Sunday
We're still in love with Indianapolis. Our kind of town. This is not a sentence we would have written with such conviction just three short days ago.
Thom E is all out of new shoes, so we have to walk down to breakfast in our slippers. How cozy. It was fun to hear the group's adventures from the day prior.......discovering Goose the Market , stocking up at Trader Joe's and seeing Lucas Oil Stadium for the first time.
After an omelet and some warm coffee cake, we packed our belongings and headed to our first stop of the day, the Oldfield-Lilly House and Gardens. This 26-acre historic estate is on the same property as the Indianapolis Museum of Art. These are both free events as well. It's amazing how much you can see and do in Indianapolis at no charge. This has been a shocking discovery for both of us!
Anyway, we toured the home and learned that J.K. Lilly purchased the home from the Oldfield family. The audio tour headphones (free, also) clued us in to the history of each room and insights about the people who visited them. Lilly had an impressive collection of first issue books that he donated to Indiana University some years ago. Beyond the house, we enjoyed touring the well designed gardens. We would like to visit there again in the fall and spring, as the gardens were designed to be the most magnificent during those seasons.
We planned to spend the afternoon in Fountain Square, one of Indianapolis' oldest neighborhoods and the oldest historic district in the state. It's only five minutes from downtown but feels a world apart. Most of the restaurants and shops are closed on Sundays, so you might plan ahead better than we did!
We still found plenty to keep ourselves entertained, though, like lunch at Siam Square. This restaurant absolutely qualified as a hidden treasure! It's located in the building Bistro 936 formerly occupied on Virginia Avenue and serves up unbelievably tasty Thai cuisine. We sampled Som Tum, a papaya salad with peanuts that was so hot I felt certain we had been transported to a Floridian beach mid-August. We couldn't stop eating it! Siam Square uses local foods (they can even tell you the name of the lady who grows their Thai chili peppers) and can tell you the cultural nuances of each dish (such as the popularity of green curry with Thai people).
Vegetarian friends, please visit this Mecca. You may need to bring along some tissues, though, because the sheer number of vegetarian options will move you to tears. Move over dinner of side dishes at the local steak house!!!!!!!!!
We worked off our lunch with a highly entertaining hour of Duck Pin Bowling. I am generally not a fan of any event that involves wearing used shoes (notable exceptions would include offers of used Jimmy Choo's, Manolo Blahnik's and anything Prada), but this was an absolute riot! If economic circumstances ever dictate a job change, I should not plan to support myself by joining the professional Duck Pin Bowling circuit.
OK, ok. Back to the history. Fountain Square Recreation originally opened in 1928 and featured a bowling alley and billiard hall. The business closed in 1957 and remained vacant until 1994 when it was restored with authentic 1920's vintage bowling equipment and a 1918 pool table. This is a very, very fun place to spend an hour.......or two..........especially when you finish it off with:
FRESH DOUGHNUTS. Friends, this is much better than Krispy Kreme. The Fountain Square Diner makes fresh doughnuts each morning. You can purchase one for the low, low price of fifty cents. That's three for $1.50 if you passed elementary school math, which means you can try the original, caramel frosted and chocolate frosted. (I hope my doctor is not reading this blog because I did try all three.)
We've decided that there is more to see in Indianapolis, and we plan to hit the local touring circuit again this summer.
Here's what we really learned:
-There's more than corn in Indiana.
-If you want to buy more than corn in Indiana, visit the winter farmers' market......Mayor Ballard was even there!
-It is still fun to encourage first-timers to try the shrimp cocktail at St. Elmo's.
-There are more reasons than ever to LIVE LOCAL.
-Knowing about your community builds your sense of community.
And, as my mother would say when we returned home from every vacation, "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."
I'm clicking my bowling shoe heels together right now.
See all of the pictures
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