It's Hard Being So Cosmopolitan

After living in Philadelphia for 12 years, I miss the feel of a big city sometimes.  To shop the downtown stores... sit at a sidewalk cafe and have lunch with a friend or meander into a corner coffee shop and watch the passersby over a venti hazelnut latte.  The ideal that if you lived in a certain area (say, a beachy town) that you'd be doing that certain thing known for the area (like laying on the beach everyday) doesn't really manifest itself with our busy lives.  In reality, we usually take for granted our immediate area and don't take advantage of all that it has to offer.  Today was one of those days where I bucked the system and got out there, soaked up the local color and felt like a little girl in a big city, albeit Pittsburgh.

This morning, Robin, Robert and I met and headed to the Strip District downtown.  As I have stated before, it's historically the place where produce and goods were brought into the city as a distribution point as well as an origin for foods of many nationalities.  After a wonderful breakfast, we doddled through the streets, oogling the goodies offered, most with their wares right on the sidewalk (and I'm not talking about the fruits and nuts walking around).  Everyone had their holiday spreads out, with fresh coffees and breads and cookies and pastries, where we picked up some delicious treasures.  They recently set aside some warehouse space for local purveyors to display their things as well, all under one roof, called the Pittsburgh Open Market.  It's crazy that we go to Walmart to buy anything when there's fresh, fantastic choices nearby. 

After we left there, we hopped a few blocks over to where they had the tree set up around the ice skating rink at PPG (Pittsburgh Plate Glass) Place, a multi-building complex made to look like glass castles.  There were people buzzing all around... ice skating, taking in some musical players and stopping by the Winter Garden, where a display of Santa's from all over the world was presented.

We wrapped the day up with the latest installment of Harry Potter.  Now, I'm not big on swords and sorcerers and all that fantasy crap...  I don't go for that sort of thing, but somehow I always end up seeing those three 40-somethings parading around like they're only 14 over and over.  And the lot that watches these kinds of movies are a little bizarre... and chew popcorn like cows, but fortunately, I didn't care much about the movie so it didn't bother me.  Regardless, about 4 minutes into it, I'm lost, with all the bumbledids and goggledorfs and the like... I can't keep anyone straight.  About 9 minutes into it, and I just wish that someone would pull out a magic wand bigger than Harry Potter's and zap the shit out of him, once and for all (although I have seen his weenus in print... and I guess we'll have a few more sequels until someone can pull that off).  Plus, it's so confusing for me when my mind wanders and I fantasize about his hairy 'potter', especially when they have him parading around half naked several times throughout....  Am I getting juiced up by the 14 year old that he is supposed to be or the grown up that he is?  It shouldn't be this difficult.  Fortunately, the fantastic scenery of the exotic places that they transport themselves to when fleeing from someone bad makes it spectacular to see.  Funny that they don't transport themselves into the dogfood aisle of the Moordoor Walmart... I've seen people wander in those departments, never to be seen again.