Town!

Today I went to town with my parents so that I could wander around while my mother was getting her hair did. Above is Royal Dane Mall, which in the old days was a bunch of warehouses. If you really squinted, you could see the harbor at the end of the alley. My friend Jala's store is here, and I just noticed a plaque today that says the building dates from 1831. Another friend has just opened an art gallery. He is extremely talented and anyone who's been to my apartment in Boston has seen his work. I hope he does well.

Every time I spend time in Charlotte Amalie, I remember how much I dig the architecture. It's astounding that I never really noticed it until I went to college. I visited another gallery upstairs on Dronningens Gade (Main Street) - the Gallery St. Thomas. The proprietor, Claire, is really easy to talk to and her enthusiasm for the artists she carries is really visible. She remembered me from last time in 2005, which was nice. We had talked about some of her Haitian art, which she has a good cross-section of. There is a St. Martin based painter I had seen back in 2005 whose watercolors really stayed with me. Luckily Claire was able to give me his name, Antoine Chapon - I'll have to go back and get a print of his. Another artist to look out for is Shansi Miller, who went to my high school. I visited several galleries in town today, but David Hill and Gallery St. Thomas are the only two that bear mentioning. There are more galleries outside town that are very good; I'll have to get around to them.


I had a nice sit down in Emancipation Garden. This is where the buses used to drop all the schoolchildren in the afternoons. Maybe they still do. It commemorates the emancipation of the slaves in 1848, which makes me wonder why there is a bust of Christian IX, who didn't become king until the 1860s. Anyway, the park looks wonderful, much better than when I was young. Also, while there are still crackheads sleeping on some of the benches, I was able to sit down and write for fifteen minuted unmolested. I can assure you that would not have been the case in 1993.


One thing that is great about town is that there are so many nooks and corners to discover. Some day I'll endeavor to walk some of the back streets that are still off the beaten track. Besides the famous 99 Steps, there are other stepstreets going up the hillsides.


Above is Palm Passage, which is just another courtyard between Main Street and the waterfront. I'm remembering that my grandmother used to work here, but I'll have to ask my mom.