Denver - The Mile High City

Back to the beginning: Denver. What a culture clash, possibly the right attunement for NYC! Starting in Cheyenne/WY or rather at the state border (WY Welcome Center on the photo on the right), traffic picked up. At the end, we had 10 lanes on the Interstate into Denver - pretty hectic in comparison to what we had before! 

Stopped at the Denver Premium Outlet Center (without buying anything) before we drove to Cherry Creek to stay with friends of us in their beautiful modern, bright condo. Explored Cherry Creek North, an up&coming neighborhood of Denver about 3.5 mi/5 km away from downtown and filled with restaurants, unique stores, galleries, etc. after a late lunch on their balcony.

Besides all the shops and restaurants spread out on several blocks in the neighborhood, there is also the huge, upscale Cherry Creek Shopping Mall (left pic).

In the evening we had a wonderful meal in the cozy, pleasant atmosphere of a little French restaurant in Cherry Creek - La Merise French Bistro. We enjoyed Steak Frites and Trout Almondine (photos below) with a bottle of excellent French red wine and good conversation. A wonderful end of a great trip!

Wednesday morning we got up early and left for our 20+ mi. drive in rather heavy traffic to Denver Airport (photo far below). Returned the car: 1,800 mi/2.900 km driven in 11 days, almost same distance I drive in Germany in half a year! Unfortunately, the first plane we sat in and which has already left the gate, returned because of some engine problem. Currently, waiting at the gate for new announcement and new departure time. We'll see when we arrive to NYC - certainly not as early as planned!

PS: The plane engine could be fixed ("just the ignition") and we arrived to LaGuardia Airport with 2 hours delay, took an Uber to our apartment in Harlem, arrived at 8:30 pm, and had a simple supper in the room with our friend Haeden's summer sausage from North Dakota.