Or something like that. Looks like it's the Show-Me state, but I don't really know what they are showing (off). I did do some googling and this is what I came up with. The state motto is kind of cute. Or a bit pretentious, I suppose. They love their Latin, huh? "Salus populi suprema lex esto" it says and, at least according to the neighbourhood we stayed in, the welfare of the people is the supreme law. Actually, it's more like wealth, too.
Kansas City, the one in Missouri that we visited, borders another Kansas City. How odd? Not really. There are several in the US. On our way there, we also visited Waterloo, Albany and many other places. Just not the real ones. The city center, meaning the blocks with skyscrapers in them, is quite bigger than Des Moines and, I think, even Minneapolis. The highway system is a lot easier to figure out without navigation or even maps than what it is here in Minnesota. We hopped off I-35 and pretty much found ourselves downtown. No map, no navigation. My inner compass dragged us all the way to the hotel, too.
We were staying in a neighbourhood called Country Club Plaza. It's for them richies, it seems, but we somehow managed to find one single hotel (Holiday Inn) that was charging reasonable prices per night. Like, about one third of what other places wanted for a room with just about nothing in it. Or perhaps those other ones would have had a microwave and a fridge for two hundred more. Who knows.
The first night, we explored the neighbourhood by driving around. We went into the Plaza (it's actually a shopping center, but with regular stores instead of the boring mall ones), drove around, shopped. Walked a bit. Found a restaurant. Sat down. Sat down outside, wearing nothing but thin long sleeve shirts. And this was at almost ten in the evening (or is it ten at night?) in late October. The place was called Kona Grill and the food was awesome. Like, really awesome. We had no idea it was a chain at all (other than Big Bowl, which is pretty good, other chain restaurants are really easy to figure out) - I actually learned about it just now, as I searched the Internet for a possible website for this venue. It seems to be a sushi bar of some sort, or just overall relies on that kind of cuisine.
I had the best cucumber salad ever. Tasty sliced cucumbers, some crab sticks, some algae and a ton of sesame. Unknown dressing, but I'd say it was some rice vinegar or something similar, with a bit of honey and a hint of ginger. Actually, it doesn't even matter what it was, it was simply awesome. I took a few photos of our meals, but only with the cell phone. It would have been a bit too much, again, running around with the EOS.
As usual, Derek went with two appetizers and I choose two different rolls. Again, I was too big a chicken to go with raw fish or seafood. Can't do it, pretty much ever, as I don't trust anyone living this far from any and all seawater. So it was a vegetable roll and then one with shrimp and crab for me. The cool part about the crabby one was the cucumber my roll was wrapped in. It came in place of the nori. Tasty!
There are Derek's potstickers (ick! ick! ick!) in that picture, as well. And then he also had some chicken satay with the best peanut sauce ever. And this is coming from someone who really doesn't like peanut sauce. Price? Really affordable. There were some leftovers we took to the room, too, but they ended up in the garbage can the next morning as we had no refrigerator to stuff our goodies in.
The whole area, the Plaza center that is, was insanely alive. The whole setup reminded me of Dubrovnik in the middle of summer, when you can't really move around, let alone find a parking spot or even a table at a cafe or a restaurant. After quite some time, the whole thing made me feel alive again. There was movement, people were actually walking (!!!) and they were dressed a lot better than what I'm used to seeing around here. There was a lot of noise, chatter, music and overall - sounds of life. Neat.
The next morning, I walked back there with the camera around my neck and the wallet in my purse (yeah, right... purse). As I kept moving, the wallet part grew thinner. Ohwell. After all, that was some shopping mecca down there and the prices were really good. I already said on Facebook, but I'll admit to it one more time here: yup, I do have my moments of being horribly shallow and yes, I did like it. It felt good. I enjoyed dragging my paper bags with ribbons and tissue paper. It was so much different than two years of good deals at local sales (Target, yes, it's okay, I still love you and will be back).
