Downtown Asheville

Continuing on with our vacation....

On Monday we headed to downtown Asheville for some exploring and shopping. This was our first time doing so and wow. what a beautiful area it is! The architecture is lovely, totally revitalized, and filled with wonderful shops, cafes, restaurants, breweries, art galleries, etc.  Of particular interest was the Grove Arcade.  It was built in the 1920s with the purpose of becoming the country's largest shopping mall.  Originally set to be 14 stories, only the first level was completed but it is spectacular.  Located inside was what turned out to be Meg's favorite shop.  Fudge. We hit it twice during our stay.  :-)   As you can see, being their "off-season" we pretty much had the place to ourself.

  



Adjacent to the arcade is the Champagne and Book Exchange.  Yes folks, you can trade in your books and sip champagne while browsing for other titles.  Of other interest is the old Woolworth's building which still retains the old fashioned soda fountain with the remainder of the building used as gallery for artists to display and sell their creations.  The old Kress five and dime building still remains as well.

Of course we had to explain to Meg just what a 5-10-25 cent store was "back in the day."  :-)

I would be amiss if I did not mention my AWESOME lunch at Carmel's Kitchen and Bar, also adjacent to the Grove Arcade.  It was the pizza on the menu that attracted Meg and it did not disappoint.  She had the cheese pizza while I had the mushroom pizza with non-gluten crust.  Wow to both!

Randy had salmon salad which he really enjoyed too.  But I haven't gotten to the best part of my meal.  

Those folks are chili spiked bread and butter pickles, made in house by the chef. They.Were.Awesome.  So awesome that I had to text a photo to Catherine, the best bread and butter pickle maker in the country.  :-)  

And just as awesome was my choice of beer.  While in Asheville I sampled many of the local microbrews but this was turned out to be my favorite.  (Umm...I may or may not have stopped by the brewery to pick up some to bring home. Just sayin'.)  It's called Gateway Kolsch made by The French Broad Brewery. (French Broad refers to the river that runs through Asheville.)  

I absolutely could have made a meal just of pickles and beer.  Seriously.  But that pizza was delicious and just as good the next day.  

Meg loved her pizza so much that we went back for lunch again later in the week.  No pickles or beer that time but I did try the Carolina BBQ pizza and incredibly, it was even better than the mushroom.  If ever in town, definitely go to Carmel's.