{"id":1133,"date":"2012-08-25T15:23:38","date_gmt":"2012-08-25T20:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=1133"},"modified":"2012-08-25T15:23:38","modified_gmt":"2012-08-25T20:23:38","slug":"cincy-blues-fest-2012-day-1-welcome-to-o-hi-o","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=1133","title":{"rendered":"Cincy Blues Fest 2012 Day 1 Welcome to O-HI-O!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The drive out of Chicago is always a nightmare.\u00a0 Traffic moves, but you just see one of every kind of possible disaster waiting to happen.\u00a0 And it takes so long!\u00a0 I think it was 2 hours to finally get out into the countryside and away from the cars and trucks.<\/span>Then you have to follow I-65 to Indy.\u00a0 There are so many trucks on the road that you can’t go fast for very far.\u00a0 Dragging racing semis are among my favorite pet peeves.\u00a0 There were enough of them.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

We stopped around Castleton on the northside of Indy to pick up plastic drop cloths in case it rains on us Friday. \u00a0Forecast looks a little iffy for showers or not.\u00a0 I figured we would look like we got lost from the Gallagher show.\u00a0 At least we would be dry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back on the road, we got of Indy and made it down I-74 into Cincy.\u00a0 It was a nice drive.\u00a0 You can definitely tell the Germans settled this part of Indiana with the town names.\u00a0 The land becomes more rolling and green as you head down to the river.\u00a0 That’s the Ohio River, of course.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

We made it into Cincy with no problem.\u00a0 I don’t think I’ve ever come into the city from this side.\u00a0 The drive was short and sweet to hit the downtown area.\u00a0 I felt sorry for the very long line trying to get across the river into Kentucky.\u00a0 That was going to take a while.<\/span><\/p>\n

We found our hotel and figured out how to get to the valet parking. But someone was coming out the In door and I had to go around the block!\u00a0 Finally got into the garage and found the guys with the yellow shirts waiting to whisk my car away.\u00a0 Downtown Cincy appears to be all parking garages.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hilton Netherlands Plaza is circa 1930s, but with a now modern update.\u00a0 It’s a nice place that the Cincy Blues Association arranged. Not bad on the price either.\u00a0 I got one of the last rooms in the block.\u00a0 Sweet!\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

We talked to the concierge desk and found out how we could get across the river and through the woods to Newport.\u00a0 The TANK bus runs between the communities on both sides to ferry you around.\u00a0 TANK is Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky.\u00a0 We went out the hotel and across the street to the bus stop.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Across 5th<\/sup> street, they were preparing Fountain Square for the evening\u2019s entertainment.\u00a0 Apparently, throughout the summer, there is a different type of music played on the stage every evening.\u00a0 This afternoon was Acoustic, which we missed.\u00a0 Tonight, it was Salsa. <\/span><\/p>\n

We hopped the bus and headed to Hofbrau Haus in Newport.\u00a0 This is an extension of the Hofbrau Haus in Munich, Germany.\u00a0 They’ve opened one here, in Vegas, and soon to be in Rosemont.\u00a0 That’s right near us!\u00a0 Newport was one of the three ports for river traffic delivering to Cincinnati.\u00a0 Goods were brought to Newport and then transported over to the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

The restaurant is in one of the old warehouse buildings in the waterfront district.\u00a0 It was very nice with dark wood and German decor.\u00a0 The food was excellent. I had Bavarian jagerschnitzl and Rich had a single \u00a0schweinhaxe (joint of pork).\u00a0 Of course, the beers were really good.\u00a0 It was nice that I wasn’t driving and could enjoy the evening as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

We decided to walk back to Cincy across the Purple People bridge.\u00a0 A private organization purchased the old L&N Railroad bridge across the river and renovated it.\u00a0 The garden clubs in the area manage mini gardens in planters all along the bridge.\u00a0 I’d say the bridge was more lavender than purple.\u00a0 It brought us to the park where the Blues fest will be held on Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n

