I’m meeting a friend in Indianapolis the day after Christmas. We are going to be staying over for one night. (We are both women) I was there once with an ex, and don’t remember much other than a great meal that we had at St. Elmo’s.
Any suggestions for places to stay, things to do, maybe another restaurant to try?
I think thiswas the previous thread.
Walking around the canal isn’t bad. I had lunch at Fogo de chao recently and it was an interest experience.
Speaking from experience:
Buy a 1-Way Ticket to (Almost) Anywhere Else! NOW!
The last place I lived was in a ground-level 1 bdrm apt facing the parking lot.
The folks next door, during the summer, would bring out two cheap aluminum tubing folding chairs onto their 8’x8’ “patio” facing the parking lot and bask in the glory of their realm.
They literally spent hours just sitting there, not speaking, retrieving a cold beverage (non-alcoholic) from time to time.
They were in their 40’s and appeared to be in good health.
Only in Naptown would looking at a parking lot be considered a way to spend a weekend.
All we normal people, of course, were watching TV! The 2nd best thing to do in that hell-hole.
Dine at the Eagles nest, high atop the Hyatt on the Circle…rotating restaurant, 33 floors up…try to stay at the new J W Marriot high rise.?.very tall bldg, you can see it two counties away…get the presidential…its only one of 4 JWM that are 5 star worlwide. Bring kids and visit Childrens Museum, voted number 1 worldwide.
Stay close to the circle, center of downtown. Convention goers love that everything is within walking distance…they even have an automated elevated electric 3 car train, near IUPUI campus, that connects all their many hospitals.
Walk or take elevator up to top of the Soldiers and Sailors monument on the circle…its many floors up, so only use stairs if fit.
Theres always a conention or a Colts game at Lucas retractable dome stadium.
The brand new airport is an awesome design…i think its 18 th largest, but way easier to get around than Chicago or Atlanta.
Circle center mall…upscale, right on circle. 3 floors. St Elmos is attached to it, iirc.
Indy has more ornate fountains than most, if not all, cities…All within blocks of each other north and west of circle.
Indy has first fridays, at the indy art museum…awesome.
Last, go south 2 hrs to French Lick Resort & Casino, which included the West Baden huge dome hitel and spa…this was the number 1 tourist destination, 120 yrs ago, prior to Florida being developed. It was the largest unsupported dome in the world, until the 1965 Astrodome…considered 8th wonder of modern world at one time. It was Capones weekend get away in the 30s…then hard it was a Jesuit College…than it was abandoned and dilapidated for decades…biomedical ceo John Cook of Cook Urolological in Bloomington, invested 600 million of his own to reopen it…note that the Jesuits, like Amish, do not allow vanities…they took down all of the artwork, sculptures, and zillions of mosiac tileswhen it was their college…they fortunately did bury all of these items…Cook asked ppl to submit old family photos, and he place every original sculpture, painting, and even tiny mosaic tiled, back to their original location…it just reopened a few yrs ago, along with he world class pete dye golf course. It also has a polar express real train ride for kids.
http://www.techpoint.org/awards-gala
Good view of jw marriot indy
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/photo-tours.mi?marshaCode=indjw&pageID=HWGRD_SUITES&imageID=1
View of presidential suite at jw
West baden spa and dome
More
French lick resort and casino
The Indianapolis subreddit has lots of links with things to do in and around town on the sidebar. You don’t have to join to see.
If you have any interest in racing or the history of the automobile, visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Lots of great race cars and historic autos in the museum, and you can take a bus ride around the 100±year-old oval. The place has a quarter-million permanent seats…you won’t see that anywhere else in the world. It’s a pretty cool place, and I think museum admission is only five bucks.
Of course, I’m biased…not everyone has an interest, but it really is a very amazing and historic facility (and it is open on December 26).
Rates at the Conrad, post-Christmas are very affordable right now - about $160/night. They’ll put you right downtown. Week after Christmas is going to be pretty quiet, though. As for things to do, the thread Wesley Clark linked to should be a good start.
usedtobe: :rolleyes: Your inability to get out of your own house isn’t a product of your environment, especially if you lived in Indy.
Shapiro’s Deli has been on my list of must visits for a while.
Some good photos and remarks here for several great looking places to eat.
Dang, that reuben is calling my name.
gurgle
It is well worth the visit.
I’m pretty disinterested in cars and racing in general – I’ve never done the native duty of playing hooky from school/work and attending 500 qualifications or Carburetion Day-- yet I seriously enjoy the Speedway museum. It’s a fun place.
Other stuff near downtown for the OP:
Mass Ave. arts district (northeast corner of the downtown mile square): galleries, theaters, funky stores, and pubs.
Club area (mostly along Meridian and streets branching off of it, southern half of mile square): most any kind of bar or dance club one can think of.
White River State Park (western side of downtown): Indianapolis Zoo, Eiteljorg Art Museum, Indiana State Museum.
Circle and surrounding areas: the aforementioned Soldiers & Sailors monument and mall, street-level shops and restaurants (including Rocket Fizz, a candy/soda store with hard-to-find regional and import brands), Artsgarden.
Thanks for input, all. Made reservations at the Conrad (realized that’s Conrad as in Conrad Hilton- thanks, Mad Men!)
Will have dinner at St. Elmo’s (Fire), lunch at Shapiro’s, will visit Mass Ave, and would like to get to the IMA.
We’re going to have a great time- looking forward to it!
The IMA is great and I’m sure you will enjoy it. I’ll just throw something out though that many visitors choose not to do just based on preconceived notions. Try the Children’s Museum instead. It is one of the best in the world, and it is fascinating. Every time I go there I have a blast… with or without kids in tow. Maybe it is partly because I still have an inner 9 year old boy in me, but everyone I know who has been there has loved it. If you really want to see a Van Gogh then head to the IMA. If you want to see a locomotive from the 1890’s specially built to make it up the steepest hill in the state, and all other things cool… head to the children’s museum.
I’m intrigued, by all of the positive adult feedback AND by the proximity. Maybe we’ll do that instead. I wasn’t really looking forward to the drive to the IMA, and I’m only lukewarm-ly interested in the fashion designer exhibit there.
The only deterrent would be lots of noisy kids running around. We have COSI here in Columbus and I wanted to blow out my brains after 45 minutes in that place…
I’ve never felt overwhelmed by noisy kids there, but I understand everyone has different tolerance levels. I kind of take the attitude that I’m a kid when there so maybe I’m the one running around annoying the adults.
Anyway, it is unique to Indy and you won’t find something at the same level anywhere else. My opinion is that our art museum is nice… and fun to go to. Maybe I’m just not that into art, but it seems very similar to other art museums you can go to in other cities.
Kind of like going to New York City and deciding to eat at Applebee’s.
If you want art, you can always drive north to Carmel and the Arts and Design district and find a dozen art galleries in a few blocks. Plus if you find something you like you can buy it… Last I checked they frown on that at the IMA.