Hi everyone! The adventures in Salt Lake continue. I think I’ll start off with an oh-so-rare picture of Evelyn smiling taken this past week (not that she doesn’t smile much; it’s just hard to catch on camera). Other news: Clarisse put on a birthday party for me yesterday evening. A few of our friends from the ward came as well as Paul, Kayley, Glen, and Lauren and Jeff Wall (Lauren Wall=Sister Richards of Lansing Michigan Mission fame). It was a good time consisting of conversation and eating ice cream. I had a traditional cake with candles and had a hard time blowing them out (it must be something about those weird curly candles).

I thought it might be fun to include some of my favorite sites from Salt Lake. While on my run yesterday, I took some photographs of the amazing City Hall building. The gray sky made a nice backdrop for such a foreboding structure.

It was constructed in the early 1900’s, and the style is “Richardson Romanesque.” The style gets its name from the architect who designed City hall as well as the pre-gothic period that his architecture mimicked. Like a Romanesque cathedral, it has thick, heavy walls with deep, ornate entrances. I especially like the intricate carvings on the capitals and arches.

The statue on the main spire is of Columbia with the scales of justice in her hand (although it looks like a cross from a distance). There are four other figures above each entrance, but I have forgotten what they symbolize….

Across the street from City Hall is the library. It’s huge, modern, and tries way too hard to be a mall.

If you look to the lower right in the picture below, you will see several little booths that are shops just before the entrance.

And some random library statues….
And, finally, your photographer on his downtown run.