To read part 10 click here.
I had been thinking to myself that I really don’t like Helena much at all because out where we’re staying the area looks like severe urban sprawl – everything is so big and so far apart, with massive roads cutting through everything and subjecting everyone to ‘the tyranny of the car’. But today we visited Downtown Helena!
Our presentations were all hosted in the Lewis and Clarke Library which is magnificent – I told one of the librarians that it was like heaven and she agreed with me
. The library also houses the brilliantly named Grateful Bread, and can as from today claim in it’s collection my copy of “Truth’s Ragged Edge” [a book I had been reading and which I donated to the library].
At the end of the day people were given 2 hours to visit a local church thrift store or grab something to eat or drink. Mugambi and I decided to go exploring though. The old part of town boasts several reminders of it’s history, some amazing public art, architecturally pleasing buildings, and fading advertisements that used to adorn them.
On our journey we also came across one of the nicest bookstores I’ve ever been in, I don’t know if it was the artwork on the outside, the protest signs on the inside, or the fact that I found not only my perfect bumper sticker, but also the kind of diary I could definitely see myself using. (They also had a very cool concept that might not work in Namibia but could possibly in South Africa – an independent bookstore passport that you can have stamped when you visit each of them.)
On our way we also popped into a clock shop that was filled to the rafters with all sorts of time-pieces from pocket watches to an 8 foot grandfather clock from 1790 that still has the original catgut holding up the original weights.
A highlight was definitely retired Professor of Philosophy, Dr. Barry Fest’s “Curiouser and Curiouser”! Prof Fest, who despite being busy closing up his shop when we arrived, reopened it and gave us a personal , two-person tour of some of the amazingly weird collectibles and artworks he has collected and created, including demonstrations of how some of his artworks interact with their audience – I’m going to choose to ignore Zoltar’s prediction for me though…
To read part 12 click here.
