I'm 23, and my English co-worker is 22, so have both been able to drive for about 5 years, and are both relatively independent. Now we're at a summer camp in a foreign country, with no car. The shops are within walking distance, but the "internationals" get yelled at every time we dare venture out to them. I understand why - there is a heat advisory out, and none of us have phones with us, but still...we were starting to feel a little claustrophobic.
Therefore, while sat on the porch on a warm, muggy Tuesday night, we hatched a plan.
We decided that it would be a shame to live here for 3 months, and only have seen Walmart and a few bars. Other counsellors assured us that downtown Indianapolis was easy to get to on the bus. It was settled - we were going downtown on the bus tomorrow!
We got up early the next morning (well, 8.30am), with the intention of leaving camp by 9am. It was more like 9.30 when we actually left, and it was already stifling outside. The bus stop was only a 10 minute walk away, though there was no pavement the whole way, so we had to walk along the edge of the road. Much to the horror of all passing cars, I'm sure!
The bus stop was exactly where we'd been told it was (a sign depicting a bus and number 8 fastened to a telegraph pole), and we settled down to wait. After a while we started to wonder...were the buses running on 4th July...? Luckily a bus almost immediately arrived. We bought an all day ticket, which was an experience in itself. In the UK, you give the money to the bus driver. In the USA, it turns out they have little machines next to the driver, and you put the money into there - exact change only. We put our $4 in, received our all day pass, and sat down.
The bus announced each stop as we approached it, which was novel. They don't have anything so fancy on the rural, village buses where I'm from. Finally we reached downtown, and we realised...we don't know where to get off! We saw the Indiana State Museum ahead of us, which was one of the places we wanted to go, so we decided that was as good a place as any to stop.
The night before, we had decided on our Plan of Action. To start with, we were going to visit the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. Apparently it's only 21 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty, and gives a panoramic view of Indianapolis. We reasoned that it would be best to climb this first, before the midday sun made it too unbearable.
We set off down the street, not knowing where we were going and getting a "Chicago feeling coming on". Eventually, we figured it would be best to ask for directions before we got too lost. We stopped a random woman on the street, and tried to ask how to get to "the soldiers' memorial". She didn't know what we were talking about, and we ended up having to describe it "that tall memorial...you can climb it...?". She finally understood, and gave us directions in a slow, loud voice. Is this how everyone feels when the British try to talk to people when we're abroad?!
The directions were quite simple, and we do sometimes have difficulty understanding people's accents, so I suppose it wasn't too bad that she talked to us as though we don't speak English! The route took us past the lovely State Capitol Building. It took us a while to figure out that's what it was, but it was beautiful all the same! I'd have liked to have looked around inside, but we weren't sure if we were allowed so we kept walking.
In the UK there is a memorial in every village, town and city to the brave soldiers who died in the World Wars. For this reason, we were intrigued to see an American memorial, although this monument is to commemorate a different time period.
Now, I'll hope you can forgive me for saying this, as I truly respect the men and women who give their lives in the service of their country but...I'm not a big fan of the monument. Not because of what it represents, just...aesthetically.
It's spectacular, there's no doubt about that. It towered above me as I stood, staring up at it. It was beautiful but...where were the names of the soldiers and sailors it was representing? Apparently there is a box with all the names in the corner-stone but...that's not quite the same. I know that shouldn't have bothered me, but in a strange way it did. It seemed to make the entire monument less about the people themselves, and more about "look at what a big, huge tower we built!". I'm sure this is a terribly unpopular opinion, and it didn't stop me from paying $2 and going up in the elevator to enjoy the view, but...I don't know. It just seemed too...brash? I might be biased, but I think I prefer the small, simple memorials we have in the UK, where the main part of the memorial is the long list of names carved into it. Anyway, I'll get back off my soap-box now!
We walked around the memorial, and admired the different statues before going inside.
