There we were.
I've been to Asheville once before, to tour the Biltmore:
which was formerly the largest private home in America (I say formerly because I don't think anyone actually lives there now and it's mostly operated as a museum and wedding venue), but we didn't really go into town and see anything, so I was excited to walk around for a while. I've heard a lot of good things about Asheville and everyone said that I would love it, and it turns out to be a nice city to visit.
Kristin didn't get to see much of it, because our late start meant that she had to go straight to derby. Logan and Becky were doing couple-type things, and I didn't want to do third wheel things so I struck off on my own and went solo for the day, and I had a really good time.
The business district of Asheville is very pretty and colorful:
It's full of interesting stores:
random street sculptures:
and street musicians:
So many street musicians.
I stopped counting them at thirty, but it seemed like there was one or more people playing a guitar, fiddle, bass, accordian, bongo drum, harmonica, or some combination of them roughly every five feet or so. On the one hand, it's nice to hear music everywhere you walk, but on the other hand it seems like there should maybe just be fewer musicians clogging the sidewalks.
Asheville also seems like a very dog-friendly city. I saw bowls like this:
outside of a lot of the stores.
I also saw a couple of famous landmarks, besides the giant iron pictured above. The convention center was right next to the Basilica of St. Lawrence:
and I spent a lot of time at the Grove Arcade:
It's an old building that's been completely renovated to house a lot of stores and restaurants, and is gorgeous inside:
I had a really nice lunch there:
at a counter by the window:
and read my book for a while before going back outside for more shopping and walking. Late in the afternoon I also had an ice cream soda at the lunch counter in the old Woolworth's:
which has been converted into two stories of gallery space:
went to a bunch of bookstores, bought a print at another gallery that I need to pick up a frame for, and eventually joined Kristin for derby:
before we had dinner, piled back into the car, and headed home.
3 comments:
we were confused by the iron as well, until we looked up and realized it went with the "flatiron" replica building behind it. We were staying across the street in a hotel that was built into a an old department store. I generally like hotels in histoirc structures, but this one was full of displays of clothes dummies in creepy old timey clothes. Add in the low lighting and it was like the twins scene in the shining everytime you got off the elevator. I understand what you mean about the street musicians though...at first I was excited, but then it was like...you know, maybe you all should form a big super band, or at least play something that goes together, because it got a bit cacophonous.
Yarn Wars killed me. Love it.
Wow that photo brought back memories of going to Woolworths to the lunch counter with my grandmother in the small town in Georgia where she lived. I knew I was a big kid when she would let me walk down the shopping center from the store where she worked to Woolworths all by myself.
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