The holidays have offficially begun, not becasue our Starbucks cups have turned red or because retailers have replaced lawn mowers with Christmas trees. It’s begun because this past Saturday, the lights turned on throughout 34th street in Baltimore.
I’ve discovered that they even have their own website. www.christmasstreet.com
Hope everyone’s thanksgiving was enjoyable. Here’s a shot of West pratt Street at dusk in Baltimore. If you look towards the center of the frame, you can see the reflection of the Bromo Seltzer tower.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. We’ll be back on Friday.
I was originally going to turn this into a two part post. Today I was going to feature an un-cooked turkey and then on Friday I would post this one. Sort of a before and after shot. However, it seems to me that pictures of raw turkeys might not appeal to all MDP readers. There’s also very little about this to tie in with Maryland.
I hope you can for give me for the noise in this picture and for the clear need to clean my camera lens. However, I thought it would be cool to post a picture from inside the concert.
You might say that this looks like a picture I could have found anywhere. How do I know it’s the Baltimore Civic Center Baltimore Arena First Mariner Arena. That’s why I’ve provided the picture below, which shows you the unmistakable banners at the top of the rafters, placed there to signify the many triumphs of the Baltimore Blast.
Of course, in an arena that seats only 11,000 plus the people crammed on the floor, every seat is bound to have a good view. The location of this photo also offered a view of the Governor, who was sitting just ten feet to the left. Perhaps I’ll post that picture at a later time.
On Friday, Bruce Springsteen played in the Baltimore Arena. It became quite an event. Local newscasts all did multiple stories about it. The story generally revolved around how Springsteen hadn’t been to Baltimore since 1973 when he opened for the band Chicago. In his own words about that night in 1973, “some guy said,’we didn’t come here to see you.” After that, and possibly because of that, he never came back. Baltimore is the kind of town that would easily keep a grudge going after being shunned like that. (in spite of the fact that they threw the first punch) However, the town decided instead to welcome him. WNST, the local sports station that hands out these purple banners at Ravens games usually with “Wacko for Flacco,” or some other phrase like that, even printed up Bruce banners and handed them out on the streets.
This is a monument dedicated to Col. George Armistead, who commanded Ft. McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore. This monument is located in Federal Hill, but there is a second one dedicated to him in Ft. McHenry. In addition, an entire fort built at the turn of the century in the southeast corner of the city, (now a city park) is also dedicated to him. He died only a few years after the battle.
Aside from maintaining the fort during the British bombardment in the battle of Baltimore, Armistead is also known for ordering the creation of the giant flag to be flown above the fort. We all know that a flag was seen by Key above Ft. McHenry, and became the inspiration for the national anthem.
Here’s a shot of the paint room back at the museum repair shop. I thought this was one of the highlights of the tour. The state of the art sealed and ventilated paint facility is 100 fee long, and is able to hold this former MARC passenger car as it’s being stripped down and repainted
We’ll take a break from the museum to share this photo from last Saturday’s UMD-Va. Tech game courtesy of corresponding photographer, Shelly. The 3-27 score (which got worse by the end) was too much for this fan, who had to shield herself from the camera while walking out, lest she be seen at the game.
Just thought I’d share another shot of the repair facility. This locomotive was one of the ones severely damaged in the roof collapse. It’s next in line for major repairs. You can see the broken roof, broken doors and broken windows from the collapse.
Yesterday, becasue of my importance to the community (really because I was one of the first 25 in line) I was able to take a very cool behind the scenes tour of the repair and restoration shop of the B&O railroad museum. The facility, which is one of only a few in the country, was built in the aftermath of the snowstorm that destroyed the Museum’s roundhouse roof. The train in today’s picture, which is almost finished with it’s cosmetic restoration, is one of the ones that was most damaged.