I was so excited when John told me we would be staying in Cincinnati as I love to explore cities. In fact one of my bucket list items is to immerse in city life by living downtown in a big city for a season or at least a month. Our friends John and Jane stopped RVing to live in Cedar Rapids Iowa and visiting them gave me a taste of what life in the city is like. They live in a loft downtown and walk to EVERYTHING they need such as grocery shopping, doctor visits, hair appointments, restaurants and the gym. Seems like fun to me!
Anyway in researching Cincinnati I discovered a downtown trolley called the Bell Connector. The route was only a little over 3 miles long but went to many of the downtown sites I wanted to visit. I found that the fare is 2 dollars a person and could be purchased in a phone app. Next I grabbed the Downtown Cincinnati app which had several free self guided downtown tours, one of which followed the streetcar route and would point out the interesting architecture along our route. It also had tips for parking locations and I decided the easiest place to park from our RV site would be Findlay Market which is also a stop on the streetcar route.
The North Lot for Findlay Market was easy to find via our GPS and would be only 50 cents an hour with the first hour being FREE! After paying for parking we meandered around east and west Findlay Market which featured fresh produce and craft vendors along with many colorful buildings. Next we found our trolley stop and began our tour. John helped me look ahead at buildings of interest on the architecture app while I paid attention to our next stop which would be Washington Park.
Washington Park features a massive old circa 1800's building now serving as a music hall for the city. It was once a cathedral and is really stunning. The surrounding park has a waterfall and musical fountain which kids enjoy splashing in . It has a huge green space with many inviting chairs and benches beneath large shade trees as well as some civil war history which we also explored.
Back on the trolley our next stop would be Fountain Park which features a huge fountain and a stage for music as well as a huge big screen TV on a bank building which showed a REDS baseball game while we visited. There are many shops and restaurants so we walked the full two blocks all around the square and stopped to visit the Contemporary Art Center which was a free museum of 6 floors featuring interesting art.
Back on the trolley we went to the BANKS which houses the Reds baseball park and the Bengals Football Stadium which I definitely wanted to see. While there we also saw the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and Riverfront Park. The park is expansive and scenic as the impressive 1800's John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge dominates the landscape.
Walking along the river was a blast. We enjoyed the Queen City sign and took pictures of it not really knowing its significance at the time. Later we realized it is the nickname of Cincinnati because during the westward expansion it became the fastest growing city in the west. Thus it was dubbed the Queen of the West or Queen City. The highlight for me was the REDS ballpark! Its courtyard is open to the public, the vibe and the sculptures are fabulous! I loved it.
From the Banks we ventured over to Rock Bottom Brewery for a cold beer before catching the trolley to once more enjoy the murals, the buildings, the parks and the beauty of Cincinnati! What a great day!
NOTE: We are now in Raleigh NC where we will stay for a while as we attend some wedding related functions for our daughter’s upcoming wedding…