To give her a head start, I looked around the gift shop for a minute before buying my ticket. The man at the desk was laughing at our quick discussion, and agreed that he'd pay $2 to go up the "lift" too. (I later realised he was also teasing me for not calling it an elevator). I asked if he'd ever climbed the stairs, and he told me that he used to. Apparently he'd been in a big accident and had broken several bones (I forget which, but I think his hip was involved..?) and it was too hard on his body to climb them anymore. He told me that he still climbs down the stairs every day, since gravity helps him in that direction. I have to say, I was very impressed. To still climb down 32 flights of stairs, every single day...?! Wow. That's dedication! I feel tired just thinking about it...!
The elevator was very small, but luckily I was able to ride it by myself. Three people got into it and smiled at me in understanding when I panicked and told them "I'll wait 'til the next one!". Once I got off the lift I still had to climb 30 extremely steep, narrow steps in a tiny stairwell. I stumbled and hyperventilated my way up them, and was very pleased to reach the top! I have relatively poor balance and don't like small spaces, so that wasn't very much fun for me.
The view from the top was worth it. The top of the monument was a glass room, which I imagine got suffocatingly hot later in the day. We got a full 360 view of downtown Indianapolis, which was really cool. In comparison to Chicago, Indianapolis felt spacious and bright. It also had a much more relaxed feel. There were barely any people around, so it was very quiet, but we think that might have been due to it being 4th July. I think Indianapolis is the 12th biggest city in the USA, but...it didn't feel like it.
We saw the nearby Indiana War Memorial, which we learned was also a museum. We decided that would be a good place to go next as it seemed to be an interesting building. We also wanted to see how an American World War museum would be different to the ones in the UK. Our displays World War displays are heavily focused on ration books, gas masks and items relating to children being evacuated. Obviously a lot of this wasn't relevant in America.
The memorial was a few blocks away, and the sun was getting hotter almost by the minute. We stopped to rest in the small park next to the building and admired the wildlife.
Squirrels happen to be my favourite animal, so I have a tendency to take a lot of photos of them! This one was just too cute to not photograph though.
We walked around to the front of the memorial, only to discover that it was closed for 4th July! Oh, no! Ah well, maybe next time.
This seemed as good a time as any to head back to the Indiana State Museum. We went back the way we came, and stopped at a Subway for so I could have lunch and a drink.
The Indiana State Museum was so cool - literally! The air-conditioning was a welcome relief after the hot sun outside. We sat on a bench in the foyer for a while as my co ate her sandwiches (I didn't want to bring a packed lunch; warm cheese sandwiches didn't sound worth saving a few dollars!).
After a bit of discussion, we decided we'd pay the $7 entrance fee (usually $9.50, not sure why it was discounted). It was an interesting museum. I really enjoyed learning more about Indiana's varied history. It's not a state I knew much about, other than it having the Indy 500. I hadn't paid much attention to Indiana's existence before I was accepted at the summer camp, if I'm honest!
One of the things I enjoyed the most about the museum had to be the "yarn bombing". I'd heard yarn bombing mentioned a few weeks earlier, as a possible art project at camp, but I thought it was simply throwing a ball of wool at buildings, similar to teepee-ing a house! How wrong was I?!
Yarn bombing is much more interesting than that. There were random knitted additions to displays all over the museum, and I was like a child on a treasure hunt trying to find them! I was fascinated and more than a little delighted by it. It gave the museum a sense of light heartedness that appealed to me. Here's a few of the ones I found...
We finished at the museum at about 3.30pm. We decided this was probably a good time to head back to camp, so we could shower and change ready to head back downtown for the 4th July fireworks. We figured that we'd probably get back to camp for 4pm, maybe 4.30 at the latest.
Oh no, nothing's that simple for us...
First we had to try and find a bus stop. We reasoned that if we went back to where we got off the bus, then crossed the road, there would surely be a bus stop to take us home. We retraced our steps...crossed the road...and lo...no bus stop! We walked a way down the street, and still could not find one. We went into a nearby hotel and asked them for help. They gave us directions which we dutifully followed.
