Last night was my most memorable outing with Avdi yet.  Words won’t even begin, but I’ll try.  Maybe the photos will elaborate.

First we went to the famous Broadway Oyster Bar (“BOB”) and had Cajun food and tropical cocktails.  We ate out on the patio.  I felt like we were back in Baltimore.  Casual, eclectic, and colorful, and the food was excellent and more than enough.  It set the relaxed mood for what was to follow.

Drumroll…at last, my first experience of The City Museum, which isn’t so much a museum as a magical sensory labyrinth of dark mysterious caverns, tunnels, narrow stairways to heaven, trippy fantastical marvels, bars and dance floors here and there, and a fabulous, windy panorama on the roof of the city far below.  All the installations were creatively constructed using salvaged pieces of the old city.  At night, it’s even more atmospheric and Lovecraftian, minus the kid mobs.  We practically had the place to ourselves, until we found our way to the roof party.

We had beers at the iconic Beatnik Bob’s, like a hippie hangout at the end of the universe.  Everything in the Museum is totally interactive and hands-on.  There’s even a museum-like section with “antiquities” and nature specimens.  You could lose yourself just navigating all the secret passageways snaking up and down throughout.  Avdi persuaded me (it didn’t take much prodding) to explore, climb, crawl, and even go on the ferris wheel and slide down a chute.  I think I even surprised myself.

The whole experience is seriously like tripping through the looking glass in wonderland–I actually felt a little high and yet more myself.  Hard to describe.  Thanks to my son for encouraging me to stretch my limits and have fun doing it.  Here are the photos to prove it wasn’t just a hallucination.