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So what did I do during the second half of September? There was a certain amount of life maintenance (e.g. getting my car serviced, trying (not very successfully) to get some decluttering done, eye doctor appointment, travel planning). But I did actually go to a few things.
Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story: I went to see this musical at Theater J largely because I like klezmer music. The show (performed by members of a Halifax-based theatre troupe) tells the story of Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch’s immigrant ancestors. Chaya’s family left Romania for Russia and her husband died along the way. Chaim's family was all killed in a pogrom in Romania. They meet at the immigration center in Halifax and end up together in Montreal. They’re not very happily married, but they do manage to build a life - and a family. Their story is mostly narrated by The Wanderer, played by Ben Caplan (who co-wrote the songs.)
I had mixed feelings about the show. I did like a lot of the music. But I thought there was too much gratuitous profanity. And, while there were hints of hostility from “old stock” Canadians towards the immigrants, this wasn’t explored in enough depth. The most moving parts of the script were Chaim;s flashbacks to the discovery of his family after the pogrom. Overall, I’d say this was interesting, but unsatisfying.
Cumberland: Back in late April, my friend, Cindy, had gotten us half-price tickets (via Living Social) for the Potomac Eagle excursion train in Romney, West Virginia. The nearest place with what she thought were acceptable accommodations was Cumberland, Maryland (which also has an excursion train - as well as being served by Amtrak) so we met there last Friday at lunchtime. Cindy is a morning person, while I am a night owl, so I was happy to leave her to an early morning drive to Fallingwater, while I left my house at a much more civilized hour. Anyway, after lunch, we walked around Cumberland. The most dramatic building is the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, which is located on the site of the former Fort Cumberland. It is said to have Tiffany windows, as well as tunnels associated with the Underground Railroad, though the building was closed so we were unable to investigate further.
Another interesting building is the Allegheny County Courthouse.
The most famous building in Cumberland is probably George Washington’s Headquarters (from the French and Indian War). There’s a button you can press to hear about Washington’s activities there.
A building of particular interest to me was Congregation B;er Chayim, which is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in Maryland.
There are a number of other attractive buildings in the historic center, but the town seemed fairly faded, with a lot of closed businesses. Of course, we were there on Friday, so it might be livelier on the actual weekend. We did also walk a little bit on the C&O Canal Towpath, which terminates there and connects to the Great Allegheny Passage. This is a popular route for bicycle trips, as you can ride all the way from Washington, D.C. to Pittsburgh.
Potomac Eagle: As I mentioned, the purpose of our trip was to take the Potomac Eagle train. They only do the full-day trip from Romney,to Petersburg, West Virginia (and back) on the last Saturday of the month. There are three levels of dining cars, but they sell out far in advance, so we were just in the regular passenger car.Here I am nestled (well, sprawled) into my seat.
The route follows the south branch of the Potomac River. Much of the scenery along the way is farmland, with historic sites along the way. Here, for example, is Sycamore Dale, which was the Civil War headquarters of General Lew Wallace, who is probably best known as the author of the novel, Ben Hur.
One of the more interesting parts of the trip is what is called The Trough, which is a good area for seeing bald eagles.
There’s an open car called “the gondola” which is opened up for passengers for the journey through the trough. Because we were in standard class, we got to do this on the way back. I saw at least 4 eagles flying, but was not fast enough to photograph them.
Anyway, we got to Petersburg (a bit late, because there was a PBS crew filming the trip for a special to air next summer), where there was a woman dressed as Civil War spy, Belle Boyd, to greet us.
There was also a guy dressed as Sasquatch, but they stopped him from taking photos with people by the time I got off the train. I did later get a photo of him at his car before he took off his costume. Here he is combing his hair in the car mirror.
We had booked a free tour to Fort Mulligan, which is a Civil War battleground. It would have been worth a couple of hours to read all of the signs along the self-guided tour, but we had only about 40 minutes there.
We did have a local guide who said that, when he was growing up in Petersburg, nobody talked about the local Civil War history. Anyway, here’s an obligatory cannon photograph.
And here’s a photo of an officer’s quarters.
We also had some time to walk around near the train station. There was a place that sold moonshine and a lot of people went to taste it, but that holds no interest for me. (Plus, it was very crowded.) The souvenir shop next to the depot was full of annoyingly scented stuff, and I had to get out after just a few minutes so as not to choke. Eventually we got back on the train and headed back to Romney.
Cows have the right of way!
Also, the state of West Virginia has planted corn for the local wildlife. In some places, the corn was as high as Miriam’s eye.
Overall, I thought the trip was worth doing, but it made for a long day. I’d also suggest you bring your own food. We bought lunch from their snack bar, which was overpriced and unexciting. I’ll also note that they offer “meal bundles,: which are actually priced higher than the individual items that comprise them. For example, a hot dog is $5, chips are $2 and soda is $3 (so $10 total), while the bundle containing those three items is $12! I told Cindy that was a tax on people who can’t do arithmetic.
I drove home on Sunday morning, while Cindy went to Shanksville, Pennsylvania to see the Flight 93 Memorial (which I’d been to last year). All in all, it was a pretty good weekend.
TCC Meeting: I got back in time to go to a meeting of the Travelers’ Century Club. There were several people there for the first time, as well as people I’ve met before. I enjoyed the usual conversation about places to go. There was also a lot of discussion about language learning.
Rosh Hashanah: I had intended to go to services in person, but I slept late enough that I went to Fabrangen’s on-line services instead. That's less satisfactory in many ways, mostly because I find it harder to concentrate with all the distractions in my house. I’ll make more of an effort to get up early on Yom Kippur.
Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story: I went to see this musical at Theater J largely because I like klezmer music. The show (performed by members of a Halifax-based theatre troupe) tells the story of Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch’s immigrant ancestors. Chaya’s family left Romania for Russia and her husband died along the way. Chaim's family was all killed in a pogrom in Romania. They meet at the immigration center in Halifax and end up together in Montreal. They’re not very happily married, but they do manage to build a life - and a family. Their story is mostly narrated by The Wanderer, played by Ben Caplan (who co-wrote the songs.)
I had mixed feelings about the show. I did like a lot of the music. But I thought there was too much gratuitous profanity. And, while there were hints of hostility from “old stock” Canadians towards the immigrants, this wasn’t explored in enough depth. The most moving parts of the script were Chaim;s flashbacks to the discovery of his family after the pogrom. Overall, I’d say this was interesting, but unsatisfying.
Cumberland: Back in late April, my friend, Cindy, had gotten us half-price tickets (via Living Social) for the Potomac Eagle excursion train in Romney, West Virginia. The nearest place with what she thought were acceptable accommodations was Cumberland, Maryland (which also has an excursion train - as well as being served by Amtrak) so we met there last Friday at lunchtime. Cindy is a morning person, while I am a night owl, so I was happy to leave her to an early morning drive to Fallingwater, while I left my house at a much more civilized hour. Anyway, after lunch, we walked around Cumberland. The most dramatic building is the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, which is located on the site of the former Fort Cumberland. It is said to have Tiffany windows, as well as tunnels associated with the Underground Railroad, though the building was closed so we were unable to investigate further.
Another interesting building is the Allegheny County Courthouse.
The most famous building in Cumberland is probably George Washington’s Headquarters (from the French and Indian War). There’s a button you can press to hear about Washington’s activities there.
A building of particular interest to me was Congregation B;er Chayim, which is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in Maryland.
There are a number of other attractive buildings in the historic center, but the town seemed fairly faded, with a lot of closed businesses. Of course, we were there on Friday, so it might be livelier on the actual weekend. We did also walk a little bit on the C&O Canal Towpath, which terminates there and connects to the Great Allegheny Passage. This is a popular route for bicycle trips, as you can ride all the way from Washington, D.C. to Pittsburgh.
Potomac Eagle: As I mentioned, the purpose of our trip was to take the Potomac Eagle train. They only do the full-day trip from Romney,to Petersburg, West Virginia (and back) on the last Saturday of the month. There are three levels of dining cars, but they sell out far in advance, so we were just in the regular passenger car.Here I am nestled (well, sprawled) into my seat.
The route follows the south branch of the Potomac River. Much of the scenery along the way is farmland, with historic sites along the way. Here, for example, is Sycamore Dale, which was the Civil War headquarters of General Lew Wallace, who is probably best known as the author of the novel, Ben Hur.
One of the more interesting parts of the trip is what is called The Trough, which is a good area for seeing bald eagles.
There’s an open car called “the gondola” which is opened up for passengers for the journey through the trough. Because we were in standard class, we got to do this on the way back. I saw at least 4 eagles flying, but was not fast enough to photograph them.
Anyway, we got to Petersburg (a bit late, because there was a PBS crew filming the trip for a special to air next summer), where there was a woman dressed as Civil War spy, Belle Boyd, to greet us.
There was also a guy dressed as Sasquatch, but they stopped him from taking photos with people by the time I got off the train. I did later get a photo of him at his car before he took off his costume. Here he is combing his hair in the car mirror.
We had booked a free tour to Fort Mulligan, which is a Civil War battleground. It would have been worth a couple of hours to read all of the signs along the self-guided tour, but we had only about 40 minutes there.
We did have a local guide who said that, when he was growing up in Petersburg, nobody talked about the local Civil War history. Anyway, here’s an obligatory cannon photograph.
And here’s a photo of an officer’s quarters.
We also had some time to walk around near the train station. There was a place that sold moonshine and a lot of people went to taste it, but that holds no interest for me. (Plus, it was very crowded.) The souvenir shop next to the depot was full of annoyingly scented stuff, and I had to get out after just a few minutes so as not to choke. Eventually we got back on the train and headed back to Romney.
Cows have the right of way!
Also, the state of West Virginia has planted corn for the local wildlife. In some places, the corn was as high as Miriam’s eye.
Overall, I thought the trip was worth doing, but it made for a long day. I’d also suggest you bring your own food. We bought lunch from their snack bar, which was overpriced and unexciting. I’ll also note that they offer “meal bundles,: which are actually priced higher than the individual items that comprise them. For example, a hot dog is $5, chips are $2 and soda is $3 (so $10 total), while the bundle containing those three items is $12! I told Cindy that was a tax on people who can’t do arithmetic.
I drove home on Sunday morning, while Cindy went to Shanksville, Pennsylvania to see the Flight 93 Memorial (which I’d been to last year). All in all, it was a pretty good weekend.
TCC Meeting: I got back in time to go to a meeting of the Travelers’ Century Club. There were several people there for the first time, as well as people I’ve met before. I enjoyed the usual conversation about places to go. There was also a lot of discussion about language learning.
Rosh Hashanah: I had intended to go to services in person, but I slept late enough that I went to Fabrangen’s on-line services instead. That's less satisfactory in many ways, mostly because I find it harder to concentrate with all the distractions in my house. I’ll make more of an effort to get up early on Yom Kippur.
