Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

I walked through Birmingham, Alabama today. The weather was great again – 55 in the morning and 80 in the afternoon with clear skies. Rain is forecast for tomorrow, so we shall see. I don’t have a good guess about how far I walked today. In a major city like Birmingham, I skip a few neighborhoods (I consider concertina wire a hint), walk around in circle in other neighborhoods, and struggle to follow Route 11.

High Rise Buildings in Downtown Birmingham

Birmingham is a little different with Route 11 in that it goes right through downtown or the central business district. I parked downtown and walked around for a couple of hours. See the first photo of the high rise office buildings.

I was pulled to several things downtown. First, old church buildings. I examined about half a dozen of these. Most were built in the late 1800s and have historical markers on them. I love the architecture and the stained glass. Here is a photo of St Paul’s Church (Catholic).  This is a view of the side of the main building showing several of the stained glass windows. If you look closely you can notice that they have put a layer of glass on the outside of the stained glass windows. This protects the stained glass from a passerby (a.k.a. moron) who might throw a brick at the stained glass. This is a common practice with church buildings and their stained glass windows. I have seen it at old church buildings in towns large and small.

Stained Glass at St Paul

Second, places that feature hot dogs and middle eastern food (gyros). This is a problem when walking through towns in the morning. Some of these  food places aren’t open or they don’t serve hot dogs at 9AM. Why not? What is wrong with hot dogs at 9AM?

Third, libraries. This was the treasure of the day – the original Birmingham Public Library Building built in 1927. In the 1980s it was renamed the Linn-Henley Research Library. Glorious outside and inside. Here is a photo of one of the big rooms inside. The photo doesn’t do justice to the place. I have been in the main reading room of the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. This place in Birmingham rivals the big one in Washington, D.C. This is a sanctuary; I could live here (if they would let me). From the previous words you may have the impression that I hold old libraries in a special place. I put a photo of the entrance of this building on the WIkipedia page for the Birmingham Public Library.

Fourth, colleges. I went down the road to the University of Alabama at Birmingham or UAB. I was disappointed. It is typical of colleges that are downtown in a city. I cannot tell where the city stops and the college begins. Oh well.

I spent the rest of the day slugging my way into and out of the city. I love the downtown area of cities whether it be Collinsville or Birmingham. I love the rural areas, too. I don’t like those Golden Mile type areas on the edges of cities. The traffic is heavy, the scenery is monotonous (look the Target is red and the Best Buy is blue), and they rarely have a sidewalk. Tomorrow I should be back in the rural areas. Boy that was a great library.