City No. 5: Stamford, Connecticut, or, “Gee, the only thing to do here is to go to the mall…”

Our Honeymoon, or, How We Got to the Midwest One Interview at a Time:  The Northeast Cities According to Me, the One Who Wanders the Cities While Peter Completes the Interviews

Disclaimer: This should by no means be used as a real resource to the northwestern cities.  While I am an observant person, I have no background in city development, nor do I have expertise on the cultural or historical background on these cities.  For the most part, I am reviewing these cities based on my personal preferences, as we will be moving to one of these cities in the spring.  And, if you are hoping for a lot of artwork (as this is my art blog), sorry to say, but you will be sadly disappointed if you continue to read this blog in the upcoming two months.  Apart from my photographs of the cities, I doubt I’ll get to very many art and craft projects. 

"Gosh, Katie, you're the most interesting thing in Stamford."

"Psh, I know..."

I didn't take any pictures in Stamford, CT, hence the photos of ourselves...

I know you must be thinking that I’m exaggerating here, but Peter and I found ourselves so bored with the city that we got excited by the Barnes and Noble and the H&M located in the mall.  And yes, we’re still talking about Peter and I.  People that HATE malls.  And actually, architecturally speaking, it was kind of interesting to look at.  The footprint of the mall was actually quite small, but it was about 4 or 5 stories high!  But that’s all it offered.  That, and an inaccurate map of the mall.  Peter and I spent probably 5 minutes or more riding the escalators up and down (and then back to the map to double-check) because the map said the bookstore was on a floor that it definitely wasn’t.  We probably looked like idiots, but c’mon!  The map was wrong! 

We did happen upon an art gallery that was pretty interesting.  They were exhibiting an artist that worked primarily with earth, and the surrounding concepts (like everything that can be made with it, done to it, the tools used to do all of these things).  It was pretty interesting, and it the owner of the gallery seemed to think that Stamford was on the “up and up.”  He had seen a lot of growth in the two years that he’d been there, and he anticipated Stamford becoming a very important city for the arts.  And if little galleries like his own keep coming into the city, I think he’ll be right!  It’s close enough to New York (40 min on the train) that it could probably get some foot traffic, but it would take people coming to Stamford FOR the galleries.  What came first, the foot traffic that allowed galleries to grow, or the galleries that created foot traffic?  I’m no expert, but I felt a little bit about Stamford the way I did about Wilmington, but with a positive twist.  While there is not much in Stamford now, because everyone commutes to NY for everything that they need (work, art, culture, food), people do live in Stamford.  If they need to in the future, they can make Stamford their home for everything else again, too.

But currently, Stamford—eh.     

Oh, and I must also add (just because it’s hilarious), that when Peter and I jumped into the car and plugged “Stamford” into the GPS, it gave us directions to Stamford, NY.  Which we followed for 40 min.  And then we realized our mistake.  Oops. 

AND--one more thing-- the Goodwill in Stamford was the most expensive Goodwill that I've EVER been to.  They were selling their goods for prices comparable to H&M, and in some cases, were MORE expensive.  Coats were being sold for $25-80.  Sweaters ranged from $10-$25.  Shoes were rarely under $10.  I was appalled.