Four States Fall 2018 - 22 - CINCINNATI, OHIO

Cincinnati is in the southwest corner of Ohio. It borders closely on Indiana and Kentucky. The population is just over 300,000. We didn't have much time to explore, but they have a zoo, botanical gardens, aquarium, city market, Ohio River excursions, several museums, and the Reds baseball and Bengals football teams.
We were anxious to get to our hotel and relax for the rest of the evening. Jim had set us up at the Hampton Inn downtown. Here we were paying for our own room (birthday time was over), but he arranged a suite on the concierge floor at the everyday rate. A very nice bonus, indeed. Our room was comfortable and spacious.

We had a nice view of downtown.

And at night from J&K's room.

We checked J&K's room which was double the size of ours (as it should be), so we hung out there for our visiting time.

The hotel was located in the former Cincinnati Enquirer headquarters. That newspaper was established in 1841 and this 14-story building was completed in 1926. It is also depicted as the home of radio station WKRP in the WKRP Cincinnati TV series (1978-1982), although it was referred to as the Osgood R. Flimm Building. That show was a favorite in our family.

The entrance is spectacular. Bronze decoration everywhere including the six elevator doors and mail drop. Floors are black and white marble. Just lovely.

Nice gluteus maximus, but looks a little risky working around all that machinery in the nude!

Animal sculptures are embedded in the stone decoration.

A beautiful old safe stands in the lobby.

Outside the city was colorful, even in the rain.

After walking around a bit, we chose Midici Neapolitan for dinner.

They had two gorgeous gold pizza ovens in the see-for-yourself kitchen.

Loved the pizza (artichokes, mushrooms, fresh mozzarella) and spaghetti 'n' meatballs.

 

The next morning breakfast was in the gathering room.

Mike's oatmeal was hearty and delish!

Some famous Cincinnatians are: Rosemary and Nick Clooney (but not George), astronaut and first moon-walker Neil Armstrong, Sarah Jessica Parker, author Harriet Beecher Stowe, General and President Ulysses S. Grant, Doris Day, Peter Frampton, Steven Spielberg, Jerry Springer, Ted Turner, and cowboy Roy Rogers. Also, the "Mayberry" map behind Andy Griffith's desk on much of the Andy of Mayberry TV series (1960-1968) is actually a map of Cincinnati.