Paris Baguette in Bethesda

Paris Baguette, located at 4925 Fairmont Avenue in the Woodmont Triangle part of Bethesda offers coffee and baked goods as well as sandwiches. I went last week and had a croissant with ham and cheese in it. 

One really nice thing about Paris Baguette is they have a large area of self service croissants and other bakery items that you can choose from. After selecting what you want, just bring it to the register to pay.

Sandwiches and cakes are also available, you have to ask at the counter.  One thing I didn't see much of were baguettes, I only saw a single basket of them. 

Outside Paris Baguette. It is located in the Sophia Bethesda building across the pedestrian walkway from Ellis Bethesda.

Painting the Reflecting Pool blue

 

Painting the Reflecting Pool blue

 

I decided to go down to the Lincoln Memorial today and see how the project to paint the reflecting pool blue is going.  It looks like they are over half done.  It is a very dark blue, almost black, much darker than I expected.

 

COMSAT building in Clarksburg being demolished

COMSAT Laboratories demolition

 

The COMSAT laboratories building, located at 22300 Comsat Drive in Clarksburg, Maryland, is currently being demolished. COMSAT (Communications Satellite Corporation) built this nearly 500,000 square foot research and development campus in 1969 and occupied it until 2005. Since then it has been mostly vacant and has been completely unused since 2015.

The building is clearly visible from Interstate 270 just before the exit for Clarksburg Premium Outlets (but on the opposite side of 270).

 The building was designed by architect Cesar Pelli, who also designed  the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. This property was considered for historic site designation but in the end, the Planning Board did not recommend it as part of the 2025 Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan.

I saw this reported by Bethesda Today and took pictures of it today. It doesn't look like much was accomplished in the past few days, but I could only see one side of the building.

Kenwood Cherry Blossoms

 

Over the weekend, the cherry blossoms were at their peak.  No need to go all the way to the Tidal Basin, Bethesda's Kenwood neighborhood has blossoms a-plenty.  I went on Sunday, along with lots and lots of other people.

 

Carter sticks his tongue out at the No Barking sign (thanks Pete)

 

Driving through the neighborhood was possible, but slow and undoubtedly frustrating.  There were also "No Parking" signs posted on many of the streets (and about an equal number of "No Barking" but that didn't seem to be much of a problem. 

 Hundreds of people and families were out walking around, or sitting in the common areas enjoying the weather.

 

There were a number of places that kids were selling lemonade and this one humorous sign advocating a lemonade tax.

 

I also posted about the Kenwood cherry blossoms in 2022. 

 

 

 

 

Construction at 4725 Cheltenham Drive

 The Chetlenham is a new multi-family residential building being constructed on Chetlenham Drive where the old Midas car repair shop was.  It is next to the CVS and on the other side of Wisconsin Avenue from the Marriott headquarters in downtown Bethesda, Maryland. I first posted about this in May of last
year.

  

The back of the building.  There is an alley to the left of the building which will remain.

 

According to the plan, it will be a 76,841 square foot nine-story building with 102 units including 8 live/work units.  There will be no on-site car parking, however there will be 53 long-term and 2 short-term bicycle parking spaces.  There is a public garage (number 42) directly across the street. Cheltenham Urban Park is also next door to the building.  

 

This building is surrounded by the CVS parking lot. Here you can see the CVS in the background to the left.

 

Back 'n Side

The view from near the CVS entrance at the back and one side of the building.

Visiting Glenstone museum

 Glenstone is a private, but open to the public art museum near Travilah.  Entry is free but you do need to get tickets in advance (except if you are a student, educator, or show up on the Ride-On Route 301 bus, see website for full details).  Glenstone focuses on post WWII art as well as distinctive architecture in a natural setting.  There is lots of walking, but most of the trails are paved. Most of the art is in the galleries, but there is quite a bit outside too.  The Museum's address is 12100 Glen Road, Potomac, Maryland 20854.

Interior courtyard

I really like the architecture, it is almost brutalist in that you have lots of flat gray walls, but instead of concrete, the walls are covered in rectangular slaps of stone (both outside and inside the building). The courtyard is almost entirely this water feature which, during the summer has more plants growing in it.  There is a deck and a bench so you can go outside and sit for a while.

 I went there for the first time this week.  Prior to this I had heard about Glenstone mostly because it's non-profit status was questioned. At the time, it was only open a few days a month and didn't allow many visitors.  The question was if it was a true non-profit or just a tax shelter.  I can't say whether that was true at the time, but now it has clearly moved beyond that and there is no question that it was built for the public to view. 

 

The lake

This is from outside the original gallery, you look across a lawn to a large pond, on onto the Rales house (where the founder of the museum lives. It's nice to be a billionaire). The trees on the far side are just starting to turn green. 

 Photography isn't allowed inside the buildings, but it is allowed outside, so these (and most pictures you'll see online) are from outside.  There are photos of some of the inside art on the Glenstone website if you want to see it.

“As Long As the Sun Lasts” by Alex Da Corte’s

It's Big Bird, but blue.  There was a movie in 1985, "Follow that Bird" where Big Bird gets painted blue, this sculpture references that.  It is set on a hill that slopes down to the pond and yes, it does rotate in the breeze.

 You can easily spend the whole day here and not see everything.  There is a cafe and a patio spot where beverages and pastries are sold.

Four Rounds: Equal Weight, Unequal Measure. Richard Serra

The museum has multiple Richard Serra works, this one is four cylinders that are different sizes but each is the same weight. It is housed in a custom built pavilion set off in the woods.  The pavilion is in the brutalist style and from the outside it just looks like an undistinguished block of concrete.  Inside however, it really showcases the sculpture and adds to the experience. 

