Brady and I had just finished lunch and were strolling around downtown Indianapolis when we came upon their Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument. We entered at ground level and were told by the clerk seated there “Stairs are free, $2 for the elevator.” As I pulled out my wallet to pay, Brady said “Come on Dad let’s do the stairs.” So we started up the 330 stairs to the top.
However, after making our way up several flights of stairs, the combination of a big lunch, my age and simply being woefully out of shape got to me. I told Brady to just go ahead while I paused to catch my breath. He proceeded on while I then trudged up another flight or two of stairs before pausing to catch my breath again.
I repeated this a couple more times. However, when I looked up the center of the monument and saw that I was still only about half way up my climb to the top, I then decided to forget about it, come back down and take the elevator up like should have done in the first place.
The line for the elevator by now was several people deep so I said screw it, made my way outside and found a bench to rest on while I waited for Brady to come back down. (It was here that I saw the Hindu wedding procession going on across the street (previous post.)
Sitting outside the Monument, feeling a little defeated at my inability to do the Monument climb, I thought of the time that I talked and coaxed Buzzy into trudging up the steps of the Arc De Triomphe in Paris. It was in 1998 so he would have been 74 years old. He complained about it as we made our way up but I kept urging him on and eventually he did make it to the top.
I pondered this on the bench and thought “How the hell did Buzzy ever make it up the Arc at 74 and I couldn’t negotiate this Indy Monument?” Being self centered, I concluded that I must have done an exceptionally good job at coaching and coaxing him up the Arc’s stairs.
However, after some web surfing I have learned that while the Arc De Triomphe has 124 stairs, there is an elevator that takes you up all but 46 steps to the top. I then realized that that is exactly what Buzzy and I had done – took the elevator and hiked the remaining 46 stairs. I only felt a little less in shape and disheartened when I made this discovery.
However, I now have another item on my to-do-before-I-punch-out-list: get in shape and some day return to Indy and hike those stairs. I know, I better do it soon.
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| Buzzy Atop the Arc |