From here, we walked along the river to the stadiums.\u00a0 I believe that is 3 total stadiums.\u00a0 Seems like a lot sports in one area.\u00a0 We did find Morlein\u2019s brewpub in the process though.\u00a0 It was a nice 25 minute walk back to the hotel. That’s just about as long as it takes us to walk down to Grant Park from the train station back home.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

We went to our room to rest up and take advantage of the facilities before we went back out.\u00a0 We did discover that Interconnect was $10 a day!\u00a0 Everyone is jumping on this bandwagon to charge you.\u00a0 Luckily, I knew about the free wifi hotspot app that we could load to our Smart phones.\u00a0 Using this was a breeze.\u00a0 Yeah. It was a connection to the outside world without the major cost.<\/span><\/p>\n

Time to wander downtown a little bit.\u00a0 We checked out the restaurant and bar within the hotel.\u00a0 It’s all very Art Deco here.\u00a0 Of course, I love that period.\u00a0 However, I love the jewelry better from that period.\u00a0 Anyway, we made it down to the street level and walked down to Fountain Square. We decided to check out some pigs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the downtown area, there are pig statues. Most of the cities are doing this and using something related to their history. Cincinnati was the stockyard and butchering center for a growing U.S. back in the day.\u00a0 Today, you find the motto: When pigs fly, they do in Cincinnati.\u00a0 Some of the pigs are interesting and some require knowledge of Cincinnati to understand.\u00a0 I loved the Starry Night pig in the square.\u00a0 Penny sits in the Westin Hotel and is covered in shiny 2012 pennies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Excerpt from a discussion on the motto when pigs fly for Cincinnati:<\/span><\/p>\n

The story is that when the hogs were delivered from one side of the river to the slaughter house on the other side, they were loaded on flat top barges. As they stood on the barges and moved across the river, the early morning fog would often rise off the water and cover the barge bottom. The only thing you saw were the pigs floating above the water. This gave the appearance that the pigs were “flying” across the river.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Fountain Square, music was blaring out and we could see people dancing away.\u00a0 It’s free to enter the square.\u00a0 People were standing and sitting.\u00a0 Mostly, they were dancing to the Salsa music being played on stage.\u00a0 The band appears to be a typical Brazalian Salsa band with lots of members, voices, and instruments.\u00a0 They were really good.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

After watching people dancing, we walked through the square and back out to the street.\u00a0 We had seen a sign for what sounded like an interesting place.\u00a0 Walking back down Vine St, we track down O’Malley\u2019s in the Alley. We walk into a small bar with a lot of dark wood and Cincinnati sports items.\u00a0 It’s an Irish bar, but more of a local type of hangout.\u00a0 We had a beer and then headed back to the hotel.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Time to plan out the day for tomorrow.\u00a0 It seems we could once again do several different things and not have to move the car.\u00a0 I like this.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Hofbrau<\/a>
We journeyed over the river and through the weeds to Hofbrau Haus in Newport for dinner the first night. Good German food and good German beer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rich<\/a>
See, Rich was very happy with his good German beer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rich<\/a>
We decided to walk back across the river to Cincy using the Purple People Bridge. This was very nice with the flowers and all. Good way to burn off some calories too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Min<\/a>
One of many mini gardens on the Purple People Bridge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>
View of the Levee area on the Newport side of the river.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
Looking over at Cincy as we walk the Purple People Bridge back to town.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Salsa<\/a>
We arrived back in town in time to hear the Salsa band playing in Fountain Square. People were dancing along.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Starry,<\/a>
My favorite pig in town was the Starry, Starry Night pig. This one is right on Fountain Square.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Rich<\/a>
Rich meets Penny the pig. She is covered in 2012 shiny pennies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Night<\/a>
This little piggy is the skyline at night. It was cut out so the light could be seen in all the right places.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The drive out of Chicago is always a nightmare.\u00a0 Traffic moves, but you just see one of every kind of possible disaster waiting to happen.\u00a0 And it takes so long!\u00a0 I think it was 2 hours to finally get out into the countryside and away from the cars and trucks.Then you have to follow I-65 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,6,9,12,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1133"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1155,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133\/revisions\/1155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}