Confession: I had zero expectations when we planned to stop in Cincinnati on the drive from Vermont to Austin, TX. Less than zero expectations. I guess I thought I would find a dirty, industrial city with not much to do. Sorry to everyone from Cincinnati! I've never been to Ohio, and it's in the Rust Belt so the industrial assumption was not completely out of left field. But, after visiting Cincinnati for the weekend, I learned something unexpected: Cincinnati is cool! Fun fact: Because it is the first major American city founded after the American Revolution as well as the first major inland city in the country, Cincinnati is sometimes thought of as the first purely "American" city (Wikipedia). So, you might ask, what was so cool about Cincinnati? 1. Over-the-Rhine (OTR)Over-the-Rhine, a neighborhood in Cincinnati, is the largest National Historic District in the country. In the 1800s, the area was home to a large German population and became a center of German culture. Within the past five years, OTR has undergone a revitalization and become a trendy neighborhood, though it is still contiguous with some high-crime areas and was formerly known for the Cincinnati riots of 2001. I understand that it used to be one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in America. These days, once deteriorating buildings have become hip restaurants and desirable apartments. Because so many of the buildings are historic, there is a charm to OTR that is hard to find elsewhere. Walking through OTR, you are surrounded by historic architecture, including brick town homes, ornate churches, and the gothic Music Hall. It was easy to spend lots of time wandering through OTR, grabbing a coffee, stopping for brunch, shopping in the boutiques, and finishing with a drink. Brett and his good friend, Greg, particularly loved Homage, a t-shirt shop with a vintage-feel, cool shirts, and an old-school NBA Jam video game. They spent a considerable amount of time challenging each other to games, as you can see in the above photos. I joined in at one point but was actually banned from playing because I was so terrible at NBA Jam. 2. Riverfront/The BanksCincinnati is right on the Ohio River, with a park running along the river banks. The park features green space, a walking path, fountains, swings along the path, and, of course, river views. I also love the suspension bridge, built in the mid-1800s, that spans the Ohio River and crosses into northern Kentucky. The Reds stadium is right next to the river, and the stadium bars and restaurants are only a block or two away. I can imagine walking down to the river front path after grabbing a drink at one of the bars on a nice night. If you head out for a walk, the chances are good that you'll see a riverboat with a paddleboat chugging along. 3. Food & Drink SceneDuring our two days in Cincinnati, we ate well. We ate brunch one morning at Taste of Belgium, whose website address is "authenticwaffle.com", where I enjoyed a vegetarian crepe (made with GF batter!) and sampled some frites. We found pour-over coffee at the nearby 1215 Wine Bar & Coffee Lab. That night, we went to Taft's Ale House, a German beer pub in a beautiful old church building, formerly St. Paul's Evangelical Church. Taft's Ale House brews their own beer and serves pub food in a lively setting. After dinner, our group headed over to Sundry and Vice, a apothecary-themed bar serving craft cocktails. The next day, we dined on lunch specials at Kaze, a Japanese gastropub and sushi bar, followed by ice cream at Graeter's, which has been serving ice cream in Cincinnati for almost 150 years. Finally, before heading out of town, we grabbed more coffee at Collective Espresso. Collective Espresso has multiple locations around the city- we stopped at both the Over-the-Rhine location and the Contemporary Arts Center location. It as good quality coffee, and the OTR shop was a Cincinnati hipster-haven, with minimalist design, cool atmosphere, and lots of beards.. As someone who loves to try new restaurants, I was pleased with the variety of restaurants to discover in Cincinnati as well as the quality of the food and drink we enjoyed. 4. Cincinnati RedsThe Cincinnati Reds originated as the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional baseball team in America. Are you seeing a theme here? So much history in Cincinnati, from the buildings to the ice cream shops to the baseball team. The Great American Ballpark, home of the Reds, is a beautiful stadium. They had recently hosted the All-Star Game, so there were mustache statues around the city, painted in tribute to the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Luckily for us, Greg works for the Reds, so we were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of the Great American Ballpark, including the visitor's dugout, locker rooms, and Diamond Club. Though our tour was free, anyone can buy tickets for a ballpark tour, which includes tickets to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. 5. Amazing ArchitectureCincinnati's architecture is quite beautiful and diverse. Contemporary buildings mingle with historic ones, creating a striking contrast of old and new. The photo above illustrates the modern feel of the Contemporary Arts Center. Additionally, the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge (mentioned above), which crosses the Ohio River, was designed by the same civil engineer that designed the Brooklyn Bridge. If you take a minute to study the bridge, you can spot similarities between the two. The Cincinnati Music Hall is noted for its Gothic German architecture and is surrounded by Greek Revival, Queen Anne, and Italianate buildings in the OTR neighborhood. Walking around Cincinnati is a feast for the eyes and an architecture-lover's delight. 6. Exciting EventsThough we only visited for two days, Brett and I noted a wide variety of events happening in Cincinnati. Washington Park, located in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, hosts events, such as Luminocity, outdoor performances of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra paired with a 3-D visual light show projected on Music Hall. Free live music can be found downtown in Fountain Square during the summer. Walking around OTR on Sunday, we stumbled across a street fair, which we learned was Second Sunday on Main, held the second weekend of each month from June-October. Second Sunday on Main featured artists, live music, and food from street vendors. As mentioned above, the city also hosted the All-Star game, and there are plenty of sporting events with Cincinnati Reds baseball games and Cincinnati Bengals football games. With a longer stay, I'm sure I could've added to this list of fun and exciting events. I also hear that the Cincinnati Zoo is amazing, and, if we had more time, we probably would have spent some time there. I can honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised by Cincinnati, and I had prematurely judged the city before experiencing what it had to offer. After Cincinnati, we stopped in Nashville and, as I'm sure my friends there will tell you, I kept talking about how much fun we had in Cincinnati. That's the best thing about traveling - you never know when you'll wander somewhere that completely exceeds your expectations.
