I've finished POA now, but I'm still wondering about the the significance of certain parts of the game. Generally, in adventure games, everything is useful in some way, otherwise it wouldn't have been put in. There are two things I found a bit strange:

In the arbotoreum, before Sawyer arrived, there was an old woman asleep on the bench. You could never even talk to her. I figured she might have been Verna, on a walk, but why was she there?

Also in the arbotoreum, there were two metal doors: one by Rizardo and one by the Aviary. I could never open these, and obviously there was nothing behind them, because I managed to finish the game fine. Was there any way to open them, and if so, what was the point?

There were also a few doors that didn't seem to open, or had nothing behind them, but I guess these were just to make up the numbers.

Any answers would be appreciated...