I made some time last night to wander around Salt Lake. It’s hard to get lost in this city, at least in the central part, because the streets are a widely spaced cartesian grid with its origin at the Mormon Temple. Naturally, I went there first.
The Temple is a very impressive facility. The main building is architecturally a classic white stone castle, complete with the crenellations and arrow-slits that you would expect from a late medieval fortress. Its exterior positively gleams, and one of its six spires has a golden statue that appears to glow brightly against the night sky. The thin fog enveloping the city demystified this somewhat, allowing onlookers to trace the light beam back to three sodium-vapor spotlamps on a neighboring rooftop.
The Temple is surrounded by a high outer wall, so high that it’s not visible from the near sidewalk of North Temple Street. Inside the wall are two gated courtyards, one of which is open to the public. The architecture is not quite what it seems though: a nearby tourist map indicates that the temple’s rooms extend out beneath the the courtyards, with entrances scattered throughout. I found only one entrance in my brief tour, guarded by two priestly gentleman in white robes and caps.
Walking around the city was an interesting experience. There was a significant amount of traffic, although it seemed sparse against the absurdly wide streets. The streets are all perfectly straight, and every crosswalk affords a sightline to the vanishing point. I saw a handful of other pedestrians, but they were more the exception than the rule.
The streets were a crazy mixture of high-rise office buildings, one-story storefronts, parking lots, condo complexes, and mansions converted to offices. I saw a freestanding tire store directly across the street from the posh, sprawling Brigham Apartments. Several suit and dress shops were in evidence, advertising their services for weddings and missions.
I walked out in the direction of the university, reasoning that things might be more lively there. I don’t know if I walked far enough. I did eventually pass a greasy pizza place, a disenfranchised Burger King, and a three bars. I ended up ordering a tasty, if perhaps not quite canonical, shwarma at a Lebanese restaurant with one waitress, one customer, and two old guys trying out different synth keyboards.
The city was seeming a lot less generic. To top it off, I went to the east-facing gym a bit before 8 AM. As dawn broke, I got my first view of the snow-capped mountains that tower over the city.