If visiting Rhode Island a very cool spot to go is the East Side of Providence; if you like the city. Not exactly a place to Homestead but you could if you wanted to these days; either way, we (Natalie and I) made the “big” trip today to the city, the East Side to be exact; to get me some Birkenstocks at Berk’s shoestore. I guess I am too old for just plain old flip flops all day, I need the support of those Birkenstock shoes as I spend my days on my cement slabbed tile floor at home. I go from one room to the next, 100 times all day and if I don’t have the right shoes on I am doomed later on.
The East Side is home to the Ivy League school, Brown University and The ultimate art school Rhode Island School of Design aka as RISD. It’s the RISD population that “mostly” makes the east side so dynamic, interesting, and fun, brown keeps them all in check; it’s a good balance of the left and right brain over there on the East Side. I am not sure what Brown has to offer but I do hear they have an observatory you can visit (I never have) and they probably have a great library. There are lots of wonderful food choices ( i hear crepes are a hit on the east side) and RISD has a great museum to visit which, you can do in half a day. Natalie and I had an agenda and we didn’t spend the day walking up and down Thayer like I would have done if she was into it. When I was a teenager I spent many a nights on the east side. I will say that we hit up Fellini’s Pizzeria a LOT! Fellini’s is not on Thayer St. it’s on Wickendon, which if you were on a bicycle would be a great little bike ride, if you were on your feet it would be a long walk from Thayer but doable especially if you had berk’s on your feet. We were always coming form Hope St. so we drove but however you get there it’s worth it, oh so good pizza! As I go down memory lane I realize it was then that I discovered Berks, the ultimate shoe store; for my style anyway. I still have and wear a pair of Clark shoes I bought over 20 years ago! I could probably use new soles but the leather is so beautifully worn I can’t bare to part with them.
Berks carries a wide selection of Vans, Birkenstocks, New Balance, Hunter, and other fun and unique brands and….today they had the most amazing pair of Mauve FRYE cowgirl boots for $70, marked down from about 250$. They were not my size I was so sad! They do have cute clothes and some cute backpacks, ofcourse I also grabbed a new dress and a very much on sale backpack.
During the school year the East Side is jammed with people. Yesterday it was so quiet, perfect for us little country mice, another aspect of me getting old, although i do secretly still love a day in the city. I would have tooled around all day on the streets but I could tell Natalie was not keen on the idea. She was eagerly waiting our trip to the pet store afterwards.. We parked on meeting street just a few minutes walk to the store. We paid 1.25 to park. We walked by a place called the Meeting Street Cafe that serves breakfast ALL DAY!! I love places like that. We didn’t get breakfast but we did stop in to use the bathroom and we grabbed one of their chocolate chip cookies. This cookie was the size of a paper plate no exaggeration. It could feed a family of 6 and it was delicious. It tasted like the homemade cookies we make for christmas eve. Delicious.
So if your in the great state of RI and you need a new pair of shoes, breakfast at anytime, pizza, or the biggest cookie you have ever purchased, hit up the east side. You can gets shoes, pizza, crepes, and cookies all in half days time.