Indy Volksmarch - Thurs., Oct. 22, 2014

Did I happen to mention yesterday that we fell in love with Indianapolis? Today, reinforced our enchantment.

I think I forgot to mention the name of their rapid transit system is IndyGo. Cute.

While we were walking last night, a line of teeny-bopper girls circled the Indiana Repertory Theater (IRT). We had no idea what was going on because the marquee didn't list a show. Bob asked some of the girls walking by what was happening at the IRT. They told him it was Taylor Caniff, you know, he twitters and is on The Vine. Who? Boy, we are out of touch. Had to look him up. From what I could see, he's an 18-year-old boy who takes a lot of photos of himself. As far as we can tell, he doesn't sing. Unusual.

Waiting to see Taylor Caniff

The line snakes around the building

We were out and about early again today so we could tour the capital before doing our Volksmarch. Guided tours didn't start until 9 a.m. so we took a self-guided tour.

The current state Capitol is the third building used as the capital. The first was the Marion County Courthouse. The second, a State House, was built in 1835 at a cost of $60,000. In 1867 the ceiling of the House Chamber collapsed and the damage was repaired. That building was demolished before construction of the present building.

In 1878, construction on the current Capitol was begun. Budget was not to exceed $2,000,000. Construction continued until 1888 and completed at a cost of $1,980,969.18. Materials used in construction are limestone (from Indiana), marble, steel, brick and mortar. Columns on the 2nd (main), 3rd and 4th floors are marble from the eastern United States. The eight columns in the Rotunda are granite from Maine. The floors and steps are marble. Most of the wood in the building is white oak from Indiana, although walnut and maple were also used.

The interior of the building has been remodeled many times, but in the 1980s an $11,000,000 restoration of public spaces was done. Let's go see...

The Rotunda has a stained-glass dome which is 72' in diameter and rises 105' above the floor. Surrounding this dome is the large dome you see from outside. Atop the large dome is a smaller one. It is 235' to the top of the small dome.

Rotunda's stained-glass dome

Small dome on top of larger one

Carrara marble imported from Italy was used to create the statues that surround the Rotunda. They were designed by Alexander Doyle and cost $9,000 for all eight.

Agriculture and Commerce statues

Justice and Liberty statues

In the atriums north and south of the Rotunda are columns: the capital style on the main (2nd) floor is Doric; 3rd floor has Ionic capitals, and the 4th floor, Corinthian.

Beautiful hand-stenciled painting adorns walls and ceilings

Marble staircase

The House Chamber on the third floor has a beautiful, distinctive chandelier lit by 100 lights. Each light represents a member of the House. The mural was installed in 1963 and painted by Indiana native Eugene Savage.

House Chamber with chandelier and mural.

House Chamber

Senate Chamber

The carpet in the Senate Chamber has circular patterns of 19 gold stars symbolizing Indiana as the 19th state to join the Union.

The fourth floor has the most gorgeous arches. I took photos with Bob in them so you can see how high the ceilings are. You may have to enlarge the photos to find him.

Fourth floor with original light fixtures.

All the light fixtures in the building in 1888 had both gas and electric capabilities. The up-turned lamps were for gas, the down-turned ones for electricity.

Do you see Bob in the red shirt??

With that, we finished our self-guided tour of the Indiana Statehouse.


Our Volksmarch started at the White River State Park Visitor Center. At the car I debated whether or not to wear my coat. It was chilly, but I thought I'd warm up when we started walking so I left it in the car.

After checking in, and with walk instructions firmly in hand, we set out to see what we missed yesterday. First, we missed the man-made waterfalls by the NCAA HQ building.

Waterfalls

NCAA Hall of Champions

Steam clock in front of Indiana State Museum

As we walked along the canal, Bob said, "Oh, look, tomatoes." They sure did look like cherry tomatoes, but these happen to be big, fat rose hips.

The canal has pedal boats for rent and also offers gondola rides in the summertime. Even though it looks like a ghost town now, I'm sure plenty of people come to the canal in summer. Speaking of the weather...it kept getting windier and chillier. Sure wish I had brought my coat. A sweatshirt just wasn't warm enough.

Paddeboats on the canal

More art along the canal under the bridges.

Pretty flower art.

Apartments along the canal.

Here's photo of a goldfish for Mom.

Goofy "fish-lips" kiss.

The weather took a decided turn for the worse. Sprinkles turned into downright rain. Do you know how well a sweatshirt soaks up cold rain? Pretty darn well. I told Bob we had to get out of the rain. Up ahead was a beautiful building. Perhaps we could find shelter within?

What is this building?

Turns out the beautiful building is a public library and we went in. The entrance is through the historic library building. From there, you transition through an arched atrium to the new building.

Atrium connects old library to new library.

An interesting area we found in the new library is called "The Learning Curve." You can see on the curved, lighted wall different types of learning. In this circular space are comfortable chairs as well as pillows you can use to sit on the floor.

Bob looking comfy in The Learning Curve area.

After we explored part of the library, we headed outside and the rain had stopped. We continued our walk. We walked out onto American Legion Mall. What a place. It's sort of like the Capital Mall in Washington, D.C.

American Legion Mall

National Headquarters of American Legion
Founded 1919

Veterans Memorial Plaza

Indiana World War Memorial

Detail on Indiana World War Memorial

Old National Centre - Murat Theater

Murat Theater

Historic Athenaeum Building houses YMCA, Rathskeller Bar

We then turned the corner into a cute neighborhood with concrete sidewalks. Bob remarked how nice it was to have cement sidewalks instead of the wavy, uneven brick sidewalks in German Village yesterday. One driveway later, the sidewalk here turned to brick. Arghh!

Colorful homes

 No, this squirrel is not sticking its tongue out at me. That is a huge acorn in its mouth.

Nutty squirrel

Soldiers' and sailors' monument

Another shot of the Marriott building.

Our Volksmarch complete, we headed back to the RV park to pick up the 5th wheel, then headed west to Springfield, Illinois, our next state capital.

The more we see and learn in each of these cities, the more we want to see and learn! I'm sure we'll be going back to Indianapolis.

Travel Bug out.