Images of Christmas - Baltimore

Christmastime on 34th Street, Baltimore (December 2001)

‘Tis that time of year again.

I’m looking for one more post to close out 2019. Christmas lights and decorations were noted from former home towns, New York in 2017 and New Orleans last January. Since I have now lived in the Baltimore area longer than anywhere else, I should round out the series with a few local images.

Baltimore is the home of the original Washington Monument. This 178-foot tall column was completed in 1829, long before the more famous one was dedicated in Washington, D.C. in 1885. Since 1971, the monument has been lit ceremonially on the first Thursday in December.

Washington Monument, Baltimore (17 December 2011)

In the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore City, ONE block of row houses is so magnificently festooned with lights, people come from miles around to see it. Some call it ‘The Miracle on 34th Street.’ The shot at the top and the one below show the complete dedication the neighbors have to make the block festive and bright.

34th Street, Baltimore (17 December 2011)

Finally, here’s a little trick you can do to play with the lights and make an abstract spray of color. With the camera on a tripod (because night-time shots need longer exposures) and a zoom lens, you can zoom out while the shutter is open to make every light streak. The effect can be interesting.

Mach Two Christmas, Baltimore (17 December 2011)

We wish you a joyous and safe holiday followed by a healthy and happy New Year. We sincerely appreciate your interest in our eclectic posts.

Images and More will continue in 2020 with another Cruise Chronicle, more ballpark visitations and, I suspect, an Election Year rant or two. I also want to chase down the last resting places of our nation’s Supreme Court Chief Justices and return to the State House Odyssey.

So many stories.

So little time.

Cruise Chronicles – Day 15 – Lillehammer, Norway

On this day, we got out of the capital city and took a train north to the winter sports town of Lillehammer. Norway has hosted the Winter Olympics twice…in Oslo in 1952 and here in 1994. After yesterday’s intense touring of many Oslo attractions, this would be a more leisurely day. It would also be the worst weather day of the entire vacation.

Sondre Park and the Lillehammer Church (22 May 2019)

What’s not to like about a train ride through the countryside? Someone else is doing the driving and you have a big window to see rural Norway. I suppose you could say that a bus ride will do the same thing. A bus will also give you close-up views of six lanes of traffic. Instead, the train has the right-of-way all to itself and often gets you close to scenes you don’t get from the Interstate – see the last shot below.

Norwegian Olympic Museum, Lillehammer, Norway (22 May 2019)

Climb a hill away from the train station (this is a mountain town...no two streets are on the same level), and you reach a concentration of attractions. Adjacent to each other were the Norway Postal Museum and the Norwegian Olympic Museum. No offense to any dedicated postal workers out there but the choice was unanimous. While the exhibits address the greater Olympic movement, the emphasis is on the winter sports and Norway’s significant contributions to Olympic lore.

A Different Kind of Fence (22 May 2019)

Walking back to town from the Olympic museum, I saw this simple fence. No nails or other fasteners required.

Lillehammer, Norway (22 May 2019)

Follow the advice we see more on photo sites lately…even I recommended it back in 2011 – get out in the bad weather. The weather is not ‘bad’…just a bit difficult for your equipment and getting around, but it can make for great images.

The rains were enough to keep us from exploring the town further. We did not get up the mountainside to the Olympic venues. We visited Lake Placid, New York in the summertime, site for the 1932 and 1980 winter games. Bobsled runs without ice look like fun. Treacherous downhill ski runs, where people fly down the mountain at expressway speeds, appear much less so when they are green meadows. Frozen water under your feet makes any activity more interesting. The only view that still made me think “This is nuts” was from the top of the ski jump.

But I digress. There are no images for you winter sport fans because I did not go there. Tune in for the next post for a little of that.

Outside Lillehammer, Norway (22 May 2019)

After the Olympic Museum, we ambled along the main drag as the skies grew darker. We decided to have lunch at a café with outside seating…under a big umbrella. Good thing since our burgers were served with a side of heavy rain. We lingered there longer than we ate. Since the rain gods were watching us all along, the showers stopped right after Beck scampered over to a store and bought plastic ponchos.

Lake Mjosa in the Afternoon (22 May 2019)

In 2012, I wrote about how I take pictures from moving vehicles. The examples then were planes and cars. The train that returned us to Oslo traced the shoreline of Lake Mjose, the largest lake in Norway. Increase the ISO (“film speed”), reduce the aperture number and you’ll get the faster shutter speed that will reduce the blur you get shooting through the window of a moving train. Of course, most of the images will be rejects because there will be poles, wires, half buildings and other elements that appear just as you press the shutter and spoil the composition. But there might also be a winner. Fire away. The film (and developing…that all-but-extinct process where we brought the film to a store that sent it away to be turned into pictures you could see a week later) is free. Images and More strives to help our younger readers understand what life was like back in the pioneer days.

