A couple of years ago, Mer came up with the rather brilliant idea of deliberate touring – the idea that wherever you go, you should check it out as tourists. So, we have been deliberate tourists in Chicago and Maine and now Alabama. Keeping with that rule of thumb, I booked us into a Cincinnati hotel for our layover on our way back home from Alabama. Cincinnati had the advantage of being a good day’s drive along our way home, and it was a good-sized city that we had never done more than drive through before. So, even though we would have only a few hours in the city, it seemed a good place to spend the night.

We confirmed that we are inefficient travelers. We stop a lot for gas and bathrooms, and we always eat a sit-down meal rather than eating in the car. It helps us break the drive up. As such, instead of taking seven-and-a-half hours to get to Cinci, we took about ten, and did not check into our hotel until about 7:00 pm. Still, we had about ninety minutes of daylight left to explore, and cities are fun after dark as well. So, we dumped our stuff in our room and headed out.

We headed east along Fifth Street for a few blocks, soaking in the sights. As with many downtowns after work hours, large sections of downtown were almost empty. There was a very pretty square that we passed, and Mer amazed me. As we passed the square, she saw the name of what I took to be a store or a small restaurant. She informed me that years ago she had read about that place, and that they were supposed to serve excellent ice cream. What a memory! She was also right, as we later found out after supper.

We turned down toward the river and passed the baseball stadium where the Reds play. We wanted to get to the river and see if there were any parks, but the river area was largely under construction. It seems as if parks are in process at the moment. We did find a small square celebrating steamboats, and that had stairs to what seemed to be a boat launch onto the river, which would be remarkable, given that the launch was right downtown. I’m not sure it would occur to me to drag my boat to a major city to launch it, but that is what it appeared to be.

By this time, the sun was setting, and so we started looking for a restaurant. We found one quickly across from the ballpark, but it was mobbed, with people spilling out into the small adjacent park. We kept going, and were starting to get a little worried that we would have to settle for a chain burger place, when we came back to the large square on Fifth Street. There were three open restaurants there, and so we got seated efficiently by asking to sit outside. It was a little chilly (in the low 60s), but we were both smart enough to have brought jackets. It was a nice place to eat and watch the square in action. There were a lot of high school students running around with “Robotics Team” t-shirts on, so I assume there was a robotics competition that weekend. It was a good meal in an interesting place.

After supper, we checked out Mer’s ice cream shop. We both got brownie sundaes, and while the brownie was disappointing (it was a flavorless sponge cake), the ice cream, hot fudge, and even the whipped cream (scooped on top by an ice cream scoop) were all excellent. I’m glad she remembered the place.

I wanted to check out more of the city by taking a horse-drawn carriage ride, and Mer liked that idea. We ran back to the hotel to use the bathroom, and then went back to the square to catch a carriage. The ride was very interesting – I never get to look around cities because I am always driving. The driver never talked with us the entire ride, which I found odd until Mer pointed out that the couple in back is probably usually cuddling and wants to be left alone. Indeed, one pedestrian yelled “Congratulations!” at us, so I guess we have that newly married look.

The tour lasted about twenty-five or thirty minutes, and covered a meandering path through the downtown streets. It passed a pretty two-block-long park that was lit by arches of small lights; the park was only fifty feet wide or so, but it was well laid out. We also went through a courtyard of a building that I suppose must be a public thoroughfare; it felt very Dickensian, as if we were in London in the late 1800s. The tour also took us past three huge and pretty churches that were all on the same intersection; if I ever get back, I’ll have to track them down.

We headed back to the hotel, pausing on the way outside a bar that had “dueling” pianos. One of the piano players waved at Mer, even though he was playing at the time. It was one of the few times I wished that I drank so that we would have a good excuse to go in – it seemed like a friendly place with great music. I could not bring myself to go in and have Mer ask for water and me order a $2.00 Sprite. So, we called it a night and got back to the room at about 11:00, and we went to bed. I was very pleased at how much we had seen in just four hours. Not too bad for deliberate tourists.

Ah – for those who do not know, Cincinnati is “The Queen City.” I’m not sure why.