It's a strange experience to be in your own town as a tourist. I'm downtown about once a week for something or other, and we go to dinner or a ballgame there a few times a year.
Mostly, my awareness of the 16th St. Mall is to remind myself that you can't drive on it, and you have to go over to 17th if you want to get anywhere, and try not to wind up at that funky intersection at the Brown Palace because you never can figure out where you want to go from there.
The tourist experience is much different. You see the place in a new way, and, by golly, Denver looks really good. I talked to several delegates from other states. They all loved the place. Some of them want to move here (and I think, "Welcome to Colorado. Now go home.")
Each night after the convention, I walked back to the hotel, which is only about a twenty minute walk--who knew?--and a thoroughly pleasant experience, especially with our cool summer nights.
The Pepsi Center looked good, much classier than the Fleet Center in Boston, though just as crowded on the inside. The only real glitch was transportation. One delegate griped about this, at great length, in one conversation I had. I only took the bus to the Pepsi Center one time, and it got there through no known route. (I thought at the time: "Why are we driving through Elitch's to get to the Pepsi Center?")
Transportation was a bit of a hassle, which is why I walked back each night. Walking was faster. In fact, the whole downtown area is very walkable. From our hotel, Coors Field was four blocks, the convention center was five blocks, Larimer Square six blocks. Even Invesco Field, which looks a really long ways away, is only about a 20 minute walk from from my favorite bar in the world, the Cruise Room at the Oxford Hotel.
The new convention center looked really good, especially when approaching from the north on California. The new renovation of the Hyatt is sleek and moderne and juxataposes nicely with the convention center's angled roof. The late 19th century buildings in LoDo and downtown, now chocked full of hipster joints and fancy restaurants, must look especially attractive to those coming from cities whose downtowns are empty at night. I loved Boston in 2004, but Denver really shines.
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