Day 22--Grizand Rizapids

Day 22 started out with two rascal boys trying to win the affection of my daughter.

Jude figured his acts of manliness would most impress her, but Laz was on the right track of being talkative and sensitive to Aurelia. 

Aurelia rewarded Laz by staring at him for the rest of the morning and allowing him to poke her eyes.

We were gonna have a good walking tour of downtown Grand Rapids but the weather was blah. So we headed downtown to Founder's Brewery for lunch after a leisurely morning at the house.  Great atmosphere, good bear, and delicious sandwiches.

Here's some old guys playing cards, it's like a white man's Lung Fung Bakery

Here's Beth and I looking tough because we are drinking micro brewed beer.

Here's Aurelia and I looking tough because I just drank a micro brewed beer.

After lunch Khara took the boys home for naps and Stephan took us to Eerdmans and the Baker bookstore.  Eerdmans was sweet and Baker had some good deals.  Aurelia thought that was a snoozefest though.

We relaxed for a bit at the house and then the babysitter arrived and we were off to dinner and drinks.  The theme for the night ended up being "Holy Meals; Drinking and Dining in a post-Christian, post-mainline, post-industrial, post-office Grand Rapids Michigan."  During our drive to the first stop of the evening we passed at least a have dozen little business districts at intersections.  These looked like mini-main streets all 4 corners had buildings and the buildings extended about a half-block down from the intersection.  It was a really interesting way to set up a city, I'd never seen anything like it before.  Lots of potential for cool neighborhood essential shops and Stephan assured me that the city was working hard to get stores into them.  Here's  an example of one intersection (the one where we hung out for the night)

All this to say that I'm surprised by Grand Rapids.  It's a pretty cool place with a lot of potential for good urban growth, I highly recommend visiting if you're ever in the area.

So, back to dinner.  The first stop of the night was drinks and 'tizers at Brewery Vivant.  This place was a French themed brewery (so I was already in love) build inside an old memorial chapel.  Too.  Cool.

It was also really cool when Beth forgot her ID and Stephan had to run back to the house to get it.  It's okay though, he's an introvert and enjoyed the time alone.

We had some great beers and ciders (the best cider's I've ever had by a long shot) we also had two good small dishes, some duck nachos with a Brie sauce (so yummy) and some french fries with a great mayo sauce for dipping.  Good times.

Afterwards, in sticking with our theme for the night, we ate Italian food in a old monastery.

That's right.  I saw the Mona Lisa, no big deal.  This one was even cooler than the Louvre because it didn't have a lame protective glass cover.  All in all a great day.