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Ah, the Big Apple. I just love New York City. Yes, it's kind of dirty and gritty. But, it it absolutely amazing that so many distinct neighborhoods, cultures, and people can be packed into such a small area. I love the energy of the city. Everyone is always on the move. It makes me want to do big things and be more than I am right now. My friend, Heidi, and I planned a Girls Weekend in New York, which ended up being kind of a "five year reunion" trip, since we traveled to Ireland together almost exactly five years ago. When I go visit Wisconsin, it's hard to divide time between family and friends, especially on short visits, so we thought, "Why don't we meet somewhere cool for a girls weekend and some quality time?" New York was the immediate answer, since we both love theater and had talked about a NYC trip in the past. First Night in New York CityThe first night I arrived, Heidi met me at Penn Station when my Amtrak train arrived, and we walked the 14 or so blocks to our hotel, Hotel Edison NYC. It has a beautiful art deco entry and lobby. The rooms were not spacious but fine, since we weren't planning on spending too much time in our hotel anyway. The best thing about Hotel Edison? We had registered for a "Grab-n-Go" breakfast with our room and felt a little nervous the next morning when there was no restaurant or breakfast room to be found. However, at the front desk, we received vouchers to pick up our breakfast next door at Danny's Gourmet, a deli with prepared food and made to order items. With our "Grab-n-Go" breakfast, we were entitled to a coffee/tea, pastry, piece of fruit, and yogurt. It was so easy to stop by and pick out our items, hand them the voucher, and take our food to go as we set off to explore the city for the day. The worst thing about Hotel Edison? It was really close to Times Square (which I'm sure is a plus in a lot of people's minds), which meant being practically assaulted by tour bus operators at every turn. Yes, the location was convenient for some activities, like waiting for Broadway tickets, but we spent much more time downtown and the aggressive tour guides were not pleasant. On our first night, we ate at John's of Times Square, a pizzeria in an old church. As you eat, you can look up and admire the old domed ceiling. We actually did not have pizza, as there was no gluten-free crust, but they did offer gluten-free pasta! Statue of LibertyThe one touristy plan that we had was to visit Ellis Island. I booked the ferry ahead of time online with Statue Cruises, the only official boat that stops at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. You couldn't get a ticket for one without the other, so we sailed to the Statue of Liberty first. The skyline views were great as we headed out onto the Hudson. I had a similar experience previously in New York when taking the Staten Island Ferry, which is free and also offers great skyline views. Seeing the Statue of Liberty is one of those things that you should probably do once in your life. There is the option for a free audio tour, but we just walked around the statue and took some pictures looking up at her, reading a few signs about the history. In about 15 minutes, we had exhausted the Statue of Liberty. I'm not trying to say that it's not cool to see this symbol of America, but that's all there is to do - see it. To be fair, you can reserve a ticket to go up into the pedestal or the crown. I was going to reserve a pedestal ticket, as it did not cost extra, but the online store was sold out, and the crown tickets cost more. I was totally ok with this, since going up in the Statue of Liberty fits into my "views from tall things" opinion category. Namely, these tall landmarks (e.g. Statue of Liberty, Space Needle in Seattle, St. Louis Arch) are the things that make a city's skyline unique. When you look at and take pictures of the city from up in these landmarks, they are not in the picture, so the city looks pretty much like every other city without it's defining landmark in the shot. Given this opinion, I was happy to look at the Statue from the ground, with New York CIty in the background. Ellis IslandAfter circumnavigating the Statue of Liberty in 15-20 minutes, we boarded the ferry for Ellis Island. This was the thing that Heidi and I were eagerly anticipating. I enjoy learning about history, and Heidi actually had ancestors arrive in America through Ellis Island. Sailing up to Ellis Island, I imagined what new immigrants to America had thought when they were docking there, probably things like "We made it", not realizing that they had a long process ahead of them. At Ellis Island, we did take the free audio tours and headphones and spent hours exploring the