I'll show you the Plaza. I won't take you to be spat on by the patinated Nichols horses, or to shop the unshoppable shops, or to eat overpriced cheesecake. I'll give you the penny tour. You'll see jaywalking geese. You'll loiter on the lawn at the Nelson when the museum is closed and you've got it all to yourself. You'll spend quite a bit of time at my bus stop watching the traffic and the passerby. You'll discover the peaceful underbellies of the Brush Creek bridges. It's a tour for those who want to view one of the most inhospitably tourist-y places in Kansas City through the eyes of a native. I promise, the sights will be more remarkable than any Urban Outfitters display window. Money-back guarantee.
2 (Detour)
Every day, I trek from campus to my bus stop at 49th and Main, which I get to by winding around the perimeter of the Plaza. While I could always just walk to a closer bus stop by cutting directly through the Plaza, I prefer to skirt around the frenzied epicenter. It wasn't until I started going out of my way to avoid as much of the Plaza as possible that I discovered parts of it that I probably never would have had I stuck to my beaten path. It seems that the longer it takes to reach my destination, the more I stop to take in the sights. I never noticed before how intricately decorated our dirty Brush Creek is; how beautifully its bridges and paths have been constructed. Or how the sun shines through the translucent roof of my bus stop. It's ironic that these things-which have always been there, and are really nothing special or out of the ordinary-suddenly became new and interesting once I re-oriented myself to my city.
3 (Perpetual Tourist)
Wandering through the Plaza on my way to the bus stop, I feel compelled to gawk at everything around me. My daily, ambulatory commute should have become tedious by now; but when you take a moment to look up from your feet and take notice of your environment, even a Kansas City native like myself becomes enthralled. Now, with camera in hand, I feel like even more of an eager tourist as I explore this strange landscape. As my life unfolds against these foreign, grandiose backdrops like the Nelson and Brush Creek, I realize that, in a way, I am a perpetual tourist. It is from this point of view that even the most common parts of the Plaza become special destinations.
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