scenes from providence: day one

A few weeks ago I spent a fun weekend in Providence visiting Kate, who moved there last fall. With a population of about 175,000, Providence feels bigger than it is. It has a decent-sized Downtown and lots of neighborhood business districts—and it also has three rivers, as well as a bunch of bays and the Atlantic. It was a lot of fun exploring (and shopping and eating in) Providence, seeing some of the Rhode Island coast, and getting caught up with Kate.

Kate and Billy’s Dutch Colonial—I love the slightly spooky, Amityville-Horror-esque style of the roof. It’s big, has tons and tons of storage space and built-ins, but my favorite part of it was the large shady yard filled with huge trees.

On Friday we walked around the Brown and RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) campuses and saw a little bit of Downtown. There were lots of cute, independent shops and restaurants around campus, just 10 minutes away from Kate’s house.

A sculpture beside a RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) Building.

RISD and Brown campuses are in the College Hill neighborhood, just 10 minutes away from Kate’s house. This is College Hill.

Downtown had a lot of cute shops.

We ate lunch at a really good Mediterranean place. I had a fantastic falafel wrap. Friday night we had another awesome meal—this one at Chez Pascal, literally around the corner from Kate’s house. I had herbed baked ricotta with sautéed spinach with a garlic sauce and salad with baked feta along with some really good wine—everything was amazing.