The RAF Museum

 On the site of the Hendome Aerodome is the Royal Airforce Museum London. Inside its hangars are vehicles, engines, uniforms, and aircrafts that over the past century have served with or even againsts Britain's airforce.

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The Cutty Sark

  Up until recently, whenever I heard the words Cutty Sark I would associate them with this fine product.

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Imperial War Museum- Southwark

 The Imperial War Museum (IWM),is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civil and military war effort and sacrifice of the United Kingdom and its Empire during the First World War.

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National Bikers Roundup

 

The National Bikers Roundup is the largest camping motorcycle rally in the United States and is organized by a group of African American motorcycle clubs. Its location changes every year but every decade it returns to its founding city of Kansas City, Missouri. More than 1,000 motorcycle clubs attend the event and black women make up close to half of participants.

 First organized in 1977 by Dallas Thibodeaux and Rozell Nunn, Jnr attracting 49 riders, it has since grown to a five-day event, with up to 30,000 participants, who enjoy camping, exhibition, parades, stunt shows, entertainment and a host of other motorcycle-related experiences including drag racing and a "biggest gut contest".

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Deck's Drugstore

 

The history of Decks drugstore began on March 7, 1884, when it was purchased by Lewis C. Deck and B.F. Clark. A few years later Lewis Deck became the sole proprietor. At this time the store sold drugs, groceries, and hardware. The store was dubbed the “white drugstore” as it was the only building front on Girard Square that was painted white. The second floor was used as a doctor’s office by Dr. George Hill and later by Dr. John Sharp.

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Old St. Patrick's

 

I've been wanting to capture the inside of this church for several years. Each time I tried I hit a wall so to speak.

First there was Covid, the church doors were closed.

Then there was constuctions around the area, the doors were closed.

Then there was renovation of the inside, the doors were closed.

You get the idea.

Anyway, last week when I got off the train and out onto Canal Street, I looked to my left and once again saw that gorgeous steeple staring at me. 

I figured what the heck, let me try again and see if the doors are open.

Lucky me!!!! Doors were open and the public could enter.

There was arrangements being made for an upcoming funeral, but the gentleman working at the church was nice enough to let me wander around and snap away.

Since its founding by Irish immigrants on Easter morning in 1846, Old St. Patrick’s has been interwoven in the life and history of the City of Chicago. Founded in 1846 as the first English-speaking parish in the city, the current church building was designed in a Romanesque style by two of Chicago’s earliest practicing architects: Augustus Bauer and Asher Carter. The cornerstone was laid on May 23, 1853, and the building was dedicated on Christmas Day, 1856.

 Old St. Patrick’s is one of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Its survival makes it the oldest public building in the City of Chicago.

Inspired by the Celtic art exhibit at the Columbian Expostition of 1893 and the Book of Kells in Ireland, Thomas A. O’Shaughnessy designed, constructed, and personally installed the 15 beautiful stained-glass windows of Old St. Patrick’s between 1912 and 1922. The 12 side windows were inspired by the Celtic designs of Ireland’s Book of Kells. The final triptych windows, done in an art nouveau style and installed in the eastern facade of the church, are the “Faith, Hope & Charity” windows, also known as the Terrence MacSwiney Memorial Triptych. In 1977, Old St. Patrick’s was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 Old St. Patrick’s Church has stood at the western gateway of Chicago’s Loop for more than 150 years. Built seven generations ago, this old city Church, a treasure born of the immigrant dream, has welcomed hundreds of thousands of people through its doors who seek a deeper, richer experience of life.

 Today, Old St. Patrick’s is home to a membership of more than 3,000 households.

 

 (source)

 

 

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Inside Lincoln's Tomb

 The Lincoln Tomb is the final resting place of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States; his wife Mary Todd Lincoln; and three of their four sons: Edward, William, and Thomas. It is located in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.

Constructed of granite, the tomb has a tall, story-and-a-half base in trapezoidal form, surmounted by an obelisk, with a semicircular receiving room entrance-way on one end and a semicircular crypt or burial-room opposite. On the exterior, four flights of balustraded stairs lead to a level terrace. The balustrade extends around the terrace to form a parapet, and there are several bronze statues, reliefs, and stone carvings located at the base of the obelisk. The obelisk rises 117 feet (36m) high.

A bronze recasting of Gutzon Borglum's head of Lincoln stands on a pedestal in front of the entrance way; Borglum's original marble bust is in the U.S. Capitol.

 A down-scaled bronze prototype by Daniel Chester French of his 1920 statue in the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, D.C., dominates the entrance foyer.

Corridors lead from the rotunda to the burial room at the rear of the memorial.

 

 Located in niches along the corridor walls are statues by prominent sculptors depicting various phases of Lincoln's life.

 The burial room features marble walls and a ceiling of gold leaf. At its center stands the memorial monument, a 7-ton block of reddish marble inscribed with Lincoln's name and the years he lived. It marks the approximate location of the burial vault, which is 30 inches behind and 10 feet below. Nine flags are arranged in a semicircle around the cenotaph. Seven of them—the State flags of Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois—commemorate the homes of Lincoln and his ancestors.

The tomb was built with additional crypts for members of Lincoln's family in addition to the four spaces already used. However, as the remaining members of Lincoln's family chose to be buried elsewhere, the other crypts remain empty.

 

Gutzon Borglum's head of Lincoln. 
The nose remains shiny due to the tradition of rubbing Lincoln's nose for good luck.

 

 

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