Saturday, April 4 — a whole day in Denver! And then ... Villa Tatra

What a day! The sun was shining when we woke up, and the sky remained gloriously blue all day.

Looking out over the balcony of our hotel room.

We decided to take the train downtown. We drove to a "park and ride" where, in spite of the internet's assurance that the parking would be free, we paid $4.00.

Then we bought our train tickets, $8 each for the round trip.  The amount of $24 for the three of us turned out to be way more than it would have cost to park the car downtown, but it was absolutely worth it! 

We loved the train!

At Union Station, the end of the line, we got on a FREE bus that runs down the 16th Street Mall. We took this to California Street, where we got on another light rail train. Here's where we waited for that second train:

Our destination was the Black American West Museum, a fascinating place located within the former home of Dr. Justina Ford, M.D., the first African American woman doctor in Colorado.  Dr. Ford delivered over 7.000 babies in a period of about 50 years in Denver.

Dr. Ford's house, abandoned for many years after she died, was scheduled for demolition, but the neighbors rallied and succeeded in getting the city to move the house to its present location. 

Inside, we learned about the little known history of the Black Americans in Colorado.

Then we got back on the train to head downtown. We loved that several people put their bicycles on the train. 

You wouldn't know it from this photo, but we were actually having a great time.

Back downtown, we strolled through the Civic Center Park to get to the Denver Art Museum. The park has the state capitol building on one side and the city hall on the other. And, best of all, the park is full of captivating squirrels. The squirrels refused to pose nicely for a photo.

Look up!

These flowers are pretty but they have no scent.

Finally, we got to the Denver Art Museum, the newest part of which was designed by Daniel Libeskind.

You can see the poster announcing an exhibit of the art of Joan Miro.

The red steel sculpture is the work of Mark di Suvero, an American born in China. The sculpture is entitled, Lao Tzu.

Inside the museum, we saw Western American art and also art of Native Americans. I was particularly impressed with the exhibit of William Matthews' watercolors, "Trespassing." 

La chance! une exposition temporaire de Miro, tableaux et sculptures qui se répondaient, on a été éblouies.  

We were tired out after all this walking. OK, one of us was tired out; Marie Therese and Anne Marie never get tired. So we took a taxi to Larimer Square and walked around this old section to admire the architecture.

And then we hopped back on the FREE Mall Ride. Amazing to have this free service, such a great idea.

One more ride on the light rail train and we were back at our car. 

An hour and a half later, after driving through Boulder and Lyons, we arrived at Villa Tatra, up in the mountains near Estes Park.

Inside, we spoke Polish with the proprietor and his adult children who now run the place.

We drank Polish beer.  And we ate the most marvelous smoked fish — salmon and trout — and homemade sausage and even smoked elk. We also enjoyed a huge plate of pierogi — dumplings filled with potato and cheese, and even cabbage dumplings which we requested even though they were not on the menu. 

La Pologne autour de nous et voila que je me retrouve a discuter presque sans difficulté dans ma langue maternelle!

I was too hungry to take a photo of the food. The presentation was very nice.

It was dark when we drove back to Denver along the winding mountain roads. The full moon peeked out at us from time to time between the curves of the mountain. And then, as the road leveled out, the moon was our steady companion, shining over our left shoulders. Marie and I sang a few songs in Polish. And then Marie Therese and Anne Marie sang French songs in lovely harmony, and I couldn't imagine being any happier.  

Tomorrow, we pack our suitcases back into the car and drive across the Rocky Mountains!