Despite the inclement weather, this was a good day. After yesterday’s intense city scramble, a train ride through the country and hanging around a picturesque mountain town worked just fine.

Cruise Chronicles – Day 14 – Oslo, Norway

If one is young, healthy and well-rested (Hey, a .333 average gets you into the Baseball Hall of Fame), one can take advantage of the ’Oslo Pass.’ Many cities offer one- or two-day tickets that permit entry to a bunch of the town’s cultural attractions. The Oslo version was even better since it included the use of all forms of public transportation. On Day 14, we blitzed the town and put the passes to good use.

Oslo Lilacs (21 May 2019)

We walked through central city to the harbor, passing through the government center. The lilacs here are in front of the national parliament building. This is the most laden, richly-adorned lilac I have ever seen.

From the waterfront near the City Hall (where the Nobel Peace Prizes are awarded every year), we hopped a ferry to another side of the fjord and the Viking Ship Museum. The museum displays wonderfully-preserved, 1200-year old Viking boats. Silly me. I saw too many Hollywood depictions of Viking funerals and thought the boats were set adrift with the deceased and torched. Turns out the wealthy dead and their boats were buried together. The boats and the artifacts buried with the decedent can be preserved quite well under certain soils.

Viking Ship Museum, Oslo (21 May 2019)

Next stop was the Polar Ship ‘Fram’ Museum. Like the ’Vasa’ Museum in Stockholm, it is an exhibit building built around the ship. Norwegians were prominent polar explorers at the early 20th century and the museum is a vivid depiction of the lives and times of the hearty souls who drove deeper toward the ends of the earth…without the aid of satellite imagery, air-dropped supplies and the internet…Oh, the Hardship and Deprivation! The impression is enhanced by projected polar imagery on the white A-frame walls with accompanying sound effects.

‘Fram’ Museum, Oslo (21 May 2019)

Next stop was the museum dedicated to the Norwegian icon, 20th century expressionist painter, Edvard Munch. This time, we took the underground, a fine, modern subway system with one glaring difference compared with its American counterparts. I grew up riding the old New York City subways and often use the Washington Metro. Here, you can’t get close to a train without buying tokens or fare cards that allow you to pass though the turnstiles, fences and other barriers that separate those who bought tickets from those who didn’t. Oslo’s subway is essentially an extension of the street. Go downstairs and get on the train. Of course, they sell tickets and I guess there actually are authorities who randomly check to see if passengers are really honest. Apparently, the threat of a hefty fine deters most riders from freeloading. Nonetheless, I was impressed since I’m sure so many of us ‘Exceptional’ Americans would be all too pleased to screw the authorities out of a fare.

‘Madonna’ (1894) by Edvard Munch, 
Munch Museum, Oslo (21 May 2019)

Everyone knows ‘The Scream.’ You can’t throw a rock without hitting some appropriation of the image. It was here but I’m not showing it. You’ve seen it enough. In 2004, armed thieves stole ‘The Scream’ and ‘Madonna’ in a daring daylight robbery. It took two years to recover the works.

I am not much impressed by Munch’s style and his overall output. But what do I know? He is a national treasure here. A much bigger museum is under construction downtown so future visitors will have a much better venue than the current leaky, threadbare location.

Downtown Oslo 2019 – Tower Cranes and Naked Statues (21 May 2019)

Another subway ride took us back to the central city waterfront where we wandered through the Akershus Fortress, a medieval fort and royal residence that is now more of a museum and event center. After that, Frank and Suzanne had enough and returned to the apartment while Beck and I soldiered on to one more stop.

The shot above summarizes this American’s impression of today’s Oslo…bustling and growing. Tower cranes sprout in every direction as do anatomically-correct statues. I know the human body has forever been the object of artistic expression and the nude is the best way to be classical and timeless. I just appreciate the progressive Scandinavian acceptance of all that is the human form…and couldn’t help but wonder how our petty Puritan protesters stateside would respond to this pubic art.

On the left above is the Nobel Peace Center. The 19th century rail station was transformed in 2005 to house permanent displays of the Nobel Peace Prize recipients and temporary exhibits on related subjects.

Nobel Peace Center, Oslo (21 May 2019)

The heart of the Peace Center is the Nobel Field, a dark room where one can find the 130 honorees and their stories. Among the American recipients are Teddy Roosevelt (1906 – for mediating the end of the Russo-Japanese War); Woodrow Wilson (1919 – for his role in forming the League of Nations); Martin Luther King (1964) and Norman Borlaug (1970 – for developing the ‘miracle’ grains that boosted food production throughout the third world).

After that, we were exhausted and foot-sore. We limped back to the apartment after visiting four museums via boats, street cars, buses and subways. A very full day indeed.