Columbus, Ohio, yes, it's flat, and yes, it has wide, interminably long streets, and yes, it sprawls. It's exterior archictecture, by and large, is not very interesting, and it's downtown, except for the grand theaters, several significant office towers and the state Capitol is just "there."
But at the same time, the Short North is an area of restaurants, upscale shopping, edgy bars and murals. There are huge murals on walls.
There are lights that change over High Street in bright colors. The people are very friendly. And, the restaurants seem to be quite good. As one person said, it's a city where you need to go inside to get an idea of what it's like. We've seen a good bit of Ohio. We went to Coshocton yesterday to wine taste, not bad, but most of the grapes were not grown in Ohio at the Ravenswood Winery. We did taste one local, a chardonel white, which was sweet but pleasant. We visited a local cheese factory, and if we had been coming back to Washington immediately I would have bought several pounds of local cheeses and fresh Amish butter. I think Wally McClain and I will put in an order once the weather turns cold for a couple of two pound packs, if I can talk him into it.
On the return to Columbus we stopped in Heath to visit the remains on the prehistoric Hopewell Indian mounds. They are huge. Just the remaining section in the state park covers over 40 acres.
It's a huge circle with a mound in the center. Walking across it, the space and enormity of the earthworks hits you. And this was only a part of the entire grouping. Most of it now is under houses, cut by railroad tracks and roads, and even an old canal. The Ohio State Historical Parks runs it and has just completed a new visitors center with a random access program that allows you to look at any particular segment of the video program and follow your own interests rather than sit through a movie. Very well done. Very inspiring. I think daughter Anne would enjoy this immensely, it has a feeling of great natural power, similar to the tumuli I have visited in Britain.We completed the day with dinner at a superb French restaurant. Antibes. A little place with a new chef. Matthew Litzinger, a Culinary Institute of America grad. Terry had duck in raspberry sauce as her main, starting with duck pate. We remarked she would become a doctor afterwards, she'd be quacking so much. Ben had swordfish which was lovely, starting with escargots. I began with a salad of beets and mesclun, followed by some lovely veal sweetbreads. The wine, chosen on a whim, was a Victorian syrah,very full, from 2001 from Cliff Edge Winery, Mount Langi Ghiran in the Grampians. We must tell Tim Kane about it.
Today we go to Evanston, eight or so hours, so there will not be much to report till tomorrow.
1 comment:
It was a pleasure to have Ben and John visit Columbus and spend some time here. Having guests allows you to visit places you have never seen in your own city. Although, unfortunately, the cartoon exhibit was a dissapointment, I was truly impressed with the design of the Wexner Center for the Arts. As to the restaurants, Columbus has always been a good restaurant town even though it is ignored by the food magazines. The Chef's table was certainly an outstanding event and a good reason to support pulbic television.
Ben and John have a very long way to travel yet but I hope they will fondly remember Columbus for a long time.
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