I parked on Level 3 of the Boscov's parkade. This is only the second time I have parked there in the last eight years or so, and I was once again amazed at how tight the parking spaces are. As I made my way to the stairwell on the outer part of the parkade, I snapped this shot of something I have seen many times - the Rose Window of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church looking like a giant's eye peering into the parkade. Right after I took this picture the bells in the tower played the Westminster Chimes, the pattern telling me that I had fifteen minutes to meet my friend.
I hustled down Franklin Street, took a left on Market, and then turned right on River. I walked a little down the street and stopped and turned to snap a photo that will appear in another post. I then continued along my way, only managing to fall once on the ice before making it to the rendezvous point.
I had arbitrarily chosen the Luzerne County Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the lawn of the Luzerne County Courthouse as our meeting point, based on the naive assumption that the snow around this statue would be cleared, what with a ceremony scheduled to take place there in just a week. But it was not, and there was no path to even get to it. So I stood on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse and took some photos.
The Luzerne County Courthouse is a beautiful building. Beautiful on the outside, and beautiful on the inside, too, though I was unable to take any indoor photographs during my two-hour stint of Jury Duty on December 1 due to cameras being prohibited within the building. Unfortunately, it has been the site of some very ugly goings-on lately, and probably a lot more than just lately. (Googling "luzerne county courthouse scandal" - not in quotes - currently results in over 105,000 hits.)
A large man in a black coat is hard to miss, especially when he is standing on a snow-covered walkway taking photographs, so my friend had no problem finding me. We began picking our way carefully back along the river.
Even in Winter, this is a beautiful walk. The Susquehanna rolled by at a sluggish pace, as though at any moment it might experience a phase change and be converted entirely into ice. This is looking north across the river into Kingston. This view reminded me of another river in a faraway land.
Looking back towards the Market Street Bridge. The Kingston end of the bridge is visible, with the eagle-topped arches I have shown before. Those eagles will play a major role in another post soon.
A panoramic view of the Market Street Bridge, showing both the Kingston and Wilkes-Barre ends, with the dome of the Luzerne County Courthouse visible on the right. Sometimes concrete bridges can be attractive, too. (This is actually a cropped pseudo-panorama; the original had lots of sky at the top and lots of snow at the bottom.)
We followed the walkway along the river to the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center on the Wilkes University campus, and then hung a left and headed into downtown Wilkes-Barre to grab lunch. My friend's first-choice eatery would not be open for another two hours, so we opted to try the Blue Chip Gourmet, a franchise owned by a partnership that includes former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hockey star Dennis Bonvie. I chose a hot pastrami sandwich (possibly the first I have ever had) with a hot chai latte and an apple in place of the chips. The pastrami was moist and hot, finely chopped and very flavorful, served on a bread that had a texture somewhere between an English Muffin and a bagel, with mustard permeating the zone between meat and bread. The chai latte was as good as I have had, and complemented both the pastrami sandwich and the accompanying oversized chocolate chip cookie. The Red Delicious apple I had in place of chips was one of the best I have ever had, both juicy and crisp with none of the mealiness or blandness I have come to expect from this variety. Overall a good meal in a pleasant setting, though at just over $11 a bit pricey for the area.
Our next stop was the Barnes & Noble College Bookstore that occupies the former Woolworth's building. We looked eagerly for a book by a local author that my friend had recently read and which was a topic of conversation for part of our walk - The Battle of Wyoming: For Liberty and Life by Mark G. Dziak. (You can read her review here.) Unfortunately, we could not locate it in either the History or the Local Authors sections. (I wasn't able to find it in the local full-sized Barnes & Noble, either, so I may have to order it online.)
My friend picked up a coffee for the walk home, and we parted ways as she continued back to her home. I stopped in at Circles on the Square, a "Delicatessen & Emporium" that has been a fixture in downtown Wilkes-Barre for twenty-five years. I browsed a bit, and then decided to head back to my car the long way around, going back to Market Street and then onto Franklin, rather than just turning around and cutting through Boscov's itself.
As I walked along I snapped this scene, with one of the eagle arches of the Market Street Bridge the distant focal point of several converging diagonals. Four giant "money bin" style banks occupy the four corners of this intersection. One of them is currently for sale.
Making my way along Franklin I grabbed a photo of this architectural lineup. St. Stephen's Episcopal is the main building seen here. The more distant purple church with a green roof on its steeple I do not know by name. Tucked in-between is the more modest castellated tower of the Osterhout Free Library.
Back inside of Boscov's, I grabbed this photo of the ancient tilework that decorates the first floor stairwell. This goes back to the days when this was Fowler, Dick, & Walker - The Boston Store. I believe this pattern, or at least some variation on the gray plaid part of it, decorated the old shopping bags from The Boston Store. I'm sure we have a few of them around here that I can check. All this tile would have been underwater in the Agnes Flood of 1972.
A lovely shot of the rose window of St. Stephen's, as seen from the third floor parkade of Boscov's. If you go back to the first photo, you will be able to work out where I was standing when I took this. You will also notice the tire tracks that cross that spot. I noticed them. I didn't hang out there too long, just got my shot and headed back to my car. My photo expedition in Wilkes-Barre was over.
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