After the Rose Garden, I was tired from walking all that way, plus I didn't want to waste time walking back the same way when I could be looking at other things. So I stopped at a bus stop. Luckily for me, a bus driver was there waiting to start his shift! He was really nice and helped me get all prepared. I know that Seattle relies on tourism a lot, but I find it very irritating as a resident when a tourist spends what seems like an hour hashing out an entire agenda with the bus driver. Since I got to talk with this driver, I was all set with correct change, which bus to catch, and which stop to look for. Thank you, Mr. Charlotte Bus Driver!
I met Blair for lunch. She is so nice. We don't have Chick-Fil-A in Seattle, and I really love Chick-Fil-A, so she agreed to meet me there for lunch. It was probably not the local Charlotte eatery she was planning on. She asked me a very intriguing question: How does Charlotte compare to Seattle? Blair wasn't asking which was best; just what the similarities and differences were.
So for the rest of the day I compared. [Disclaimer: All of my observations are based on a single day of visiting.] Some of my observations were really surprising. For example, Charlotte is new, new, new! I guess I was expecting a Southern city more in line with Richmond, VA, or Savannah, GA, or Charleston, SC. But no! There was almost nothing historical to be seen, other than a few churches. I mean, Seattle, a very new city, has more historic buildings than I saw in Charlotte. Also (and this is a good thing), it was clean! Shiny and clean. I subconsciously noticed a lot of other things, too, but didn't actually figure them out until talking with people later. As I was walking around, there was just a completely different vibe from Seattle. I finally figured out a few things:
1) Charlotte appeared less diverse than Seattle. African-Americans and Caucasians dominated, with a sprinkling of other folks. And of the other folks, everyone spoke English. My conclusion is that Charlotte doesn't have many new immigrants or refugees.
2) There were almost no homeless people! I was asked politely for change only once, and in an entire day of walking around saw only one man yelling his opinions to the general world.
3) There were also very few non-working people downtown. By this I mean people living in the city, or down for shopping or a movie. Almost everyone I saw was a professional. I did see stores as I walked around, but no department stores like Seattle's Nordstrom or Macy's. I also didn't see any movie theaters. Now, I did see live theaters galore, and there were lots of museums and such. But it made me wonder if Charlotte was one of those cities where most people do their non-work living and get their entertainment out where they live, as opposed to downtown. I've lived in several cities like that: Pittsburgh was like that, though it is reviving; Richmond, VA, was also like that.
Anyway, after lunch I bopped around to various places. I was heading to Discovery Place (a children's museum) when I was distracted by the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. But I will leave that for now, since I am devoting a whole, nerdy post the library.
I found the Settler's Cemetery, which is, well, a cemetery of original Charlotte settlers. (Well named, yes?) It was gorgeous. It was a beautiful cemetery/park about a city block large. The grass was beautiful, there were paths all throughout, and benches filled with people reading or talking. You can even walk your dog there! They provide plastic doggy doo-doo bags for dog walkers. I thought that was a little surprising. Even if dog owners clean up their dogs' doo-doo, should they really be pooping on Jeremiah or Lucy or John in the first place? I'm undecided. I also wondered about the cemetery itself. It's owned by the city, and there is a big sign at the entrance listing everyone in the cemetery, and numbers next to each plot match with the person on the sign. All of the signs seemed new, and the park was in excellent shape. But the gravestones were so delicate that another sign forbade grave rubbings. And the above-the-gound graves, those big rock or brick coffins (what are those called?) were literally caving in from lack of maintenance. So I wondered what the city's policy was about this cemetery. To me it seemed like: take care of the park, but allow nature to take its course. Fascinating.
I got very excited about the Mint Museum Uptown, thinking it was a mint/money museum. I love stuff like that. But no. It was arts and crafts, which is great, but not for me. I also got excited about The Light Factory, because the name sounds cool. What could it be? A place where they make lightbulbs or fancy chandeliers? Who knows? But no. It was a photography gallery/museum. Now, before you all think I am an uncultured anti-art person, please know that...I am uncultured. And while I am certainly not anti-art, I can usually take it or leave it. There were about a million art museums in Charlotte, and if you love art, you should definitely go there. But that is not my cup of tea, so I can not offer you any insights, and I must complain that their galleries and museums have very cool names that, for me, to not live up to their innards.
Those are the big highlights. It doesn't seem like much, but keep in mind that I love to just walk around new cities, sit in parks or at coffee shops watching people go by, and experiencing fewer things thoroughly rather than more things quickly.
Okay, the next post will be all about the library, plus a little surprise I found.
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