By this time my co was having serious problems with her shoes. They were new and were causing her no end of pain, after all the walking we'd done that day. She ended up taking them off and walking through Indy in her socks. Every time we stopped and waited to cross the road she hopped from foot to foot, squeaking that the pavement was burning her. So you can see, we hoped we'd find a bus soon.
We eventually reached the bus stop the hotel had directed us to...and discovered it was a greyhound bus station. There were several buses...but not the one we wanted. We found a police officer and asked him to help us. He found a number 8 bus schedule for us, and directed us to a street where we should find a bus stop.
Wearily we headed back the way we came, and wandered around the street he suggested, to no avail. We went back into the Subway from earlier and asked one of the staff for help. She directed us down another street.
Finally! A bus stop! Unfortunately it wasn't the right bus stop, but the one we wanted was only a few yards further down.
With no end of relief we sank down onto the seats in the bus shelter. My co had to throw her socks away and put her shoes back on, but we were at a number 8 bus stop. We were almost home! Right?
Wrong!
After sitting chatting to some friendly locals for a while, a number 8 bus pulled up. We jumped on and asked the bus driver if he went to where we needed to go (note to self: have more knowledge of the area around camp, not just the street camp is on!). He told us no, he only went to the airport, we'd have to walk the rest of the way. This didn't sound right, so we thought we should be on the bus going the other way, which was about to pull away from the stop across the road.
We leaped off the bus, flagged down the driver and ran across the road. The driver laughingly told us he wouldn't have left without us, and we settled down on the bus, happy to be heading back to camp.
After being on the bus for a while, we started to realise that we didn't recognise the area. We silently hoped that was just due to us being foreign. The driver pulled up at the last stop, a Meijers store. With some trepidation, my co whispered that this wasn't the Meijers near camp.
Oh...
We ran to the front of the bus, panic stricken, and asked the bus driver if we'd gone the wrong way. Once he finally figured out where we were trying to go, he told us that yes...we had gone in totally the opposite direction.
Argh!
Luckily he was a very sweet, kind man, and told us that he was going in Meijers for 20 minutes, then he'd be turning around. We could go get a drink and get back on the bus, and then we'd be going the right way. He told us not to follow him around the store - he wouldn't go without us!
We got ourselves a drink and some ice cream, feeling silly but reassured that we would get home. We accidentally got back to the bus 10 minutes late, but as promised, he didn't leave without us. I am so thankful for that man. Not many people would make their entire bus route 10 minutes late for the sake of two daft travellers!
With a slight sense of deja vu we headed back the way we came. We drove back through the neighbourhoods, and back downtown. We were slightly chagrined to learn that there had been several bus stops next to the museum - if only we had turned left instead of right! But if we had done that, then we wouldn't have ended up on the bus with the kind driver.
Half way back to camp we had to change buses since the air-con stopped working (it was one of those days!), but finally we made it to familiar ground.
We're not sure if you can tip bus drivers, but here in America it seems customary to tip every man and his dog, and this was someone who genuinely deserved it. So, when we gleefully left the bus we pressed a small sum of money into his hand and gave him a huge hug.
We staggered along the walk back to camp, laughing and joking about our adventure. We agreed that we wouldn't tell the other counsellors about it - it'd just be further proof that we shouldn't be allowed off camp alone!
It was 7pm by the time we reached the staff quarters. It had taken us 3 and a half hours to get back.
I'm not sure we've ever been so delighted to be back in "The Bubble"!
It was a long, hot, tiring day with a little too much worry, but it was a fabulous adventure and we got to see a lot of Indianapolis. More than we would have if we'd not got lost at all! We got to meet the sweetest, kindest and most helpful people who all made our day so much brighter.
I highly recommend Indianapolis to anyone who wants to visit, and I look forward to exploring it some more before I leave.
And this time, we know were the bus stops are, and which direction we're meant to be travelling!
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