Our bike group last visited this site in March, 2013 when it was an over-the-top setting for the Rilassi Coffee Shop: over the top because its style was reminiscent of Italian grandeur with a full scale painting on the ceiling of the entryway which also featured a fountain and sizable chandelier led to an ornate stairway.  Our guess was that this space was originally designed for an upscale restaurant that never came to be.

In this iteration the fountain is gone but the other embellishments remain, and while the downstairs feels pedestrian, the upstairs because of its seclusion overlooking the bistro’s downstairs makes us feel a bit special.

Discussion topics today included the emergency training (NET) that two of our bicylists just took; how the electric bikes that two of today’s four now ride are game-changers for them;  how impressive the Swing Left presentation was at the recent Indivisible-allied One Small Thing meeting; and what’s now a common topic – current ailments – with today’s foci being cataracts and an esophagus blockage.

3580 River Parkway                                        http://www.riverparkwaybistro.com