Main Street patios on a Saturday afternoon
24
D OW NT OW N C AMB R I DG E :
A SLICE OF EUROPE RIGHT HERE AT HOME WORDS & PHOTOS BY CHRIS TIESSEN
‘Visiting Downtown Cambridge always
the urban landscapes of so many European
reminds me of traveling in Europe,’ I remark
cities whose rivers punctuate their own
to my fiancée, Liz, as I guide the TOQUE
downtown cores.
Tacoma across the Grand River along the Main Street Bridge. To our left, about half a
But, on this sunny Saturday afternoon in early
kilometre downriver, the Cambridge Mill – all
July, it’s what’s straight ahead of us that’s
quarried stone and glass – stands tall beside
got us most excited: Main Street, blocked off
the water. To our right, just metres from the
at either end, converted into a pedestrian
bridge, the Old Post Office – with its chunky
thoroughfare. ‘Look at all the people,’ Liz
romanesque architecture and impressive
says excitedly, ‘and all the patios.’ Indeed, the
new addition – rises from the banks. Behind
entire street recalls some faraway piazza with
us, the spire of Central Presbyterian – all
children running here and there, and couples
gothic and pointy – kisses the sky. And below,
window shopping, and groups of old men
underneath the bridge, the river itself – the
enjoying beers whilst seated around tables
lifeblood of so many of the communities that
shaded by large, colourful umbrellas.
make up our region – rushes past, echoing Evocative of Europe, indeed.