exhibits, taking in the information about people arriving in America. Unfortunately, as a result of Hurricane Sandy, the climate control displays had failed and had not yet been fixed, so most of the original artifacts had been moved to another location for safekeeping. So, when we looked at a display that said "Medical instruments", there were blank spaces under the glass. I wish we had gotten to see the original instruments and documents! However, we were able to get a sense of the process when immigrants arrived, the medical examinations they underwent, and the conditions at Ellis Island. There was a beautiful display of photographs of immigrants in their traditional garb. Despite spending a few hours walking through the exhibits, we still didn't have time to see everything! World Trade CenterReturning from Ellis Island, the ferry dropped us at Battery Park, located at the very tip of Manhattan. From there, we walked to the World Trade Center site to see the memorials and 1 World Trade Center building. Looking over the pools was an interesting experience. The last time I had been in New York (January 2008), the site had been a dirt pit, filled with scraps of debris and construction equipment and surrounded by a chain link fence. Now, the World Trade Center memorial was so clean and pleasant that it was hard to reconcile the tranquil pools with the scene I remembered from seven years earlier, harder still to reconcile it with news footage September 11, 2001. Somehow, the pools looked vast and small at the same time. I had trouble imagining them being the footprint of building. There were names carved around the edge in tribute, and I felt incredibly sad to see one that said a woman's name "and her unborn child". ButterHeidi and I planned to meet up with a friend from high school who now lives in New York. He suggested that we grab drinks and food at Butter. I have to admit that the first thing that came into my mind was Gossip Girl: Blair: "I have a table at Butter, reservation's under Waldorf in case there's an after-party." Gossip Girl: "As any good general knows, you never let your soldiers see you sweat. Looks like this battle's ending at Butter, and the win goes to B." Jenny: "But Blair, um, we're all going to Butter and I was wondering if you wanted to join us?" I can't lie, I was excited to pretend I was Blair Waldorf for an hour or so. Although, I believe it has moved locations since the Gossip Girl days. We sat in The Garden at Butter, surrounded by brick buildings and fire escapes rising while string lights and greenery set the mood. The executive chef at Butter Midtown is Alex Guarnaschelli, an Iron Chef and Food Network TV personality. Heidi and I only shared appetizers, but the food was delicious! ChinatownAfter Butter, we planned to meet up with another high school friend, Kabir, who lives in Chinatown, where we ate a full dinner. Aux-Epices, the restaurant that Kabir found for us, featured French-Malaysian food and an exuberant owner. I can't be sure if it was in Chinatown or Little Italy, but Aux-Epices was delicious and fresh-tasting. Kabir and I had Malaysian-inspired dishes (Laksa and Curry Squid, respectively), while Heidi went the French route with mussels. The space was a cozy little restaurant, wide enough for one row of tables, with a wrought-iron gate framing the tiny porch and a brick wall behind the tables. I fell in love with the space immediately. One thing that I always hear about New York is that it's "so expensive". Yes, it is easy to spend a lot of money in New York City. However, at Aux-Epices, we were treated to wonderful food, friendly service, and great ambiance, and each of us paid $14 or less for our plates, comparable to a dinner out in Austin. After our meal, we considered getting ice cream, but we were all pretty full. Thus, Kabir decided to take us on a walking tour of Lower Manhattan. We wandered past an Asian movie playing in a Chinatown park, strolled through the streets of Little Italy, gazed up at City Hall, and walked halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge. The view of the skyline from the Brooklyn Bridge was incomparable at night. It was the perfect ending to our New York day to look back on the city lights with friends. P.S. 1 World Trade Center's spire was lit up in a rainbow to celebrate the Supreme Court's ruling on marriage equality! It also happened to correspond with NYC Pride Week, which occurred while we were in the city.
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AuthorMy name is Alyssa Good and I have a passion for travel, adventure, culture, and new experiences! I focus on budget friendly travel, trip planning resources, and seeking out new experiences. Archives
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