Still Comfortable in Cleveland

Well, today was more of our typical day. We got up at dawn, or nearly, of course. We are now cursed apparently. (I blame a teacher’s schedule.) We drove into the city proper. It’s an odd city in some ways. The neighborhood’s change really quickly and very wealthy butts up against very poor. But while there is clearly wealth and poverty, the range does not seem as wide as in CT.

There is also a lot of medical here. We saw the Ronald McDonald House (it’s very nice looking) and the Red Cross and lots of hospitals (and libraries). We have also found that while the roads are clearly labeled, it is not exactly easy to get around. Google maps have lied and there are East / West road name issues that don’t seem to make a lot of sense. As a result, we’ve driven around a lot.

Our first mission was the Cultural Gardens. A mile and half stretch that is billed as gardens from dozens of nations. It sounded very cool and talk of it made it sound like the gardens in some way represented the country. This seemed accurate, but not quiet true. There were lots of countries and their gardens, but their uniqueness for each country was not exactly as anticipated. Each had it’s flag, and statuary of the country, but the garden part was pretty standard American issue. That was kind of disappointing. It sounded so much better than it’s reality.

Still Cleveland is clearly park city. There are tons of them, everywhere, every time you turn around! It’s nice actually. Though I can’t help but wonder what it’s crime rates are. Internet tourism sources give really mixed messages about that.

Since we were still early and the next few days are said to be rainy, we headed next to Cleveland Botanical Gardens. These were quiet nice and more accurately described. Currently in a large glass house they have plants of Madagascar. I liked them, much like our Southwest. Spiny, pointy things. And then a Costa Rican Rainforest. Very humid. I like this too, but thinking about the insect and reptile life that must live in the “real” one was kind of creepy. There were tons of butterflies in this section, but the neatest thing were hummingbirds. We got to see some flying/hovering and stopped. They were bigger than most I think. 3-5 inches in length? One was a brilliant bright blue. Gorgeous.

The rest of the gardens were outside - we strolled the Japanese, the herbs (very fragrant) and the roses. We skipped the Children’s and Hostas. By that point it was getting hot. But rather cool was currently in the outside were bird houses by architects. That was rather interesting - but again - a bit odd that the universe was putting architects in front of me. (Wasn’t I trying to get a way from architects for a week??) The houses were neat though, different styles, materials, etc.

From the Gardens we decided to try to find the famous cemetery: Lakeview Cemetery. This is where President Garfield and Eliot Ness are buried. We found Garfield - you couldn’t miss that - it was a house. Eliot Ness we never found, but as cemeteries go, this is a cool one. There are many statues and many mini mausoleums - gothic looking buildings. We have heard mixed reviews about how safe the cemetery was - as all city cemeteries are - so we were not inclined to get out of the car and stroll looking. Still as a drive thru it is definitely worth it.

From there we headed to the lake and the rock and roll hall of fame. Both are big.


The lake is a lake that looks like an ocean. We were at the pier. It’s pretty dirty water, but I like seeing the jumbo lake. (M. says the lakes back home are really ponds by NY standards. I think Lake Erie is a mini ocean.)

The R&R hall of fame is so cool. I was surprised how much I know about and how much history I know thru music history. There were so many cool items on display - hand written lyrics, costumes / clothing, letters, guitars. Some of it quiet classic (a Michael Jackson glove, a Metallica set, letters of Pete Townsend.) Having just finished Keith Richards’ Life there were things neat to see and put that little bit more in place. Over all - their permanent display is worth the trip. It was as good as Stax in Memphis. Their special display was Women in Rock which I was really excited to see. Having also recently read Girls Like Us, there are tons of women in rock history that I wanted to know more about and see. This was disappointing. The women’s display was mostly clothing.

Don’t get me wrong, seeing the classic outfits of Stevie Nicks, Cher, Debby Harry that was cool. Joan Jett’s leather jacket… Madonna’s little out fits. But… the problem was that pretty much was their display. Clothes? Really? I mean I’ve only read one decent book and I know there is a whole lot more than THAT. They coulda/shoulda done better.

Still, it was worth it. I was also struck by how many front men singers are tiny. I mean not just skinny, but short. Like I thought Mick Jagger and Bono were 6 foot something. If their clothing is any indication - they’re more like Michael J. Fox.

So we spent a few hours in the Hall of Fame, and were definitely hungry by the time we left at 4. Our dinner reservations were at 5. We had map. A decent map - so I thought. But after driving around for a half hour, we finally called and said, help!

We never would have found the restaurant without help. Never. It’s deep in a neighborhood that didn’t look like it would have much or even necessarily have anything upscale. But….

Lolita - Iron Chief Michael Symon’s restaurant is amazingly good. Perhaps one of the best meals I have ever had in my life. (A bad sign, this means my taste is getting more and more upscale and costly.) We started with pork belly. OMG was that good. Like the best of bacon and ribs without sauce. Shockingly, M. got the steak and I got the pork chop. Sigh. A pork chop will never be the same - it was topped with fennel and pine nuts and eggplant. I could live in that sauce. As the side, I got my long awaited fried brussel sprouts with pine nuts and anchovies. I know for those that don’t like that sort of thing it doesn’t sound good. But it is. It’s rich, and one couldn’t eat a lot of it, but … wow. It was definitely one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. Mike’s steak was good he also got potato fried in duck fat with citrus, It doesn’t sound like much, but wow was it good,

I am a very happy and contented camper. And we just have to find out how to get to Cleveland more quickly on inexpensive flights, because there appears to be a lot of good food here and I would come back. Oddly, M. was saying lets come back to Lolita tomorrow night and I was the one not sure about that. We’ll see.