It seems that the southwesterners have brought the sunshine to Cleveland! It's hard to believe that it was snowing yesterday in Santa Fe and 70 degrees here less than a mile from Lake Erie. While we would have enjoyed staying in University Circle, being downtown is actually rather fun. And we can actually see a sliver of the lake from our window, frozen when we arrived and now melting into green. I can walk to the lake in less than ten minutes right up past Browns Stadium. I have been wandering around downtown for the last few days, musing on how this great city has fallen on such hard times, with so much to offer. The buildings, the culture and mostly the kindness of the people, yet it's all a rather sad affair. Most of the downtown storefronts are empty, with that gorgeous old Cleveland Trust building dwarfed by a prison-like giant behind it. I wandered through the Colonial Arcade and managed to find a piece of turquoise jewelry, and Sheila would enjoy the Indian convenience store where I bought a six of cheap Genesee Cream Ale and a box of Uttapam. The Old Stone Church has a nice gallery attached to it and $5 lunchtime yoga classes twice a week. And I never even knew that beautiful wood-lined church was there!
I visited Maw and Paw this morning and saw some daffodils poking their stems up under the bush to the right. Birds were singing overhead and the sky was clearing from overcast to blue. Them was some great parents....
Now we're looking forward to a weekend of exploration and relaxation, maybe a visit to the West Side Market or the Art Museum or even both! We saw a commercial for a Lenten fish fry, and both our mouths were watering, but we'll have just to wait until next Friday when Maria does some Irish dancing at church. I truly believe that Cleveland can rival any city for great eats - gotta control that urge to chow down!!! Mmmmm, pierogi, pho, rigatoni, knishes, collard greens, dim sum, want it all! Of course, now that its the weekend, it WILl rain - ah, reliably rainy Clevesberg!
I'm so glad the Arcade is still there. When was home in December, I went outside the Tower and stood doing you know what and looked up the street and wondered about it. Then I got distracted chatting with a policeman about his horse and the fact that there were still horse patrols downtown. The horse had a Christmas hat on and I asked the cop if he thought the horse was embarrassed. He thought I was out of my mind. Their stable is on 34th or 37th and they ride back and forth. Yeah, it would be interesting to be right downtown. Hope all's going well!
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