Our New Neighborhood - Snapshots
Greetings all,
We made it.
Last week on Sunday morning (3 AM) Maisi and I hopped in the U-haul and headed east. After a lot of driving, and a night in someplace-or-other Pennsylvania we arrived in our new neighborhood - Baltimore's Mt. Vernon area. With my sister Leah's help moving in and Maisi's cousin Noelle's help unpacking, we were off to a good start.
Fast forward a week, and we're getting pretty settled in. Our apartment is small, but we're trying to make the best of it - I think we've got at least a few more trips to IKEA before we can put everything away, but we'll get there. The neighborhood is great - Mt. Vernon and the surrounding areas are definitely the cultural and arts oriented part of Baltimore, which is nice. There's tons of history here - monuments and sculptures abound - in fact, I believe that one of Baltimore's nicer nicknames is "the city of monuments" or something along those lines.
I've been having some fun learning how to row - I joined the novice class conducted by the Baltimore City Rowing Club. It's amazing how difficult it is to get eight people to balance a boat only just a bit wider than your hips, so we haven't been doing too much rowing, but our coaches assure us that we'll get there soon. More about this later...
So, now for some pictures. I went out for a few minutes last night and took a some snapshots (Craig's class - you'll be surprised to note that there was no tripod involved in these shots - or maybe you won't be surprised!). Nothing too fancy, but I think they give an idea of how cool this area is. I'm looking forward to exploring more of the city with my camera as I have more time. So, without further gilding the lily:
This is our apartment building, The Stafford. It was originally a fancy hotel way back when, and is now home to many Peabody and Johns Hopkins students - some of whom have no idea how to clean, based upon the fairly nasty condition of our apartment when we moved in. After several days of toil, Maisi's got the place pretty clean, though we have no hope for the carpeting. I'd rather walk barefoot outside than on our carpeting. Otherwise, though, we like it. Close to Maisi's school, secure building, air-conditioned and lots of windows. We're on the fifth floor, corner apartment - you can see it in the photo.
This is the top of the Baltimore Washington Monument, which, according to the always accurate Wikipedia is actually older than the Washington Monument in DC, which, by the way, is only about 40 or 50 miles from here. Actually, I'm sure that it is older, and though not as imposing, it's still pretty cool to look out our window at, and it makes a good landmark for finding your way home too!
This is one of the buildings that makes up the Peabody Institute, the world-renowned music arm of Johns Hopkins. Maisi's already been spending a fair amount of time over there studying and getting set for school. Apparently, she's got some pretty heavy entrance exams coming up, and she's working hard to get ready for them. Speaking of Johns Hopkins, Maisi is actually the second Pedersen to attend this university. My sister Leah graduated from the SAIS Institute for International Studies in Washington DC - another arm or Johns Hopkins. I have no graduate level aspirations, just in case you're wondering...
This is the Methodist church across the street from us. It was (coincidentally, I think) built upon the very spot where Francis Scott Key, composer of our National Anthem's lyrics, kicked the bucket. According to the sign on the front, it was built to be a "Cathedral of Methodism" and while I don't know much about Methodism, it seems to me that they succeeded. It's certainly huge - the main sanctuary holds 900+ and there is a second, more intimate sanctuary upstairs that seats a mere 300. Also of note, that second sanctuary has at some points in our nation's history served as temporary barracks for soldiers passing through Baltimore. I plan on taking a tour of the place soon, so who knows, maybe there'll be even more fun facts to come.
This here is a sculpture of General Lafayette. I need to learn more about him, because as now, my knowledge on his life and times is pretty limited. Suffice it to say though, that with a nice statue in front of the Washington Monument, he was either pretty rich or pretty heroic, or maybe both. Only time will tell...
These windows show one of the most typical styles of architecture in Baltimore - row houses - though these are certainly more fancy than most around here. I read somewhere that Baltimore is more closely associated with row houses than any other city in the country, and if you spend a little time wandering around here, it's not hard to see why...
Thanks for checking out our neighborhood...Check back for more updates in the near future...
John.
