Bloomington is a very cool town - really and truly! - but especially the downtown area. It stretches for blocks with lots of cool shops, cafes, bars, coffeeshops, and international restaurants galore, most of them residing in cool old buildings that have been kept in good shape. Standing in the central square is the old county courthouse. It is pictured below with the Civil War monument out front.
Looking for a unique place to grab a bite? Bloomington probably has what you're looking for. Besides a couple of places that serve standard American fare, plus a few chains (Chipolte, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts), we've got Italian, Greek, Lebanese, Morroccan, Indian, Thai, Ethiopian, Irish, Chinese, Mexican and on it goes. Jul and I are excited to explore (slowly, of course, considering our budget!).
Bloomington has a lot of neat old buildings, as I mentioned above. Many of them were built from limestone drawn from centuries' old quarries in southern Indiana. We're told that the same quarries also supplied much of the limestone used to build Washington DC and New York City.
It seemed that every other person we met told us that we Really Had to have breakfast at The Village Deli. Last Friday we did just that, and it met expectations: I ordered a giant pancake and eggs; Jul ordered cheesy/veggie eggs with toast and potatoes. We both enjoyed the coffee, of course.
We've tried them and are inclined to agree with the locals: Bloomington Bagels probably makes some of the best anywhere - yum! Especially nice for us since we could not get bagels in South Africa. The Pretzel Bagel is our favorite so far, perhaps not least because it reminds us of our days living in Kandern, Germany, when we could pop down to the village bakery and buy lovely pretzels and pretzel-dough rolls.
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