One thing I could not find were shoes. It looks like nobody cares, even there, what they wear on their feet. They had a few stores with something on a heel, but, hey, that's not for me. They had a couple orthopedic shoe stores, too (no, they are not prescription shoes, it's just what I tend to call a random, average American shoe store... can't help it) and that was about it. There was an Aldo and I have to admit it kind of cracked me up. One of those used to be in the center of Zagreb and, as much as I know, it went out of business. It was nothing special, let alone expensive, yet it somehow made its way to this Plaza in Kansas City, too. I did want a pair of cheapish shoes from this store, but the style and/or size just didn't quite work out for me. I'll just have to order something online. There is nothing in Mankato (other than some sneaker-like things, such as All Stars and the like, that I usually pick up at some sale for just about no money), and there's pretty much nothing in Minneapolis either. Orthopedics for the win!
The whole Plaza area is cute, but also insanely tacky and funny. Apparently, Kansas City is the second city in the world when it comes to fountains. It's right after Rome. They seem to be in love with Spain, as well as Italy, but that's only in this little neighbourhood (they even have gondolas, hello!). Everything else looks just about hundred percent American.
The rest of the second day we spent shopping (yes, ok, again) and then driving dowtown, where we went to during the rush hour. I mean, it was supposed to be a rush hour, five o'clock and all, but there was pretty much nothing. We got stuck at one traffic light and that was it. Approximately twenty minutes after five, the downtown was as dead as Des Moines on a Monday morning (see previous blog entry, or this album here). There was nothing left, other than the huge skyscrapers. No people, no movement. Just buses and a homeless person here and there. This is where my bubble got popped. Up until this point, I kind of believed Kansas City was the shit. Well, not really. Or not everywhere. The Plaza lives and I guess the Power and Light District does as well. But those two don't seem to be enough for me, I suppose. Yeah, ok, I'm picky.
The second day's meal was horrible. Derek picked out some restaurant in some different neighbourhood, a little bit further south from where we were. It was supposed to be good, but I guess all the eighty-some reviewers must've been some people with no taste in foods. It was, or at least was supposed to be a family run bistro, but all we were given were some horrible industrial/frozen dishes. Whatever. Considering the price of this so-called food, which was similar to what we paid at Kona, I was tempted to argue, but then didn't. I practiced my zen there, I suppose. We went back to the hotel eventually and chewed on our French bread from Des Moines (at this point, slightly old and dry, yet still edible).
On Thursday morning, we drove into Kansas and went out before we knew it. This adds yet another state to my list of those I have visited so far, whee. On this same day, we went all the way back to Mankato in one stretch, even though we originally planned to stay in Des Moines overnight. It was a beautiful day for driving and the roads were perfect, too. I enjoyed each and every one of the 650-ish kilometers (400-ish miles). The cat was happy to see us a day sooner and, well, the guy we found in our bathroom didn't mind our presence either.
All in all, this was a good trip. It took five days and about 1500 kilometers (930-ish miles) to see all these things and we only needed two and a half tanks of gas. That's almost odd for our gas-eating machine. (I keep telling Derek he should buy me a Rav4 for my birthday, but it doesn't seem to be happening...)
Iowa was better than expected, Missouri even more. They were even pretty interesting to drive through, except for the northern part of Iowa where they really don't have anything but corn. Like, literally nothing. Missouri people are really warm and pleasant and they speak some weird mix of heavy Southern accent and I-don't-wanna-be-Southern kind of thing. Actually, the younger they are, the more they try not to sound Southern. It also matters where you encounter them, too. If it's your hotel reception area, they will easily offer you some shramp, fewt, sirl or aspergers. If you're shopping at Armani, they will make sure they don't understand you if you ask for those.
What I learned from this trip? Hm. Well, I keep learning that just about everything is more about the people than just the looks of it. And I don't know my people. Or I'm simply too different to fit in. It's mostly about the things I'm used to as opposed to those they seem to like. Kansas City was, for sure, a bigger kick than, say, Mankato (I still haven't really experienced much of anything in Minneapolis, as I pretty much never get to go there in the evening, thanks to my work and the American way of life), but it still really isn't the right thing. I actually am not sure that any cities here ever will be. I'm too used to being European and living in an European environment. And it's different. Very, very different.
I do, however, enjoy seeing different things. So... a few eons from now, when I manage to line up another vacation, I'm sure we'll find something new to bite into.
P.S. More pictures from Kansas City can be found here.
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