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Downtown 2004-03-16, 1:11 p.m. Spring is almost here, and I love walking through the downtown streets when it’s sunny enough to leave my jacket in the office. I like to walk by the International Flower Market (they, of course, only sell locally-grown blooms) and smell the peonies and lilies and roses. Sometimes I’ll go a few extra blocks out of my way to smell the fajitas being served at the Mexican sidewalk café, where the skillets of peppers and onions are still crackling from the heat and the spicy seasoning wafts into the drugstore next door. I like wandering by the business hotels and peeking into the windows of the snobby hotel restaurants, making up stories about the patrons inside. I might notice the mayor and I might see a football player, and I always see people dressed up and trying to use the right fork at the right time. I go to the Osco down the street from my office and wander up and down every aisle, marveling at how a store can sell entire child-size tea sets, but not have any Kleenex in stock. That store always smells like Band-Aids and hot tea. When I leave, I almost always give a dollar to one particular homeless man, who promptly uses it to buy a newspaper and a cup of coffee from the newsstand on that corner. I walk past the tall bank towers and by the deli that sells round sandwiches as big as your head on homemade rolls. In the summer, they include garden-grown tomatoes with your order, and in the winter, homemade noodles in your soup. I walk past the burger place that has the best fountain Diet Cokes in town and smell the beer-battered onion rings and grilled burgers, and hear the patrons shouting over each other to be heard in the noisy pub atmosphere. I like walking through the small park areas, taking a few minutes to sit on a bench and read a magazine and enjoy my lunch. I like walking past Subway and listening to couples debate about the merits of the Atkins diet. I go past the convention center and people-watch – sometimes it’s filled with thousands of Mary Kay ladies and their pink Cadillacs, sometimes it’s full of religious zealots, and sometimes there are thousands of children in town for Scouts or sporting events. I wander by the auditorium and listen to the symphony rehearsals through the open windows, watch ballet dancers leaving rehearsals, and listen to the chorus of “The Producers” over and over again, while the actors are nailing down that last chord and that complicated dance step. Sometimes, I walk to the riverfront and shop in the specialty shops in the City Market area. I buy sauces at the Asian market and takeout from the Vietnamese restaurant and sometimes I get bananas from the Italian grocery. I’ll meet a friend for lunch and we’ll eat outdoors at a tiny sidewalk café and listen to the hipsters and the yuppies and the executives and the students debating politics, talking about celebrity divorces, and extending courtesy to one another like I’ve never seen in a big city. When it’s really warm, I like to walk down to the Eat It and Beat It barbecue stand with some co-workers, roll up my sleeves, and eat a pulled pork sandwich with pickles and fries. I don’t even like pickles, but you eat them with barbecue because that’s how the rules go, and as soon as you’re done eating, the owner is hovering around your table to get you to leave and clear a space for someone else to sit there. Kansas City is known for its barbecue and there’s plenty to be found downtown. Downtown comes to life during the early spring months and it is a remarkable sight to behold. I can’t imagine experiencing this kind of spring anywhere but here.
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