Cincinnati! I need some advice.

In My Humble Opinion
1

So, it turns out that this Saturday I’m driving the family up to the Newport Aquarium. “Well,” I think to myself, “if I’m going to drive all that way (all of ~100 miles), I may as well see some of Cincinnati!” We’ve only lived in Kentucky for a few months, and I’ve been meaning to explore more and here we have a chance for me to make the great trek north… imagine–to actually venture further than Lexington!

Here’s my agenda (post-aquarium):

  1. Listermann’s (homebrew supply),
  2. See that fountain-thing from the WKRP opening credits, and
  3. Visit Half-Price Books.

Regarding #3, I’m from Dallas, the home of the flagship, big-ass Half-Price, where I’ve spent many hours and much money and so I’m excited to discover that Cincinnati has not one, but FOUR Half-Price Bookstores! The problem is, I won’t have time this trip to hit all four, so what I need to know is this: Which of the four is the biggest and best?

(And also, where’s that fountain from WKRP!?)

2

The fountain is really really pretty in person, but it’s winter, so it isn’t running. Think of it as a sculpture. I’m sorry you won’t get to see it running, which is downright beautiful, but it’s still worth a look-see. It’s called the Tyler Davidson Fountain, and the big central statue’s name is ‘The Genius of Water.’ Just because I think that’s a great name. The fountain is downtown, on the corner of Fifth and Vine. Fountain Square is sort of the heart of the city- people gather there for all sorts of things, or just to step out of work, eat their lunch, get some fresh air.

While you’re there, you’ll be right downtown, and there’s lots of other fun things. Walk down Main Street a few blocks, and you’ll find the Ohio Book Store, which is a very good used/rare bookstore, four or five floors of books. If you’re into books- and from your post I assume you are- you definitely won’t want to miss this. Especially since you’ll be downtown anyway.

Watch for signs- Cincinnati has a parking problem, but there are garages which are only $1 on weekends. There’s one right underneath Fountain Square, and they’re pretty clearly marked with “$1 Parking” signs.

While you’re downtown, if you like modern art, you might like the Contemporary Art Center. The current exhibits are a collection of political art from the 1980’s and a collection by an artist whose focuse is in the relationships of colors. There’s a cool children’s museum there, too, on the top floor, but if you’re there with kids, I’d take the elevator straight upstairs and not take them to the political art from the 1980’s section, which includes a few pieces which might scar them for life.

If you feel like souvenirs, there’s a mall downtown in the Carew Tower. There’s a Cincinnati schlock shop and a decent food court. Just look around the fountain until you see the skywalk and take it past Lazarus and into Tower Place.

The Half Price Books are really all about the same, but the closest one for you will be up Rt 71 at the Montgomery Road exit. Careful- it isn’t the Mason- Montgomery Road exit, it’s further north. I like them a lot, but the ones in Cincy probably are not nearly as cool as the flagship store back in Dallas.

While you’re in Newport, the aquarium is attached to a nice shopping center, pretty standard upscale shopping, but does include a place where you can get enormous $7 martiniti, if you like. Really nearby is the Purple People Bridge, a pedestrian bridge that goes across the Ohio River. Nice views of the water. I think you can get there from the shopping center or its vicinity, though you’ll have to ask around about exactly how.

This is all more than you can do in one day, of course, but it’s some ideas.

3

Yeah. That should be ‘martini,’ not ‘martiniti,’ though the latter is just as likely to be how you’ll spell it after one. After two, you’ll be spelling it ‘mstyomosdfgk/.’

4

You might want to check out the natural history museum. It’s been a while since I visited there but I remember it having some cool exhibits.

It may be a bit too cold to go to the zoo but I have visited it in winter. It’s less crowded then and the animals are more active.

5

Thanks, Fisher Queeen and KRC!

Since most of my day will dominated by the Newport Aquarium, I’m afraid I won’t have time this trip to see the Natural History Museum or Zoo–but I’ll put it on my list of “Things to Do” right behind the Falls of the Ohio. The Ohio Book Store sounds great, FQ, and exactly what I was hoping to find. After Newport, we’ll hit the downtown and see the fountain and walk over to the book store before continuing our journey to Listermann’s and the Half-Price books you suggested.

This is, of course, assuming that the weather nicens-up a bit by tomorrow!

