The Pink Shoe Diaries

Guess which New England city was the topic of the following conversation that took place over the weekend?

Adam: What do the directions say to do next?
Sarah: "Swerve left at the Holiday Inn"
Adam: Oh I know this Holiday Inn! I stayed here once
Sarah: Oh I know it too! I was almost arrested for vagrancy in front of it.

If you guessed Providence, RI then you are absolutely right!

(And the whole almost arrested for vagrancy thing was just a misunderstanding between some Providence cops and my friend Jill and I who were hanging out in front of the hotel at 3AM waiting for her dad to come get us because we (I) had crashed her car. Oh to be 21 again)

Anyway, on Saturday evening Adam and I headed down 95 South to have dinner and take in Waterfire in downtown Providence. We dined at the Trinity Brew House on Fountain Street and sampled some great local brews as well as the best falafal I have had in a long time! The restaurant was only a 10 minute walk from Memorial Blvd, where the festival was being held along the river so we walked on over around 8PM. It was a GORGEOUS night. Perfect weather for a little fire on water action.





There were gondolas and paddle boats available for rent.


And the shores of the river were packed with hundreds of people, just sitting and enjoying the night, watching the boats drift by between the flames, listening to the Himalayan pipe music playing over loudspeakers.



It was really a perfect night



After we had walked along the river for a while, and taken in the sights and sounds, we walked back to Fountain Street and had some dessert and cocktails at the fabulous Brasserie Bravo .

Waterfire is really a beautiful way to spend an evening. It's happening again on the 26th and it's totally worth the drive down. Not to mention the fact that downtown Providence is adorable. We were able to walk to wherever we wanted to go and finding street parking was not a problem at all.

I spent many nights of my youth clubbing in downtown Providence, places like Lupos and Metropolis and Bootlegger's. I also got my first tattoo in Providence (before it became legal in Massachusetts) but I never really got to know the city aside from the not-too-strict-about-underaged-drinking nightclubs and the (shoddy) tattoo work. But between the cute shops and fabulous restaurants and festive atmosphere, we had such a great time on Saturday that we vowed to get to know it better.

And thus continues my love affair with New England. I really feel like I will never live anywhere else. I love that within a 45 minute drive I could be in Maine or New Hampshire or Connecticut or Rhode Island. There is always something new to check out and if the weather we had this weekend doesn't make you fall in love with this place all over again then I don't know what will.