We made it.
Last week on Sunday morning (3 AM) Maisi and I hopped in the U-haul and headed east. After a lot of driving, and a night in someplace-or-other Pennsylvania we arrived in our new neighborhood - Baltimore's Mt. Vernon area. With my sister Leah's help moving in and Maisi's cousin Noelle's help unpacking, we were off to a good start.
Fast forward a week, and we're getting pretty settled in. Our apartment is small, but we're trying to make the best of it - I think we've got at least a few more trips to IKEA before we can put everything away, but we'll get there. The neighborhood is great - Mt. Vernon and the surrounding areas are definitely the cultural and arts oriented part of Baltimore, which is nice. There's tons of history here - monuments and sculptures abound - in fact, I believe that one of Baltimore's nicer nicknames is "the city of monuments" or something along those lines.
I've been having some fun learning how to row - I joined the novice class conducted by the Baltimore City Rowing Club. It's amazing how difficult it is to get eight people to balance a boat only just a bit wider than your hips, so we haven't been doing too much rowing, but our coaches assure us that we'll get there soon. More about this later...
So, now for some pictures. I went out for a few minutes last night and took a some snapshots (Craig's class - you'll be surprised to note that there was no tripod involved in these shots - or maybe you won't be surprised!). Nothing too fancy, but I think they give an idea of how cool this area is. I'm looking forward to exploring more of the city with my camera as I have more time. So, without further gilding the lily:
This is our apartment building, The Stafford. It was originally a fancy hotel way back when, and is now home to many Peabody and Johns Hopkins students - some of whom have no idea how to clean, based upon the fairly nasty condition of our apartment when we moved in. After several days of toil, Maisi's got the place pretty clean, though we have no hope for the carpeting. I'd rather walk barefoot outside than on our carpeting. Otherwise, though, we like it. Close to Maisi's school, secure building, air-conditioned and lots of windows. We're on the fifth floor, corner apartment - you can see it in the photo.
This is the top of the Baltimore Washington Monument, which, according to the always accurate Wikipedia is actually older than the Washington Monument in DC, which, by the way, is only about 40 or 50 miles from here. Actually, I'm sure that it is older, and though not as imposing, it's still pretty cool to look out our window at, and it makes a good landmark for finding your way home too!
This is one of the buildings that makes up the Peabody Institute, the world-renowned music arm of Johns Hopkins. Maisi's already been spending a fair amount of time over there studying and getting set for school. Apparently, she's got some pretty heavy entrance exams coming up, and she's working hard to get ready for them. Speaking of Johns Hopkins, Maisi is actually the second Pedersen to attend this university. My sister Leah graduated from the SAIS Institute for International Studies in Washington DC - another arm or Johns Hopkins. I have no graduate level aspirations, just in case you're wondering...
This is the Methodist church across the street from us. It was (coincidentally, I think) built upon the very spot where Francis Scott Key, composer of our National Anthem's lyrics, kicked the bucket. According to the sign on the front, it was built to be a "Cathedral of Methodism" and while I don't know much about Methodism, it seems to me that they succeeded. It's certainly huge - the main sanctuary holds 900+ and there is a second, more intimate sanctuary upstairs that seats a mere 300. Also of note, that second sanctuary has at some points in our nation's history served as temporary barracks for soldiers passing through Baltimore. I plan on taking a tour of the place soon, so who knows, maybe there'll be even more fun facts to come.
This here is a sculpture of General Lafayette. I need to learn more about him, because as now, my knowledge on his life and times is pretty limited. Suffice it to say though, that with a nice statue in front of the Washington Monument, he was either pretty rich or pretty heroic, or maybe both. Only time will tell...
These windows show one of the most typical styles of architecture in Baltimore - row houses - though these are certainly more fancy than most around here. I read somewhere that Baltimore is more closely associated with row houses than any other city in the country, and if you spend a little time wandering around here, it's not hard to see why...
Thanks for checking out our neighborhood...Check back for more updates in the near future...
John.
posted by John Pedersen at 5:45 AM
1 comments
