musikfest day 1

With the exception of Saturday and Sunday, my walks for the next week will be to Musikfest. There's plenty to look at, there's music, and next Friday there is yoga at the south side festival.

Wednesday or Thursday I noticed that the stairs on the Fahy Bridge were finally open. The sidewalks have been open since spring. I had a feeling that they might be because of the festival. Both bridges are used heavily by pedestrians.  The top picture is going up the bridge from 2nd Avenue. The second picture is taken from the bottom at Sand Island, and the last picture is the pedestrian bridge over the Monocacy. On each project, the landscaping is not finished. Especially on Sand Island and at the creek.

 On Sand Island, where the ice house is, there is a patch of weeds that at one point was a garden. It's still kind of weeds, but there are sculptures, and a mural, plus walking paths.  It looks so much better.

I came off Sand Island and walked thru Experienceplatz. The crown jewel of that area is the Luminarium. It takes up about half the space. I'm going to the Architects of Air on Monday or Tuesday. (Yeah, another art post!). The AOA website says "a luminarium is a sculpture people enter to be moved to a sense of wonder at the beauty of light and color." It looks freakin cool.


Then I crossed the street and walked thru Plaza Tropi-hell. Crossing the street again I entered Festplatz I remembered I should always bring a bag with me since I was being handed product samples from every direction. The Wholey Cheese smoked gouda crackers were delicious. They were made by Snyder's of Hanover and come in three flavors. I have no reason not to believe that the other flavors would not be as delicious. I must look for them in a store. Or maybe not. I'd eat the whole bag.

Then I went over the new pedestrian bridge to the historic area, which again is Familenplatz. Familenplatz has moved a lot, and this is where it started back in 1984.

Near the glass blowing area are two of these parachutes (?) that twist and turn and open and close in the wind.

Instead of traditional yarn bombing, The Knitter's Edge created mobiles this year. They are even more interesting from the inside than the outside. Maybe if it was windy they'd move more.

Then it was on thru Handwerkplatz to Volksplatz to get my annual funnel cake. EZ Concessions is not there this year. They had a dedicated fryer for funnel cakes. The place I stopped apparently didn't. They fry everything from cookies to cheesecake and vegetables. It tasted gross. Like dirty oil, and it was the first day. I picked at it hoping the grossness would go away, and ultimately threw 90% of it out. Maybe I'm just too old for funnel cake.

It was at Volksplatz that I encountered a busker riding a mechanical ostrich. The ostrich interacted with the crowd and took a number of selfies.

Then I walked back to Familienplaz and did a "make and take" art class (epic fail) before heading up the stairs of the bridge and home.

Earlier in the day I also took a walk around the block.

Miles/Steps:  5-ish
Bathrooms:   none used
Wildlife:        none
Weather:       Sunny, humid, high 80s. Did I say humid? in the mornings low to mid-70s

$ found:        none