Steep grace.

Sandy welcomes a tea connoiseur to the Northern Lights Tea Company, just inside LaSalle Plaza skyway. The tea is excellent, the atmosphere friendly. Try something you have never tried before. I have two ounces of Houjicha, a Japanese green that evokes mown grass and dried citrus rind in the scent.

Frames within the frame

Alyssa serenely holds court in the Main Street Gallery and Gift Shop, in the skyway arcade of the Investors Building. There is a photo earlier in this blog of the owner, David Yorks with a sign in the window which reads "It is what it is." My wife sent me back to buy the sign, and I had a chance to chat with Alyssa about business on the skyways, the shifting tastes of downtown art purchasers. (They don't buy posters like they used to -- they are going for nice frames and original art) Go to their website and tell them you support art on the skyways. Or stop by and see the real, live art.

Style. Mystery. Event Planning. Tunnels.

Jerry allowed me to take her picture when she determined I wasn't a stalker. She has a mysterious business on the skyway level of Gaviidae. After we talked about the skyways for a bit, she invited me back for a demo of the event-planning software they are promoting. "We like to have a minimalist look, " she said, "It makes people come in and ask questions." I asked questions about the event planning software and am intrigued.  It is one of the more visible and mysterious businesses on the skyway, for sure.

She also told me about the tunnels beneath Seoul, South Korea that have shopping arcades and are connected across the downtown. The holeways? Can you order things from the Hole Earth Catalog?  Sorry, couldn't resist that one.  I want to go there, and I believe Copenhagen has similar arcades that span blocks beneath the city's core.  If a city built skyways and tunnelways, would the streets disappear?