Big D Tour

A friend who lives in London had a twelve hour layover in Dallas this weekend on her way home from Chile.  Julie is a travel professional (check out her fabulous blog) and has been all over the world, but this was her first visit to Texas.  (Technically, it was her second.  She had a similar layover situation on her way to Chile and used public transportation- yes, it is possible to do here!- to get from DFW to the Uptown area of Dallas.)  I absolutely love living in Dallas, so I was excited to share some of the fun things the city has to offer.

Public transportation options are limited on Sundays because the Trinity Railway Express, the train that connects the airport to Dallas or Fort Worth, doesn’t run so I made the quick trip to DFW to pick her up.  My immediate concern was eating, so we joined some friends for brunch at State and Allen Lounge in Uptown.

Photo from www.buywithme.com/dallas/deals/1621-state-and-allen-lounge


The weather is finally nice enough to sit outside without a jacket, so we ate in the open air and enjoyed our view of the action on the street.  Everyone and their dog (literally) was out and about.  Dallas is one of my favorite places to people watch and Uptown is a prime location for it (if you live here or have visited, you know what I mean).  I’m a big fan of State and Allen for their half price pizzas on Mondays, but this was my first time to brunch there and it was scrumdiddlyumptious.  I recommend the chiliquiles- delicious!  Once brunch was done we (my boyfriend and a friend joined me) had about three hours to show Julie the highlights of our fair city.

We started with Dallas’ most famous historic (and tragic) landmark, the grassy knoll, the site of JFK’s assassination in 1963.  Although we didn't have time to check it out, The Sixth Floor Museum is adjacent to the grassy knoll.  Located in the building formerly known as the Texas School Book Depository, the museum is the site of Lee Harvey Oswald's post when he fired the shot that killed the former president.

The Grassy Knoll

Next, we cruised down Main Street to visit Neiman Marcus’ flagship store, which unfortunately is closed on Sundays.  During the seven years I’ve lived here, I’ve spent hours in the North Park Mall location, but realized that I’ve never been to the flagship.  It’s now on my Dallas bucket list, along with trying one of their famous chocolate chip cookies!

Window at flagship Neiman Marcus. Love the reflection of the truck in the window. So Texan![

We covered eating, history, and shopping (sort of) so the last item on our agenda was culture.  The Nasher Sculpture Center in the arts district was a perfect fit.  It’s not as big as its neighbors, the Dallas Museum of Art and the Crow Collection of Asian Art, so it’s easy to do if your time is limited and has a fabulous sculpture garden, perfect for days when the weather is nice.

Michael Craig-Martin's Garden Fork, 2008

After perusing the art and having a latte in the café, it was time to take Julie back to DFW for her flight to London.  I had so much fun catching up with her and revisiting some infamous landmarks that are outside of my “bubble”.  What do you show visitors in your city or town?