Charlotte was a micro-trip that I tried out in April 2017, heading out on Easter Friday and staying until Saturday evening. I rented a car and drove to its compact and very contemporary downtown, and was well entertained, especially by its well appointed galleries. The downtown (which Charlotteans confusingly call "Uptown") suffers from the absence of any water, no river, no lake, just a box of expressways. But the city was entertaining enough, not a huge bunch of surface parking, lots of public art, a few nice parks, lots of little squares throughout. There is a certain bland feeling that comes with a place so new, but on the whole I would not call it disagreeable and I felt richly rewarded by my brief but busy time there.
Photo List (Total 272 Photos)
Click bolded headers below to view, or click "just the best" for quick tour
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Uptown (151 photos) - This gallery is basically almost all the photos from Charlotte. It starts with a skyline view of the city, and then concentrates on photos of tall buildings. From there it begins the intersection of Trade & Tryon Streets, which is the heart of the city. Then the gallery sort of radiates out in a haphazard way, catching up parks, a few shots of the LRT, historical buildings where I could find them, two markets, a demonstration against Trump, and various other odds, not arranged in much of an order at all, I'm afraid. It ends in the Fourth Ward, with a nice park and historical houses.
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Galleries and Museums (97 photos) - I went to a fairly large number of galleries and museums in the city, and you will find these visits, and exteriors of the buildings, in this gallery. The gallery starts with art museums: the Sonia and Isaac Luski Gallery in the Foundation for the Carolinas, in the ground floor of an office building right on Tryon, had exquisite glass alongside paintings and sculpture. The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art had a collection that originated with the Bechtler family, while the Mint Museum Uptown next door had a fabulous array of modern art, including quite a few pieces that were commissioned by the gallery. There are just a few photos inside a theatre complex called Spirit Center, and then some photos from an art opening at the McColl Center for Art + Innovation. The gallery ends with photos from the Levine Museum of the New South and finally (of course) the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
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Outer Areas of Charlotte (24 photos) - This gallery is a potpourri all the non-Uptown photos of the city. It starts with the city's gay bookstore, the White Rabbit, and then a few shots in Midwood along Central Avenue, a somewhat funky neighbourhood where I had lunch. There is a photo of Charlotte's strangely remote gay bar, the Woodshed, and a bungalow near my hotel. There is a funny photo of my attempt to see a famous piece of public art way out from the core in a business park. And then there are some photos of the Elmwood Cemetery and one of the airport.
