Weather: sunny and hot, clouding over later
I awoke around 3.00, my body evidently somewhat confused as to its timezone, and after a couple of hours or so of attempting to get back to sleep, I finally gave up and picked up my book instead. I got up around 7.00, and had breakfast in the restaurant downstairs, a Mexican-themed establishment named ``La Mariposa''. The breakfasts remained typically American, and I had a meal of eggs, hash browns and sausages, then headed out into town.
It took about fifteen minutes to walk down as far as the Colorado State Capitol, standing on a slight hill in the effective centre of the city. A few minutes' walk further on was the US Mint, one of two in the USA. (The other is in Philadelphia, and coins from the two may be distinguished by the ``D'' and ``P'' marks indicating where they were struck.)
I had hoped to take a tour of the building, but security concerns meant that it was no longer open to the public. Instead I browsed a vendors' stall outside the building, selling a variety of US coins. I settled for a set of cent to dollar from 1974, and all those so far minted in a series of quarter dollars depicting each state in turn, these being issued over the course of ten years in the order in which the states were admitted to the Union.
I also glanced in the ``official'' mint shop, set up in a small room of an office building across the street, but found a very limited selection in there, with little to interest me. I headed out and went back to the Capitol.
After passing through security checks, I found myself free to wander around the public areas of the building. I was invited to join a tour of the building which was currently in progress (I had the option of waiting for the next tour but was warned that this would be dominated by a large school party).
Despite the closure of the Capitol dome (something the guide was rather annoyed about, as it offered excellent views of the city and the nearby mountains), there was plenty to see on the tour, and a very informative guide to explain things, particularly the paintings, windows and tapestries depicting various aspects of the state's history, from and indeed before its admission to the union in 1876 (as the ``Centennial State'').
After a brief look in the basement gift shop, I headed outside again, onto the steps facing out over the green expanse of the Civic Center area, with the elegant City and County building behind and then the lofty peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Halfway down the steps were the words ``One mile above sea level'', just below a smaller plaque indicating the one-mile altitude according to revised measurements.
I next headed over to the Denver Art Museum, a bizarre structure somewhat in the form of a modern interpretation of the medieval castle design. Internally this was most interesting, with a wide variety of things to see, even if I was two days too late to catch an exhibition of Dutch interiors. I spent the remainder of the morning exploring a permanent exhibition of Native American culture, giving me an excellent opportunity to appreciate the wide variety that formerly existed across the land -- so much more than just the usual stereotypes of tepee-dwellers pursuing buffalo and white settlers on horseback across the plains.
I had lunch in the ground floor cafeteria -- a sizable bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich -- then headed back to explore the museum some more, seeing an exhibition of western American paintings, artworks from Central and South America and from Asia, and more besides.
By the time I left, around 4.00, it was clouding over a little, and I headed into the 16th Street Mall area of the city for a brief look around and to find somewhere to get a drink. Suitably refreshed I then made my way back to the hotel.
I went out to the pool for a brief dip, but found it full of a rather rowdy party of people messing around. Fortunately they did not stay long and I soon had the place to myself. Following a rest back in the room, I headed out for dinner around 8.00. I did not go far, finding a reasonable restaurant just across the road in which I had a meal of salad, garlic bread and pork teriyaki. Afterwards I headed back to the hotel, booked an airport shuttle for the next morning, and amused myself for a while flicking through the TV channels (I was somewhat surprised to find Deutsche Welle available) and reading before going to bed.