An Afternoon at the Waterfront

Sheila took some much-needed time off yesterday afternoon so we headed up to Burlington for a change of scenery.  I was feeling rather lousy and my health was a bit unstable but everything turned out okay due to taking a bunch of extra medications throughout the afternoon.  

Unfortunately, although it was dry, the weather was drab, overcast and very gray.  Also noteworthy is that Burlington looked like a run-down, filthy, ghost town.  There was graffiti everywhere and every building was covered in grime, dirt and chipped paint.  Burlington was on the verge of looking very much like a dying coal town.

Traffic was almost non-existent.  Then, while we were walking around, we noticed that we saw very few other human beings.  Stores were empty.  Restaurants were empty.  A little bit afterward, I realized this was likely due to a lack of international tourism.  

What was really bothersome is that all the storefronts were in need of paint and windows were covered in dirt.  No matter which way you turned, you were accosted with graffiti sprayed across buildings and windows.  One of the things we always liked about Burlington is it was always clean and all the buildings were always very well maintained.  It was a clean, quaint small city reminiscent of a mini-San Francisco.  Now everything was filthy, covered in grime, dirt, graffiti and chipped paint.  Oh...  and no matter where we went in Burlington, it reeked, some places worse than others.  Manhattan was cleaner and smelled better!

The weather wasn't much better.  It was drab, overcast and this overcast sky was producing a rather sickly color.  Regardless, I shot some photos as we walked around purposely trying to avoid capturing the filth, the graffiti, the chipped paint, and the filthy windows.  Fortunately, my camera can't capture the stench...