6

Don’t forget to post a trip report when you get back! Hundreds of thousands of people here will be eagerly waiting to read about how you liked Newport and Cincinnati!

:smiley:

7

If I am not mistaken, the Carew Tower FisherQueen mentions was the purported Phlegm (sp?) building in KRP.

Was in Cincy Wed night - the Carew mall is pretty weak IMO. But the building itself - as well as the hotel in it (Omni Nederlander or some such?) - are pretty impressive in terms of their art deco ornamentation. If you are at all a fan of deco, you MUST have a drink in the hotel bar.

Oh yeah. Since you are a fan of literature, you can’t miss Larry Flynt’s flagship Hustler store. Don’t forget, Cincy is the town too cultured for Mapplethorpe. As well as the town responsible for inflicting Jerry Springer on us.

And don’t forget to tip a Hudie or 2, just to remind yourself why you go through the effort of homebrewing!

8

Don’t forget to eat some Skyline Chili, unless you’re lucky enough to have one near your home. Then again, even if you have a Skyline Chili near your home, eat some in Cincinnati anyway. It tastes better there.

9

The museum is a great example of Art Deco and worth seeing. It was/is a railroad depot. If you go to Eden park look at the old reservoir walls. They have been partially removed and the grounds filled in for ball fields. You are looking at only the upper half of the walls (tried to find some pictures on the net but couldn’t).

The river park is nice when there isn’t snow on it. If you go there in warmer weather make sure you look at the canal lock recreation. They would have had to destroy the actual canal lock into the Ohio river to build this so smile at the irony of it.

I would have suggested a tour of the subways but they only do that a couple days of the year (October).

Montgomery’s is a good place to eat (ribs) and maybe get a beer while watching boats go down the river. Lunken Airport has a nice little restaurant and you can look at planes while you’re there. They also have some great murals to look at (if you like murals). They might have come out of the interior of the railroad depot (can’t remember). If it’s summer you can bring bikes and ride a bike-path around the airport.

10

Here’s the exciting story:

We made it to the aquarium around noon. Unfortuantely (no, make that fortunately) we got detached from the caravan we were travelling with and after waiting half an hour for them to show up, we just did the aquarium as a family. It’s a great aquarium, but at $42 for two adults and one child, I’m very unlikely to go back! For that price, they should’ve let me tour the aquarium on the back of a dolphin while stunning mermaids in long golden hair gave me foot rubs.

But I digress: after the aquarium and lunch at the Fish Market next door (absolutely fantastic food, by the way) and a little bit of getting turned around trying to get out of Newport, we made our way across the Hwy 27 bridge into downtown Cincy. The Kid wasn’t pleased about the lack of a “Welcome to Ohio” sign, by the way–you guys need to fix that! By now, it was after 3, so I just drove around downtown a bit to get a look at things, found the fountain (much smaller than I expected from WKRP!) and made a mental note to return this spring.

Next stop: Listermann’s. Great shop. We’d head back up to Cincy just for that!

Final stop; the Half-Price Books off of exit 12 on I-71. It was bigger than we’d expected and we all left happy if a bit poorer. By the time we’d left Half-Price it was nearly 5:45, so we decided to head home. Luckily, at all of 100 miles away and not having to travel in some slow-moving caravan, I made it home by 7:15.

Okay, so it’s not a very exciting story. But we really like Cincinnati!

11

I was in Cincy last week.
Looks like that new underground railroad museum on the river is nearing completion. Didn’t they used to have a huge “DIXIE” or “MASON-DIXON” painted on the levee on the KY side of the river? Would be a nice juxtaposition…

What I like about Cincy is that it is a pretty big market downtown, with pro teams, museums, travelling shows and such, but if you drive for 10 minutes, you are pretty much in the country. In Chicago, I live 25 miles west of town, and it is solid city all the way. 25 miles outside of Cincy and I’d be shooting squirrels off my back deck.

Don’t know what is up with that Skyline chili mess, tho. Yuck!

12

I thought that when I first moved out here (to Dayton). But it does gow on you, and before you know it, you’re helplessly addicted…like brown, meaty crack. Cigarettes come to mind as a good parallel. Nasty when you first try them, then not so bad and they even create uncontrollable urges.

I guess Skyline won’t be having me write their ads anytime soon.