Little Italy

So, I (Kit) know I'm not usually as enthusiastic about Cleveland as I could be. Alright, alright, I whine and pout and long for mountains, desert and family. But there are a few times a year when I really love this place. Last week we had a few of those days. We live in an area called Little Italy. It's just a few streets between Case Western and a bad part of town, but it's all full of old houses, Italian shops, and great neighbors. Rhoda and I have been going on walks as the weather gets nicer and I had to bring my camera along to show how awesome our neighborhood is. The tour starts in our own backyard, which, like some of the streets in the neighborhood, is paved in brick-- very charming but a real pain when you are pregnant and the bumps give you an urgent need to pee. There are so many beautiful churches in Cleveland. This small one, down the street, is now a Catholic boys' school. It is just one big room with several long desks lined up. On nice days, they send the boys out for a run around the block. Next is a great complex of design studios and a few shops. It is very fun to "window shop" and see such artistic people. There are three or four architect offices (which are my favorite to peak into), but I am too self-conscious to snap a picture. This place is too crowded to look around in much, but they have cute rag rugs and I love that they are selling flowering quince in the cooler. This is the main shop in the complex. It has lots of fun, unique, and colorful designs. I would love to take everything on this rack home. Unfortunately, the paper shop was closed, but I am excited to go in one of these days. This is a pretty typical building on our block-- I love the door on this one. The center of Little Italy is a pretty even mix of new and old. The restaurants are authentic as are the people (our landlord is a cute, little, old italian man that loves to name off all the people from his village in Italy that are named Basil any time he sees us. "Basilio, Basilio, Basilio!"). Another beautiful church--this one rings bells for Mass. Next to it is our former favorite bakery. We discovered an even better one across town, but you can't beat this for distance. What could be better than fresh gelato? Rhoda and fresh gelato! Rho doesn't know it yet, but I know she will love this park. I'm sure we will end up spending a lot of time here. It always cheers me up that I can still find a few "wildflowers" in the city. I love cheerful dandelions! This old steel building--now a parking garage--used to be one of the scariest places for me. Now I actually think it is very artistically interesting. I love the variation in panes of glass; some are so old that they are warped. Also, it is so cool to look through the clear panes to the graffitied windows on the other side. Our bridge over the metro tracks is under construction. This actually has some big bonuses. It is teaching Rhoda to sleep through noise (think of lots of jackhammers). And it keeps traffic way down on our street (normally our street is insane during rush hour). Just beyond the bridge is Basil's medical school and the hospital--a short walk even if you are in labor (lol).A quick detour takes us to my favorite restaurant in Cleveland. They have great healthy noodle bowls and it is only about 100 yards from our door. Finally, our next door neighbor Rita is one of Cleveland's greatest attractions. Every season she goes all out "decorating" her house and yard (and part of ours) with unbelievable amounts of kitsch and lots of sunflowers. She is one of the friendliest neighbors we've ever had. She is a 70ish Italian widow with bleach blonde hair who wears miniskirts everyday. She sits on her porch most days, chats with everyone in the neighborhood, and gives all the kids suckers. She is already totally smitten with Rhoda. All of this is within just one block of our house! I love Cleveland—once in a while.