it turns out they don't race in the rain which threatened all day Wednesday.
Anyway, so when we got into town, Paul went right to his judging duties, not to return until 11pm. I checked in at the hotel, caught a bus, and headed up to Broad Ripple, an area of several blocks with cute little boutiques and cafes and some bars. It reminded me of Elmwood in Buffalo. It seemed like the kind of place hip singles would frequent. I found a pseudo-"Bread and Circus" that carried our favorite Spicy Thai potato chips and bottles of Monty Python's Holy Grail Ale. I'll have to go back when I have a car at my disposal.
I had dinner at a wonderful (and unexpectedly FANCY) German restaurant, the Rathskellar, in another part of town. It was recommended by all the city spokespersons I've run into. Unfortunately, the city directory gives no indication of what one should expect to spend at the restaurants in their listing. I had initially tried to go to the City Market (Indy's "Quincy Market"), but it turns out they close at 4:30pm, so I decided to explore some and try to find the German restaurant I had heard so much about. The streets in Indy seem to have no rhyme or reason to them, with the possible exception of Meridian St. which runs north and south and supposedly cuts the city in half. Most of the other downtown streets are named for states, but without regard to geographic reference, so Massachusetts, Alabama, and Delaware are all in the same neck of the woods. I spent a while wandering around on foot and found it very difficult to get my bearings. This restaurant being in the basement of what otherwise looks like an apartment building didn't help matters. I had a sausage platter for dinner and ordered Sucher Torte to go.
Wednesday, I was pretty tired from all my walking around the day before. I had to check out by 11pm and meet Paul at 9pm, so I had a whole day to fill, and it started POURING between 3 and 3:30pm. I spent the day on foot, exploring the downtown. I wandered through the mall in the morning, then headed over to the City Market for lunch. I happened to catch the Wednesday Farmer's Market just before closing and scored a raspberry pie at one of the Amish vendors. The people I spoke to seemed to mostly come from south of town -- a lot of places I wasn't at all familiar with. I had a BBQ Pork sandwich at Jumbo's in the City Market and it was the best BBQ I've had since leaving Buffalo.
I checked out Circle Monument, but decided against going up to the top (26 stories to an observation deck), since that's probably not the kind of thing one needs to do more than once and I figured I could wait and go with Paul sometime. I headed north from there and found myself at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in time for a tour -- only to discover that it's not a "cathedral" at all, despite its exterior appearance. "Scottish Rite" is an order of Masons! Pretty building, but I lost interest very quickly.
One of the most striking things about downtown Indianapolis is that there are five or six city blocks right in the heart of the city that are dedicated to things veteran (which I will try to recall from memory and will correct at a later date): Circle Monument, dedicated to freedom fighters shortly after 1900; the full-city-block Indiana World War Memorial and Museum; two city blocks of parks and war memorial monuments, one of which looks like the Washington Monument, except that it's black with a gold pyramid on top; and the American Legion building at the north end. I was surprised by the sheer amount of information at the World War Museum and by the quality of the exhibits, but was sadly too exhausted to comprehend much. I look forward to going back with fresh feet and eyes some time.
While I was browsing the exhibits, the rains came, not to let up for many, many days. I rushed back to the shelter of the mall; bought new shoes and insoles at my new favorite shoe store, The Walking Company; and then settled in at the convention center and read "The Devil in the White City" until Paul arrived for our rendezvous.
If I had to put up with the hustle and bustle of the city on a daily basis, I'd probably long for wide open spaces, but sometimes I think I'm a city girl at heart -- even if only for two days at a time.
By the way, Paul was pretty disappointed with the Computer Science projects at the science fair. A great deal of that disappointment is owed directly to the general misunderstanding of the field of computer science that seems to plaque the field. For example, the kids are given a list of categories from which they select the area that best fits their projects. Computer Science was listed as simply "Computers", resulting in a great many projects being misclassified.
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