 

 

Long-term roadwork on Eastbound Democracy at Fernwood

 

The work area west of Fernwood Rd

 Pepco is doing some emergency utility work on Westbound Democracy Boulevard at Fernwood Drive. This closes the right two lanes of Democracy Blvd, so only a single lane gets by.  This work could take as many as four months to complete, though the variable signs along the road say they will be done by mid-May.

  Pepco will work 7 days a week from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm but 24 hour work may be needed some of the time.  As you can see from the photos, they have put up jersey barriers in the construction area, so the lane closures are 24 hours a day, even if they aren't working.

Westbound on Democracy before Fernwood Rd

 The lane closure starts on the east side of the Fernwood Road, There is a length of road closed of by cones, before coming to a crash barrier and jersey wall protecting the workers.  They are doing work on both sides of the intersection.

 Pepco is working on restoring a fluid-filled underground transmission feeder that is part of their transmission network supporting distribution facilities throughout Montgomery County.

 

The solution to the housing crisis?

 Pepco has built a shed in the middle of the road to make it easier to complete the work.  Or, perhaps, the county is considering converting the two right lanes of all major streets into affordable housing.

Working on the east side

 A bit closer view of the work being done at Democracy Blvd and Fernwood Rd. And, yeah, still snow after all these weeks.

 

Update March 16: It looks like they got done much earlier than expected.  I drove by today and everything is cleaned up and all lanes are open. 

 

 

 

 

 

New electric car chargers coming in Bethesda

I noticed that the public county garage on Woodmont Ave and Edgemoor Lane is getting some level 2 Chargepoint chargers.  This is officially Garage 49, the Metropolitan Garage, it is the one close to Bethesda Metro Station. Level G1 four dual-port chargers. (Oddly, it looks like there are two spaces in the middle that aren't getting chargers.) There is also a dual-port L2 charger being installed at the handicap space near the Woodmont entrance.

 

Capital Crescent Trail, after the snow

 

I took a walk on the Capital Crescent Trail between River Road and Downtown Bethesda today.  The trail is clear to bare pavement the whole way there.  There were a lot of people out walking and a few people running or biking on the trail.  The county has done a very good job clearing it this storm. 

Capital Crescent Trail at Little Falls Parkway

 

 

Bikeshare Bike

This bikeshare station along River Road at the Capital Crescent trail has been visited by the bike angels post-snow storm.  There were two red bikesare bikes and one electric bike at the station and the wheels were on top of the snow (and you could see tire tracks on top of the snow) so they were clearly added post-storm.

River Road in the snow

The road itself is clear, but the bike lanes and sidewalks are not.  People have to walk along the partially cleared lane, or, like the guy at the top, run down the suicide lane in the middle.

Breakdown

Two people were putting gas in this bobcat in the suicide lane on River Road.  Not sure if that was the only problem or if other issues were also there.  Notice that the right lane in both directions is full of snow and not passable.

 

I saw someone on a side trail skiing.

 

 

 

 

Snow in Bethesda

Yesterday we got about 7 inches of snow and sleet in Bethesda, Maryland.  I walked around downtown Bethesda this afternoon (roughly 3pm-4pm) to see how the city is recovering.  Overall, the main roads are in decent shape.  Often at least one of the lanes isn't fully plowed, but there aren't many cars out right now so that isn't a real issue. It may be in the coming days as people go back to work though. A lot of the sidewalks are clear in the downtown area, but not all of them are, especially problematic are along Old Georgetown Road and along Wisconsin Avenue, as well as at intersections where snow has been piled up by plows.

Some snow on Old Georgetown

Old Georgetown Road had at least two lanes clear, but in some places there was still a little bit of loose snow on the road. 

More snow on Old Georgetown

Snow on Wisconsin

 

Walking in the road

The blocked sidewalks and high snow at intersections is forcing these folks to walk in the road on Wisconsin Avenue.  This is dangerous for everyone involved.

Capital Crescent Trail: plowed to the asphalt

Bike Lane

The separated bike lane on Woodmont Avenue had been cleared at some point, but is now covered with snow again.

 

Snowy sidewalk on St. Elmo

Uncleared sidewalk on Woodmont

Not all neighborhood streets are plowed

 

Clearing Bethesda Lane

 

All that snow has to go somewhere, in places it is piled quite high

No Broccoli

 Fresh vegetables were in short supply at Lidl this afternoon.  There was no fresh broccoli in the store.  There was, however, frozen broccoli, whic is just as good for you so I got that instead.

 

 

Bethesda Metro Station construction

 Bethesda Metro Station is getting a new south entrance and connection to the future Purple Line light rail.  Work has been going on inside the station for a while.  On Wednesday I took photos of the status.

 At the far (southern) end of the station a wall panel is removed and you can see the real walls behind it.  The area is open behind the red plywood.  When the station was built they envisioned a future south entrance so left a knock-out panel for it. 

 To give you a sense of scale, at the very center of the plywood is a full-sized door, so I think the opening is 12 feet tall.  It seems a bit close to the tracks for a bridge over the tracks but I guess not. 

False Walls

I never knew the curved concrete walls of the station were removable panels and the real station walls weren't curved.  Here you can see the gap between the real wall and the apparent wall.

The new entrance will be located on Elm Street near Wisconsin Avenue and  will only have elevators, no escalator to the metro station.  A mezzanine will be built over the south end of the platform to allow access to the trains.

 

Fossil extension cord

I can't be 100 percent sure, but it really looks like when they poured the original concrete station walls they left an extension cord there and it left this serpentine outline.

 

Station in July 2025

 Here's how the station looked last July, the concrete panel that has since been removed was still up on the right side of the picture and they were still building the work areas on the platform. 

 

More information:

•  WRA page about their work
•  Montgomery Planning page about the entrance
•  Bethesda Today article about escalating costs