Doing The Columbus Things, Part 2: German Village And The Franklin Park Conservatory

...Continued from yesterday: 
      On Friday morning we walked from our hotel, the Aloft, to a restaurant on the Easton campus called Northstar Cafe. 

      Though a popular local eatery, Tom and I had never eaten there before, so we thought we'd try it for breakfast on this day.
     When we arrived a little after Northstar opened at 9 am, the place was already filling up. 

    We learned that the restaurant operates on the semi-fast-food model: One orders one's food at the counter then grabs an electronic pager and takes a seat to where where one's food will be delivered by a server. We got in the counter line, which appeared to be of considerable length, but we were surprised how quickly the line moved and, after we sat down, how fast our food arrived.
    Tom ordered the country breakfast, which was two eggs over easy topped with cheese on a buttermilk biscuit with bacon and a side of strawberry preserves.

      I had an egg, cheese, and avocado sandwich.

     We both agreed that our food was delicious, even if the presentation was rather minimalistic. 
      One of my sub-goals during my birthday getaway was to eat a Dragon Donut.
     Dragon donuts is a little Easton donutery around the corner from our hotel that we discovered on our last stay at the Aloft.      

       The interior of the place is pretty basic, and they sell but one item, donuts, which they make in small batches in the store, then when one batch runs out they make some more, so the donuts are always fresh and delicious. And huge.

     I opted for an iced vanilla cream-filled donut, which, in my state of high anticipation, I forgot to get a picture of. But it was delish.
       With my Dragon Donut jones taken care of, we then set out upon our plan for the day. 
    Our plan for the day, planned out by moi, was to drive to German Village, a cute, touristy  neighborhood that is sort of the south bookend of downtown Columbus, then walk three miles from German Village through downtown to The Short North, also a cute, touristy spot, which is sort of the north bookend of downtown. Then we'd walk back again to German Village. 
        Of course, we all know what happens to the best laid plans. 
       In any case, we drove to German Village, and decided to start off by visiting The Book Loft, a 32-room bookstore and Columbus landmark,

​...where the books are crammed wall-to-wall inside,

...and spill out into the front yard, too.

      It's a book-lover's dream.

         Not surprisingly, Tom and I got lost in The Book Loft. Not from each other, but in the books. Subsequently, we spent more time there than we had planned. (But then, nobody ever enters The Book Loft without spending more time there than they'd planned).          

     Next to the The Book Loft there's a little coffee shop called Stauf's where we thought we'd sit for a bit and have some refreshment. Now, we'd never been to Stauf's before, but the interior was plain as could be, with concrete floors and sacks of coffee against the wall. There wasn't even much in the way of eats to go with the coffee, just a couple of muffins sitting on the counter.​

       To me the place was definitely lacking in ambience. But it was full of people. Which I guess gave it people ambience.

     Stauf's must serve really good coffee, though, not being a coffee-drinker myself, I couldn't attest. However, Tom said his Peruvian light was quite good.       

       By the time we finished our drinks at Stauf's we found that we'd lost our mojo for walking three miles to the Short North and three miles back again, so we recalibrated and decided instead to just stroll around German Village, which is always a nice stroll, anyway.

       I suggested that we next visit another Columbus gem, the Franklin Park Conservatory, which is a vast greenhouse,

...filled with every kind of plant,

​...among which are displayed the beautiful, whimsical works of Seattle glass artist Dale Chihuly.

        We also walked around the outdoor grounds, which were decorated for Halloween,

        Then we headed back to Easton and our hotel.
        For dinner we walked to another Easton restaurant called BJ's Restaurant and Brewery. I'll just leave it that we weren't crazy about the food and won't be going back.
       After dinner we knocked around the idea of going to a movie at the Easton AMC, but then decided to just return to the Aloft and see if we couldn't scare up something good to stream on the TV. 
           I found "Friendly Persuasion," a 1956 classic starring Gary Cooper and a young Anthony Perkins (a few years before his "Psycho" fame) about a family of Quakers living in rural Indiana during the Civil War who face the moral dilemma of being pacifists when every able-bodied man in their community is needed to help the Union soldiers defend their farms and families against the fast-approaching Confederate army.

       It was a good flick with a beautiful soundtrack.
      To be continued...
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