Country Mice

We took friends to the airport this morning and decided to stop at the Apple Store in San Jose on the way home. Consumer that I am, I haven't been to this big mall in at least 15 years, but I remember it fondly from the days when I acted like shopping was a verb. Wow--they are in the process of upscaling the place to within an inch of its life, and all the rusty beams and colored wires are visible. The new shops remind me of Las Vegas casino boutiques--every high end designer label you have and haven't heard of has its own storefront. Cannot figure out who would shop there. We wandered for awhile, giggling and gawking and poking each other in the ribs. It wasn't at all clear what some of the shops were selling--tea? makeup? soap? an experience? Finally found some of the stores I remembered, over in the poor peoples wing; the signs are so old, the shops are probably not long for this world. It was just trippy. Made me feel like a total hick, even with my lovely orange scarf trailing behind me. The mall cop is a cruising red robot with cameras (see Extra), and not very friendly. Maybe everybody in the world already knows these things, but we don't get out much.

Worth noting: there was a line to get into the very crowded and hyper Apple Store, while the Microsoft place across the corridor was absolutely echoing empty.