Thursday, April 9, 2015

On Walkies About Cleveland

I'm in Cleveland for a few days for my son, Dillon's, 1st Masters Recital. Today he had some things to do, so I took myself for walkies around Cleveland.

I started with some breakfast at Potbellys. It's actually a chain, but it was good (I will go to Subway at some point so I can check an Ohio Subway off my list). Dillon suggested I go to Little Italy. 
Little Italy borders the neighborhood where he lives.

There are mostly restaurants and a couple of good bakeries. First I went to check out a violin shop. I had offered to purchase a new case for Dillon's violin (his current case is 15 years old). It was Terry Carlin Violins. She was having a sale on BAM cases, so I checked out what she had (later, Dillon and I went back and he selected a case).
Dillon and his new BAM case.

After the violin shop, I walked up the hill to Lakeview Cemetary. 

This is where President James A Garfield is buried. He has a rather impressive memorial.


The front entrance.
A "dogoyle" as opposed to a gargoyle.
In the entrance.
A statue of Garfield in the rotunda.
Looking up into the dome.
The crypt downstairs. Assuming that is his wife next to him.

There was a spiral staircase that went all the way up to a balcony with good views of Cleveland and Lake Erie.
Can't really tell that's the lake out there due to the cloudy weather.

After the Cemetary, I returned to Little Italy for some lunch at Presti's Bakery. It is a popular place serving all things of Italian deliciousness. I had Bruschetta and, of course, a cannoli. 

After lunch, I walked to Blazing Saddles. This is, of course, a bike shop. I always like to visit a bike shop in a new city.
The boys in the shop were very nice. When I spied a bike hat with their name on it, I asked if I could purchase it. They said it was the last one, and I could just have it. They also gave me some stickers. The hat turned out to be fortuitous because it had started to rain. I had my raincoat, but I had opted to not bring my rain hat. The little bike hat under my raincoat hood kept the water off my glasses.

Next, I walked myself to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). I still had an hour or so before Dillon would be finished, so I toured the museum. It's not very big, but it is in a architecturally interesting building. The visiting exhibit was in a black curtained room with 9 large film screens. On the screens were musicians all playing the same song, and playing various instruments. The artist/musician himself was playing an acoustic guitar in a bathtub full of bubblebath. There were pianos, more guitars, a cellist, a drummer, and even a gal playing accordion--all on their own screens. It was all filmed in different rooms of an old mansion at the same time. At one point, one of the piano guys walks out of his screen, and appears in the other piano guy's screen. The song was a bit repetitive, and when I went to the exhibit next door, I asked the employee there if that song was stuck in his head (you could hear it clearly from the other exhibit on that floor). He said, "Oh yeah!"

Here's my own addition to the museum.

When I came out of the museum, it was torrentially pouring (hence no photos of the outside of the building). Fortunately, Dillon lives just around the corner. Even still, my lower legs were soaked by the time I got to his apartment.

So, except for the downpour, it was a good day of walkies around Cleveland!










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