But then my cousin moved to Iowa to work for John Deere and it was at his office complex that I first saw a combine. My other cousin moved out to Kentucky with her family and I got to visit the state for the first time last Christmas. For my past birthday I finally got to visit Chicago and loved it. This Christmas I went to Ohio to visit the parents of my significant other.

My impressions of Ohio before I got there? That it’d be ass-cold and snowing all the time. That’s about it. Oh yeah, I know that Ohio State has a good football team and that Oberlin has a good conservatory and if I had to guess, the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame and the Football Hall of Fame are there.  (I know now that I’m right, but I didn’t go into either)

Besides having a great time in Cleveland and being touched by everyone’s kindness and hospitality, (it’s true, everyone’s friendly out there), it was nice to see the little gems in Cleveland proper.

L’Albatross

(ok, I went here because it was in NYT Travel and we overheard the couple behind us say they were there for the same reason)

Nice little restaurant in University Circle. We ordered lox and artichokes for appetizers and I had the scampie while my s.o. had the skate. They were all good; esp. the lox. We had great service and the atmosphere was nice. (Do people tip 20% in Cleveland?! that’s what we did)

Cleveland Botanical Gardens

It was small but nice. They have two main “forests”, one replicating Costa Rica where they have wild birds and butterflies fluttering all over and the other was Madagascar. They had Christmas trees and gingerbread houses in other parts of the building for the season.

West Side Market

This was a nice place to visit. There’s one hall with all the fruit and vegetable vendors and the main hall that has everything including meats, cheeses, desserts, pasta, coffee etc. The vendors are friendly and I believe most of the items are local. (For fish, that means the transcontinental US)  we ate pork and black sea bass for dinner that night and they were great.

(red velvet cupcakes I bought there were also very good….)

Downtown

Yeah a lot of urban blight but there are some nice spots. The Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame (designed by Pei) and the Browns stadium sit right by Lake Eerie which is a nice view. I also saw the Indians and the Cavaliers homes; the three sporting venues are not far from each other.

However in the more suburban parts of Cleveland you can see gigantic mansions along some streets, particularly Euclid Ave., which was once known as Millionaires Row. Many of them belonged to industrial tycoons including John D. Rockefeller. Looking at these mansions, I wondered how much the heating bill costs and wondered what it must have been like to live in Cleveland in its heyday. There’s so much history and so much to discover…