Sunday, mark and i went uptown so i could snap some pics. honestly, i should have gone earlier, as i wasn't happy with the bright noon-day sun. and i should have left mark at home. i don't know why i thought i'd want him to go, because he didn't really want to and so i felt rushed and unable to truly take the types of pics i wanted.

nonetheless, you know, that if i'm going to show you a pic from somewhere, i'm going to give you a history lesson. tis my way.

the above pic is of trade street and tryon. it's either called simply, trade and tryon, or the square. i only captured three in the picture but at each corner of the intersection is one of those wonderful statues. you can see from the people standing underneath, just how tall they are.

the reason the statues sit at each corner is as a reminder. it was not only the intersection of two native american trading paths, (hence the modernday name Trade Street) but at one time, known as "the great wagon road" it was the most heavily traveled route by settlers, and stretched all the way from pennsylvania to georgia. the "village" of charlotte was founded right at that intersection, and today, trade and tryon is the center of uptown, and charlotte in general (it's also referred to as "center city"---on the left hand side of the photo, you can see the "bank of america" building--it's our tallest building and is topped with a crown which they light up with different colors depending on the occassion..such as panther blue when we went to the super bowl.)

both the city and its county are named for charlotte of mecklenburg-strelitz, the german-born wife of british king george III. you may remember king george, he was the "mad" one. we have a few statues of charlotte, one at our airport, and there's another right in uptown.

several years ago we visited the mint museum to see an exhibit on royal russian artifacts (OMG, i actually got to touch catherine the great's corranation sled--even though we weren't supposed to touch, but come on...i'm that stinking close to history, to catherine the great and i'm NOT gonna touch it? i don't think so). as you leave the museum, there are life sized (uh, bigger than life sized) portraits of both king george and his charlotte. i have to tell you, she was quite the homely woman. but because we live in charlotte, which resides in mecklenburg county, we can't go very far without coming across her image (and i confess, i have a magnet of her on my refridgerator).

because we were named for her, the city's nickname is "the queen city" and our city logo is a crown.

during the revolutionary war this was the scene of the battle of charlotte, when a small band of armed patriots held british general charles cornwallis's 2000 troops and cavalry briefly at bay. he wrote that charlotte was "a hornet's nest of rebellion." which is why our basketball team (now in new orleans, but soon to be in okla city) was called the hornets.

also, if you are a patricia cornwell fan, one of her books was titled "Hornet's Nest" and was set in uptown charlotte. i read it right before we moved here. it was a kick to sit in capital grille, one of the restaurants (very very very expensive, but man, they've got the best steak!) mentioned in the book.

i love uptown and eventually will post a few more pics. it's not big, by any stretch, but there are trees and flowers, mini parks, huge fountains and sculptures that live in the shadows of skyscrappers.

tryon is the main street that runs from one side of charlotte to south carolina---it separates the city east from west, while trade is what separates north and south charlotte. where i stood to take the picture i was on the southwest side of charlotte. if i crossed the street to the bank of america building (cattycorner from where i was standing to take the pic), i would be on the northeast side.

several times a year, tryon is blocked off for eight to ten blocks for various festivals and street fairs. and contrary to what people say about being in a "city" it's easy to see the stars overhead.


if mark and i were just mark and i, we would live in uptown. however, there's been quite a resurgence to do just that, and apartments and condos have skyrocketed in price, going from about $100,000 when we moved here to now over $300,000.

as we were leaving uptown, of course, we had to stop for a beer, which is mark's payment for going with me to places he doesn't want to go. we stopped in a place called "the graduate" it's a hot spot for bank workers and the happy hour crowds. we were talking to the manager there and he told us that uptown as recently as the late 80's used to be like a lot of american downtown areas, filled with prostitutes and drug dealers.

now every weekend, it's flooded with business people and college students. many of the places are trendy and expensive. we rarely go uptown to drink, because either the places are pricey, or they cater to the college crowds, which mark and i so are not into (we went once or twice with a group of friends to "bar charlotte" and we ended up just kind of standing there with our mouths hanging open, trying to remember when the hell we were that stinkin young)

however, i take every opportunity i get to spend time up there. night or day, it's one of the prettiest, laid back cities i've ever seen.