Day 18 – Columbus to Cincinnati
Unfortunately Cincinnati was a bit of a wash-out! We arrived in Cincinnati to severe storm and flood warnings and this, combined with my worsening cough and cold, meant that we spent most of the first day lounging around the hotel – which at least was a very nice hotel. We watched the spectacular cloud formations and movements (and rain!) for most of day before venturing out to Main Strasse, another area where a lot of Germans settled in the early days of Cincinnati (or actually Covington, which is just across the river from Cincinatti and in Kentucky). We were forced into Mac’s by the rain and from there basically pub crawled our way up Main Strasse in between bursts of thunder and rain.
Day 19 – Cincinnati
Our second day in Cincinatti was pretty much a repeat of the first day – watching the weather warnings and looking out the window and thinking it doesn’t even look that bad! Finally late-ish in the afternoon we decided to risk the rain and go for a quick drive and see the city. We stopped at a lookout area in Covington which provided some impressive views, before going over one of the many, many bridges into Cincinatti.
We found parking and took a walk in the Riverfront Park which is part of the Ohio River Trail (see here for more info). The park really is amazing with beautiful flower beds and very well laid out and designed gardens, interspersed with lots of fountains and play areas for kids. It was Father’s Day and despite the severe weather warnings and threatening clouds lots of people were out and walking around the river area. It really was the most impressive city garden that I’ve ever seen and it was a shame that our visit was cut short by a thunder storm (or T-Storm in America!) and we had to run for safety!
It really hammered down by the time we got back into the car and we decided to go for a pizza in Main Strasse. Parking was a pain but eventually we found somewhere to park and had a couple of great pizzas in the Goodfellas lounge, along with some interesting beer and even better cocktails. It’s a shame the weather and my cold didn’t play along as I’m sure there’s a lot in Cincinnati we didn’t see, but sometimes that’s just how things work out!
Biltong and Burger 