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June 19, 2008
Providence
Power Plant at Night, Providence
We visited Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of "the biggest little state in the union." Our friend Brett found it "cute" and even "cutesey" at points. I suppose in contrast to Los Angeles, it could be so considered.
I thought it had that cool college town feel that many places do; both Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design are located there, right next to each other, in fact. We stopped to see the RISD Museum, which I suspected would have a lot of design-oriented stuff. They did have that, but they also had a bunch of more traditional art such as ancient statuary and European paintings.
The RISD Museum, Providence
That museum is on Benefit Street, which is an old historic street with lots of old houses. Shawn insists that I put in a picture of one of them, so as to give all you dear readers a sample of the old crap that one can see there.
Aston House (built 1790), Providence
In contrast to several other college towns, the college angle doesn't seem to be overdone in Providence. You do not have a lot of ratty bars that cater to the drunken carousing of students, nor numerous mid-quality fast food outlets that pass off sandwiches that are merely overpriced as "gourmet." It might be that this is because Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design are both top-notch schools, or it might be that the city's raison d'être is not just the schools. In any case, it is a very beautiful place with some very interesting offerings.
I wanted to specifically note a place called The Meeting Street Café (220 Meeting Street), because it was incredible. They are more-or-less a deli, but not of your specifically Jewish variety. They have soups and sandwiches, as well as some other entrees and desserts. Everything we had there was really tasty, and incredibly huge. Unfortunately, I was so overwhelmed with the eating experience there, I didn't get any photos.
Apart from the cutsey old homes, there are some killer buildings in the downtown. Among them are...
The Bank of America Building, Providence
...and...
Court House, Providence
...and...
Citizen's Bank/Apartments, Providence
...and...
Some Random Building, Providence
We also had some good Italian food in Federal Hill, and went to a pretty cool gay bar named "Mirabar."
I'd tell you about our shocking hotel fire alarm experience (5:30 am!), but I don't have time now. That'll probably be related in a summary of our hotel experiences in a later posting.
Posted by crispy at June 19, 2008 09:09 AM
Comments
I love that power plant photo
Posted by: Akira at June 19, 2008 12:35 PM
but what about the hail?
Posted by: brett at June 25, 2008 12:15 AM