Cincinnati OH

I think everyone was pleased to leave Youngstown, even the snow seemed whiter once we left. We didn't know what lay ahead in Cincinnati but it had to be better than what we left. It wasn't hard to be an improvement but I think I would have liked it anyway.



The train yard wasn't one of the best but the week before was still fresh in our minds so it wasn't that bad. Actually I think we were very lucky the rain stayed away most of the week and it only turned into a river the last couple of days. Nothing a pair of boots couldn't deal with though. The main thing I disliked about this train yard was it was one of those open ones that the public can access fairly easy. I know there are a lot of people that get excited about our train but it does make me feel a little uncomfortable when people are walking up and down taking photos. I really don't like eating my dinner and looking up to a camera lens.

The arena was down town in Cincinnati Ohio, right next to the Ohio River. You could take a short walk across the bridge and you arrived in Newport Kentucky. I quite like walking from State to State. There was a bridge right next to the arena you could cross but I preferred the next bridge up which was called The Purple People Bridge. It was quite a nice bridge and holds events during the year, but I really loved the name.




It was also worth the walk across the bridge as it went to Newport on the Levee which is advertised as a river front Town Square which I guess is what it is. There are shops and restaurants and an aquarium and a cinema. We went and saw Alice in Wonderland, it was OK but I was thrown a little as it took me a while to warm to the hatter. Warming normally doesn't need to happen.

Right outside the arena beside the river was 'The Public Landing' though I'm not really sure what this was. From here though you could walk along the river-front park and take in the Ohio river or some art and sculptures including a few pigs which apparently is something Cincinnati is famous for. Willow however was much more impressed by the two play parks there. We managed to go a few times.






A short walk from the arena was Fountain square which is one of the main areas but as usual is mainly eating places though there is a Macys which seems to please most people. I think the square does host a few events through out the year and while we were here there was a St. Patrick's day parade but it was raining fairly hard that day which meant we didn't go.

Cincinnati seems to have a great library system in operation which would be great if you lived here. It is also quite nice for those visiting with free internet access, a reading garden, shop with second hand books and art displays. There is also a separate children's library with its own nice secure garden and learning centre though we were unable to make use of that as the times clashed with school.

One thing we did hear said quite a bit before we got here was “you must go to Skyline Chilli's”. Well we went and to be honest we weren't that impressed by it at all.