European style pastry shop? Where people go and hang out for a while either inside or outdoors?

The pastry shops I know out here are more of a to-go type of place.

I don't know, there wasn't a detailed explination in your picture thread (or I missed it, lol.)

And here are the pics of one week in Germany... :)

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=196751

Um, does your buddy have a gay twin? :D He is so handsome and I love Eastern European men, and Germans, and Spaniards, well I love men (handsome men)...anyway

Great pictures. Some of the architecture (new and old) reminds me of some cities in Mexico/Latin America. Not a bad thing it just looks more "Latin" than Eastern European for some reason (minus the communist sections)...that is compared to Moscow or say, Prague.

Well, Romanian is a latin language sooo... :D

In Defense of Phoenix
 

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/nei...e-phoenix/811/

Here is a great article on Phoenix on a great blog that I read daily.

Put your dick back in your pants

LOL! Come on man, we've read comments here about the ladies; besides his friend is hot. :tup:

We really don't have cool pastry cafes like European cities. In downtown I can only think of Tammy Coe Cakes but that place is small. We need a place like Sprinkles in downtown that offers more than just cupcakes. I'm not big on sugary treats but every now and then doesn't hurt.

Yeah, that is true...

Also about the pork skin, it is eaten throughout the Americas and in the U.S. It is prepared different from what you are pictured eating, but fried pork rinds and chicharones aren't uncommon.

Random thought:

I was looking at pictures of the Fiesta Bowl parade b/c I was feeling a bit home sick and boy oh boy is our main parade route lame! I understand why they use it, it has large staging areas on either end, but it just doesn't seem grand enough for parades.

I wish they'd start at Central & Camelback (they could stage at 3rd Ave/Camelback in the old Target parking lot) and march down Central to wherever; at least to Hance Park and really big parades (i.e. if the Suns ever win a title) could go all the way to Central/Jefferson.

Of course it would be a bigger road to shut down, but I imagine they could keep the parades on one half of the street and use the other half of Central as 2 lanes, one in each direction. You could likely even keep LRT going too. The Historic Parade route was always from the State Capitol to City Hall and once they finish the Centenniel Way improvements I think that would be a big improvement over the current blah route.

If Washington were improved between downtown and the Capitol, I could see it along that route, but I don't know. It seems fine on Central, turning on Camelback and heading down 3rd Street. The area has great access for light rail riders as well; the trains were packed that day. Central Ave can never host a parade again along the light rail route because it was significantly narrowed with only two travel lanes and little median or shoulder. You'd have to shut down LRT service and that is just bad for transit even for a short time; staging and tear-down would significantly impact train service and headway as well.

Agree. As much as I think light rail is a positive for Phoenix, one thing it took from us was Central Avenue as a viable parade route. I think it would be difficult and maybe even dangerous to have a major parade on that street, even if the trains weren't running. The overhead wires might be a hazard with some of the tall floats involved, and using half the roadway would put floats too close to spectators. Like you, I think that Phoenix needs an east-west route through Downtown. Washington makes sense, but it is likely that street will eventually have light rail as well. Another possibility might be Grand Avenue. The staging could be at the state fairgrounds and the parade would then come down Grand, turn onto Van Buren at Seventh Avenue, and end just before First Avenue. Of course, that route would need a lot of enhancement to be ready for national television, but maybe having parades on Grand would stimulate some investment in the area by the City and the "big project" civic organizations that have traditionally ignored Grand.

Everything I've heard suggests the LRT will be on Jefferson, going both East and West. I thought they didn't want the overhead wires blocking the nice vista down towards the Copper Dome...had you heard otherwise?

E: VVVV Yah I just think its a bummer that we've lost the grandness of going down Central. Its not nearly the canyon of towers most cities have, but its the best we've got and hopefully over the next 20 years it'll grow denser.

It hadn't even occurred to me about the parade routes being altered due to LRT (I don't live there anymore so it's not something I've ever thought about). I used to watch all of the parades from my balcony at the Camelback Towers (the Landmark). Central was a great parade route (particularly the APS night parade).

Any suggestions on a decent Central Phoenix Pizza joint that does anchovies?

cibo has a pizza with anchovies that my roommate raves about and eats at least twice a week. Smells awful to me.

Unfortunately, this seems spot on:

Up go the skyscrapers, down goes the economy, report shows
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45957217.../#.Tw4IoPmgVI0

^ That is a piss-poor article at best. Correlation does not equal causation. Skyscrapers are indicative of the capital available to build them, capital that does not exist in the bust-end of a cycle.

Blaming skyscrapers for busts makes about as much sense as blaming high traffic or people moving to an area or hires or anything else that goes in during a boom. There are root causes of busts.

And ice cream causes polio... ;)

When I read it, I did not see the word "cause" anywhere in the article.