We got up late, as befits a Sunday morning.
After breakfast, we went to the front desk to ask where we might go to find a ‘nice’ shopping area, and perhaps a cup of decent coffee. (Most of the time here, if you ask for a particular type of shop, you will be directed to the nearest Mall: a peculiarly American experience – like everything else here, car-oriented, efficiently cutting down the need for walking to a minimum. Oh, and Americans don’t understand coffee at all. Most places serve it very weak, and shudder at the idea of an Italian-style Expresso! Strange then that Starbucks should be an American invention.)
The General Manager obligingly directed us to the 16th Street Mall (not a ‘mall’ at all, as it turns out, but a pedestrianised street … served by a free shuttle bus service). As we chatted, he declared himself to be a big fan of British ‘soccer’, in particular Spurs and Liverpool! John was delighted to be able to pump him for the latest news regarding Sol Campbell’s imminent transfer.
John’s bike was now due for its 6,000 mile service. Before investigating Denver’s downtown shopping emporia, he wanted to check out a Triumph dealer we knew to be in Walnut Street. From the map, Walnut Street appeared to be conveniently close to 16th, so we thought we would have a look. What we didn’t realise was that, in common with many other cities in the US, the streets are so long that they are often renamed in downtown areas, and continue further out. So it was with Walnut Street. We successfully located the southern end of the street, which ran under the I-25 and Auraria Parkway flyovers, and over the rail road, but found no sign of any motorcycle dealer.
By this time Brigid had got grit in her contact lenses (… again!), and both of us were somewhat hot and bothered (the temperature still being around 100 degrees), so we gave up and headed into town for a sub and a coffee.