The other week I had the opportunity to visit Greenville, South Carolina. I had never been to this state before and really knew absolutely nothing about it. When my co-workers asked me where I was going, I said "Greenville, South Carolina" in a fake country accent, and occasionally punctuated it with a "yeehaw". Shows you what I knew.You know what? Greenville was a surprisingly nice place to visit. After my construction punchlist was done, I had a few hours to see what there was to see. Here's what I saw:
There's a BMW plant in Spartanburg a town right next to Greenville. The plant has a museum called BMW Zentrum, the only museum of its kind in the US. They have all kinds of vintage cars, motorcycles and engines on displays. It was an interesting to look at the inner workings of car I'll probably never own (I'm primarily a Honda kind of guy).
Greenville has a nice little downtown area that contains a nice park and a bridge called the Liberty Bridge. It's a curved pedestrian bridge that is supported by two large posts mounted at a angle. Its a little derivative of a Santiago Calatrava-style bridge, but it's a nice structure in a pleasant setting.
The crown jewel of the city is without a doubt the Michelin on Main store, the only store in the US devoted entirely to Michelin Man merchandise! If you know me, then you know I love a good advertising mascot, and the Michelin Man is one of my favorites (heck, one of my first blog entries was about the Michelin Man).
The store was kind of like the M&M's store in Las Vegas - it was a two-story monument to their mascot. As I looked around, I felt a tear welling up in my eye. Maybe it was because Bibendum was getting the respect he deserves. Maybe it was because of the prices on some of the merchandise. I ended up buying some t-shirts and other assorted knicknacks. I'm especially pleased with my new Michelin Man coffee mug.
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