Day 2

The organised tour didn't meet up until the evening so I had the day to myself. I've been to Denver a few times before so had done quite a bit of the touristy stuff in previous visits but in researching the city for this trip I discovered the RiNo district, a home to lots of street art and some good bars and dining. With not much street art on the trip I had to include this. Spending the afternoon exploring the painted alleys and murals here would be a perfect hit for me. I also thought I'd have a quick walk along the 16th St. Mall, a pedestrianised street full of shops and entertainment.

But first I had to leave the hotel and take my bags over to the first tour hotel, so I caught the shuttle bus back to the airport and then rode the train into Union Station in the centre of the station and from there it'd be a short walk to the hotel.

Goodbye hotel number 1 who kindly upgraded my room to a suite. It must have been a quiet day.

The train takes around 40 minutes, and stops 6 times on the way to Union Station. The tickets cost $9 for a one-way journey and with me having no change I got eleven dollar coins out of the machine. I would come to realise in the following days that dollar coins are not common and a few peeps weren't overly familiar with them.

Union Station is at the top of 17th street and it's a lovely building. Originally built in the 1880s it got a bit of a makeover in 2012 and now houses some eating places. They've done a good job retaining the old station vibe but making it popular and some might say "hip".

Walking to RiNo I passed this rather amusing title on this building. If I ever become a cartoon character this is the name I'd go with I think.

The city has embraced street art and even on the way to RiNo I was passing some rather stunning pieces. I was in my element for sure.

The street art in the RiNo District grew following a large festival called Colorado Crush which occurs every September. So the art I'd photographed would have been there from 2016 and would likely have been replaced by the time you've read this. Such is the temporary life of spraycan on walls.

There now follows a huge selection of the pieces I found. I'm sure I missed a load more.

It's an amazing array of art and I loved exploring this part of the city.

The Stranger Things looked to be a theme in a number of pieces.

This one was my favourite. A huge mural by Spanish artist Dulk with a nice take on the tale of the tortoise and the hare.

Brothers is a nice spacious bar and restaurant that I visited for lunch. As well as exploring the art in the city I was also scoping out places that would be showing the McGregor Mayweather boxing fight that'd be airing on my last night in Denver.

There was a gathering of kids in dark t-shirts so there had to be something metal going on. The Summer Slaughter Tour was a touring festival of a bunch of heavy metal bands that I have never heard of but clearly a lot of people in the city had.

Over to the 16th Street now which was alright, if a little sketchy. Being a pedestrianised place and Denver being a liberal city it's fair to say this area attracts some of the less fortunate members of society, but if you can see through that this is a great place to spend an hour or two. I particularly liked that they had a different DJ on every other block playing a mixture of stuff, my favourite being a guy playing old Prince and 80s music, and mixing it well.

Colorado has decriminalised marijuana so there are places selling it. It was amusing seeing tourists from places where it's still illegal trying to get the courage to go in then quickly leaving having given up. I don't know what it was that put the people off; I would guess the number of people begging for money so they could partake was probably part of it.

Exploring the side streets off the 16th I managed to find some more art. These 3 were part of a bigger piece I couldn't photograph in its entirety as the alley was too narrow. I also had to break through a DJ's stage to reach it; he didn't seem to mind.

Street pianos seem to be a common thing in a lot of cities so it was perhaps not a surprise that they'd be on the 16th street. This guy couldn't really play but was playing notes in time to the music coming from the DJ behind him.

Obligatory flip of the bird to the Hard Rock (a running joke amongst some friends of mine for those that don't get it).

My day finished back at the group hotel where we introduced ourselves to each other before heading into the nearby university campus for an introduction to eclipses and the science behind them. The geek part of the trip was officially underway.

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