All that said, SLC is a surprisingly pleasant city. Everything looks new, with the exception of the pretty and obviously old things, but it turns out that by and large it's just been well kept.
... that is, with the exception of a 4 block central area that is genuinely brand new and due to open in a few months. A creek that runs through the city has been converted into a series of nice fountains, and the centrall shopping area is going to be around a central garden surrounding some of the 'creek'.
The area around my hostel was not entirely dissimilar to the area I was in in Portland, with interesting old houses and well kept lawns. That night was uneventful. I headed straight to the hostel, had a shower and got a bite to eat and went to bed after catching up on some blog!
The Temple and the LDS office building reflected in SLC concert hall, home to their symphony orchestra. An absolutely stunning buidling, I wish i could have seen in to the auditorium itself. Inside on the left you can see an enourmous glass sculpture that was made and lit up for the Winter Olympics. Looks wonderful from the ground, though my tour guide assue me you should skip the view from above where you discover that perhaps it is difficult to dust...
Despite my best intentions I didn't get up early or go for a run the next morning. I slept, and it was good – nights on buses aren't so great for good quality sleep (that, and the time changed while I was on the bus and lost me an hour of sleep – time changes that don't involve boats or airplanes really do confound me. Bizarre). Anywayz, I did eventually get going at 10.30 or so and headed out towards Temple Square to see what all the fuss was about. I'd actually seen both the main sights the previous day on my way into the city. The Temple and the state capitol building stand out like beacons amongst everything else you can see. The 'Great Salt Lake' on the other hand is surprisingly difficult to see from any distance.
Up close, it's clear that at some point the temple towered over all the other dwellings in the area. Infact there's a hut in temple square that was preserved and then reinstated in place somewhat later, from some of the first pioneers (or so they tell you):
I can't imagine how impressive the temple must have looked when everyhing else in the landscape was this size! Somewhat unfortunately, I think, it is now overshadowed by most of the buildings that surround it – including the LDS church 'office building'. I suppose every organisation needs an administration, but it was a little strange to me that you would build it oversahowing your own temple. Meh, guess that's their perogative. Besides, I was, infact quite glad that they put it there, because it affords an awesome view of the city if you can get yourself up to the viewing platforms. This includes the most impressive state capitol i've seen so far, which seems to be nearly half as big as the hill it's next to. Perhaps that's just perspective, but it was pretty damned huge.
Walking past the Tourist Info, earlier, I signed up for a walknig tour of the city figuring it was probably the most economical use of my time. So for two hours, me and one other girl had the city guide all to ourselves and saw, i think, probably everything the city centre has to offer leaving a few bits of temple square for later. I've forgotton the guide's name, but he was terribly entertaining despite his inability to remember any kind of number, date or age whatsoever. (It's ok though, because he had an iPhone ;) - who needs to remeber dates when you have wikipedia constantly on hand?!). He told me many interesting things that i can't recall right now and showed us what was what. It was a good use of two hours and the perfect anti-dote to the missionary tour i hadn't yet had. (It was also him who got us up the office building - well worth it all on it's own).
The middle of town is stuffed full of bizarre 'symbolism' and Joseph Smith stuff - it's a bit like a Joseph Smith disney land. This, for example...
...is where the gate to his farm was, and the eagle is very significant, but i'm not quite sure why. Just like there are moons in various phases all around the temple, but this time the missionaries weren't sure why... (Well, except to say symbolism is very important, and you can make sense of it only through your own personal journey. Um... good. I feel enlightened now...)
On the tour we also headed in to the Joseph Smith Memorial building, which used to be a hotel to the stars and is incredibly lavish.
This place is also home to one of the LDS family research centres they have in SLC. I really wish that i'd got some of the family tree stuff off you mum and/or dad, who eevr has it at the moment - i might have been able to make some headway! Oh well, next time. The resources they have there are pretty impressive though, it's definitely a good place to come if you're into that!
Anywayz, after the tour that I figured that i would explore temple square in more depth.
The temple and one of the many beautiful fountains, that when they are fountains are pretty, edgeless reflection pools.
Everything in the square is beautiful, and all of the exhibits are terribly quaint pictures of blissful home life, and all of the missionaries who hang around to assist smile warmly at you, even if you are obviously trying to avoid them... All very nice. My favourite scene, that i wish i had a picture of, was the uncanny number of brides on the lawn. If you're LDS the temple is *the* place to get married, or at least to have your pictures taken. I've never seen so many brides in one place in my entire life. And they're all freakishly young too - it's quite terrifying (good luck to them!).
My mindless meandering wasn't going to last long though, eventually i was accosted by two of the missionaries, there to make my visit as amazing as possible (amongst other things...).
They showed me a presentation about how the temple means that the family can stay together for all eternity, and things... and then asked me what i thought. I get really spineless when it gomes to two very nice people asking me this and am terribly accomodating, all the while wondering whether they can't see exactly how cheesy the presentation is, but never mind. As long as they're happy...
After this, all the while continuing our philosophical discussion, they decided to show me the conference centre, which is a truely impressive sight inside. On the outside, one wall hosts a waterfall, representing the creek coming down from the hills that allowed the pioneers to survive when they got to the city. 
On the roof are acres of beautiful and impressive gardens, such that the other side of the building just blends back into the ground. The theatre inside is used to host biannual gatherings of LDS people to see their current prophet bestow wisdom. It can host 21,000 people - practically a stadium really, and there is not one pillar holding it (including the, presumely not light, garden on top of it), all the sturcture is in the roof. (According to wikipedia, this is believed to be the largest theatre-style auditorium in the world. I was certainly impressed...) When they hold their gatherings, the proceedings are translated in real time into over 100 languages. The mormons are evidently nothing, if not organised!
So, after our nice little tour and a distinct lack of pushiness compared to more or less every other christian group i know, they had to go and ruin it by asking me if a missionary could visit me when i got back home. Oh well, lacking an address of my *own* back home (true fact and so i told them) i gave them one of my emails (spineless, i told you...) and my, at that point (and soon to be, when i'm in the UK), inactive Canadian phone number and bade them farewell.
I was intending to stay for the Tabernacle Choir's practice that evening. I get the impression that the Mormon Taberbacle Choir is to the US as 'the choir of Kings College, Cambridge' is to the uk - doing all of the christmassy stuff and things. In any case, all the americans i met were like, 'it's so weird actually seeing them after hearing them all these years' etc. and rather in awe. However, i had got tired and figured that while i love a good choir, there's a few around, and it was only a rehersal after all.
Instead, i headed back to the hostel and made dinner, which was very exciting all by itself. In the shop i had discovered... wait for it.... Quorn! The USA has quorn - this is sooo exciting. I missed it in so much in Canada - i didn't even realise how much until now.
Um, ok... I'll go now...
(Note to self: keep excitement about mycoprotein food products to yourself... people will think you're strange...)
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