US Small city travels

The more I come to USA, the less I understand it, in fact I could say, the less I like it.Before we explore that further, I had to leave Germany first…Leipzig airport has a couple of positives and negatives being a small airport…The main negative is you can’t seem to online check-in to international flights that originate from there, but on the flip side, check in and security takes about ten minutes.I’ve been in Australia so long that I had forgotten (or it’s changed?) that Europe to America flights don’t server free alcohol, ah well… Sadly in Chicago I didn’t have quite enough time to get into the city so stayed in the airport which was an extremely busty and stressful airport. It also had atrocious wifi, no shops before checkin and confirmed the typical American stereotype of having no phone stores. Still, got my first beer and burger in :)Back to America…I guess this was my first trip where I left the major cities (ignoring Portland last year) behind and you fast realise that smaller town America is a whole different world. I’m about to make some general sweeping statements that are based on my experience, they may be right or wrong, but they’re based on my experiences.Firstly is the massive noticeable difference between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’. This is not an original observation but it’s increasingly noticeable and very confronting to outsiders. Especially in downtown areas and ‘ghettos’, there are frequent groups of people who really look like they need help and aren’t receiving any (as far as one can tell). Then a block away you will find expensive restaurants, shops or homes that flaunt their exclusivity. Of course you will find these extremes in every country, but it is especially noticeable and when you are aware of America’s social security system and attitudes towards private enterprise it’s repercussions are very clear.Secondly is the assumption that you drive. Again, this is not unique to America, but much more of an issue. In both Minneapolis and Providence I struggled to find any decent (or affordable) supermarkets in the central areas, they were all in the suburbs in giant malls. This continues into general life where riding on public transport or not having a car available for other trips is considered very odd, even for tourists. Take Providence, I know it’s a small city, but there was one grocery and liquor store in the entire downtown area, which were both overpriced.It also seems that visiting America’s smaller cities in August (much like many other cities in the world) is a bad idea as they’re half empty and lots is closed.Now to get more specific…  

Minneapolis

I had a great time in Minneapolis and hung out with some good people in good bars, but I wasn’t able to quite pin the city down. If you were to ask me “What sums up Minneapolis?” I’m not sure what my answer would be. Visually it was a fairly typical looking old industrial city spread across the Mississippi with buildings slowly being transformed into other uses. Residents of the city seemed to be obsessed with Paris and my accent which was kind of enjoyable, especially when we went to a British bar and I think people thought I was part of the entertainment. The Drupal community was pretty amazing for a town of it’s size, they have three meet ups a month (talks, mentoring and social) and can run a camp that attracts a couple of hundred people.They also have a great logo, which of course, is all that matters.Photos - https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrischinchilla/sets/72157645992885650/ 

 

Providence

I only really came to Providence for one reason and that was to visit some HP Lovecraft related sites and I certainly got that off my bucket list.You can see my photos here (https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrischinchilla/sets/72157646353083476/) which loosely follows this (https://www.hplovecraft.com/creation/sites/rhode.aspx) but also goes further to. Many of the sites are just houses and fictional locations, so differentiating one from the other is difficult, I more took pictures for atmosphere and some of the crazy large houses just for the hell of it. It may not mean a lot to you just looking through my photos, but still, it was pretty cool for me.I also visited his grave which you’re not allowed to take photos of and pretty much has its own security guard as the grave attracts over 60% of the cemetery’s visitors. He told me tales of people having sex at the grave side, midnight break-ins and the various items he finds on the stone. These negatives aside, he had bothered to do his research on Lovecraft and seemed to enjoy that fact that this pauper in his time had ended up becoming so infamous.I’m not sure what it was like in Lovecraft’s time, but the area he spent time in is now a fairly wealthy area with an Ivy league college, thus a very attractive part of the city and in stark contrast to many other areas of the city, which is often a bit of a dump. During his time it was experiencing a bad recession and it seems that the city is just pulling itself out of the mess created by the GFC, so in some ways has a similar(ish) vibe to the 20s at the moment, well, so I thought anyway. More to follow…