Take a gander (and a listen) to the 2nd DowntownWV slideshow, featuring favorite shots culled from past postings to this photoblog. You can view the slideshow right now at this link. You can also view the debut slideshow in the series at this link. And forever and in the future find all slideshows and gazz and wvgazette.com nultimedia offerings at the gazzTV guide page.

Click to enlarge. Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

I have no real desire to take a tribal belly dancing class, as advertised by this sign at the corner of Virginia and Capitol streets. BUT — I would not mind in the least WATCHING a tribal belly dancing class.

Click to enlarge. Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

Speaking of the South Side Bridge (see post below), here is a view from its brawny undercarriage, timed to frame one of the succession of passing barges that slide up and down the Kanawha day in and out.

There’s a bridge in there somewhere — the South Side Bridge, to be exact — with a wrapper of autumnal leaves along the Kanawha River.

Click to enlarge. Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

A man shares a moment with the Kanawha River at Haddad Riverfront Park. Nice — wish I could chill, too, there for a moment. But this view also reminds one how much lousy use Charleston makes of its riverfront, except for the concrete wasteland and empty spaces of this park. The Sasaki and Associates plan commissioned by the city calls for a revolution of development along the waterfront, reorienting the downtown. Good plan – awfully low profile at this time.

Click to enlarge. Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

I’d never really noticed how really striking the Terminal Building is until viewed from this vantage point on the sidewalk above Haddad Riverfront Park. But then, I am a sucker for buildings with rounded edgesand curves – they soften the rectilinear hardness and boxiness of the usual downtown layout.

Click to enlarge. Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

A little colorful serendipity, courtesy of autumn’s palette, can be seen between this squash-colored tree and this orange-faced building near the intersection of Quarrier and McFarland streets.

Click to enlarge. Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

A tugboat chases the last light of day, heading west along the Kanawha River, framed by the elephantine piers of the Interstate 64 bridge.

Click to enlarge. Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

This two-deck skyway is not a public walkway, but connects the parking garage of Charleston Newspapers with its main hive somewhere. A shame. Public skywalks are intriguing ways to traverse cities, especially when the North Wind comes down from its winter place in Saskatchewan and hunts for button holes in your bodice you have left unbuttoned.

Click to enlarge. Photo for thegazz.com by Walker DeVille

On a cold, blustery day along Hale Street, a pot of multi-hued roses was a welcome sight. And a welcome smell.