First things first, this is the friendliest city I've ever been to. I was here about 17 years ago and that was the overwhelming impression - the people all smile and are nice and pleasant and all around lovely. Nothing's changed, it's still the same that way. I think it's partly because they make everything around you pleasant. Like as soon as you land at the airport, which is huge, you have to get on a train to take you to baggage claim. The doors to the train open to a lovely little ditty, last time it was Yankee Doodle, I didn't recognize it this time. Then as the doors are closing a nice male voice comes on a politely tells you where you're off to. Then you get to the parkade and instead of the floors being called P1 or P2, they are the Cowboy Boot level, or in our case, the Horseshoe Level. Then we get in the rental and turn it on, and happy little tune goes ding ding ding. How can you not smile with all that cheer around you?
Today sister was at work so I took myself off to check out the things I missed in downtown last time I was here. Some chatty cathy male started talking to me about half way in and now I know his birthday is Feb.14, his mom's is Feb.21, he's originally from California, lived here for 12 years, and wants to move to Missouri next year because it's quieter and there are more there. I started my tour cruising up 16th Street Mall and decided to duck into the Federal Reserve for a free tour. The security guards, who were so pleasant and cheery and not menacing at all, laughed when they heard I was from Canada and then asked me politely to go through the scanner and then told me to have a great day. I was disappointed at how small the museum was but the upside was I got to "make" my own money and then left with a bag of shredded cash which every tourist is entitled to. It's worth about $165 but it wasn't accepted at Starbucks :-(
Then I headed south to go to the Mint but no way would they let you in without a reservation so I had to scratch that from my Capitalism tour. I managed to get in to the State Capital just in time for the almost last tour and enjoyed checking walking around and hearing about how heavy all the chandeliers are in the Supreme Court, the House of Representatives Hall, and the Senate. They weigh a lot.
A bit of shopping later and it was back to the burbs where we are staying while we're here. Spent a nice evening having dinner and then going to see "Mission Impossible". Du-umb. Tomorrow is as yet unplanned but I'm sure there will be more happy people and cheery little tunes all around.
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