After my wanderings at the zoo, I figured that since I was already there, I should check out downtown Providence, despite my tired legs. I drove to the center of town and found a pretty decent parking space in the arts district. Score! I thought.
Except, not so much.
I have to say, while I wasn't there long and while I am sure there are plenty of places in that town worth wandering, it didn't grab me.
At a glance, the downtown area looked really pretty, with lots of brick buildings and traditional New England architecture. But the more I walked through the arts district, the more I noticed that for every open shop, there were at least two empty storefronts. For every interesting art student who walked by carrying a portfolio, there were at least two random men sitting on the sidewalk, hollering across the street at any woman who walked by.
"Hey, pretty lady, I really like those shoes! Those sandals! You chose your shoes well!" And he just kept going, shouting to this woman as she just tried to walk down the street in peace.
One man actually walked up to me and snapped in my face to get my attention. "Miss. MISS. Can I ask you a question?" Ugh, no.
It got to the point where I realized I was walking around with a scowl on my face as a defensive mechanism. Don't look friendly and open because then you get harassed.
I found one cute shop, where going in to browse was like a reprieve. The owner was friendly and she and another customer and I chatted a bit about the art she was selling. I found a nice enough used bookstore, with "nice" referring to the selection though not the prices (which were often full price, seemingly in violation of the unspoken yet universally known Used Bookstore Code of Marking Down Prices), nor to the salesman who did not so much as look up once the entire time I was in the store, even when I stood at the counter right in front of him.
You have a lot to learn about being welcoming, Providence.
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