Departure from Cincinnati

In order to catch our train for our departure from Ohio and back to Manhattan, we had to set an alarm for 1:30am so we could get up, check out of our hotel and meet our driver to get us to the train station.  After a very busy, hot, and humid day with a lot of walking, this allowed us only about three hours of sleep before waking up and heading to the train station but our sleeper car beds would be waiting for us on the train.  After shaking the cobwebs out from our short nighttime naps, we made our way down to the hotel lobby just before 2am...

The hotel lobby at this hotel is quite memorable with a towering ceiling (see photo below) and its immense size.  I had been here a few times about 40 years ago while traveling with the Air Force and this towering, expansive lobby is something I have always remembered very vividly and very fondly.  Back then, however, this towering lobby had a grand piano in it and this lobby led into a towering bar in the next room.  This bar area was also very large with a towering ceiling and filled with small circular tables with white linen tablecloths and candles on each table.  

Right now this area of downtown Cincinnati is a big construction zone as the new convention center complex is being built.  Even putting aside the few blocks of construction, this downtown area looks completely different than I remember it.  There are some newer, much taller buildings, new sidewalks, and the restaurants and bars have changed.  Gone are some old warehouses and dance clubs of the 1980s.  I've always been really impressed with this relatively small city and those feelings have not changed at all.  We certainly had some delicious food here on this visit too!  In fact, we were so spoiled with exceptional food during this long journey that even now, three months later, I still can't stomach my own cooking!  (Or is it out local food supply that is so disgusting?)

One of the memories I have of this hotel that always comes to mind first is of one of my visits during my early Air Force days about 40 years ago.  One night, four of us spent the night at the bar in this hotel.  This was in the large, towering bar area with white linens and candles on round tables and many servers just off the beautiful, impressive hotel lobby.  

Today, this adjacent area is now an exceptional restaurant with a single story ceiling so it looks completely different.  Honestly, I was disappointed to see that this part of the hotel had changed but the food in this new restaurant was truly something special for all meals.  Having this exceptional restaurant right in our hotel lobby was very convenient...  not to mention delicious. 

So, back to my memory from 40 years ago, there were four of us at our table on this particular very memorable night.  We were a table of four airmen who were very happy to be out of town on a temporary duty.  We loved our jobs, we were young, we were always looking for something different to do so getting some time out of town was always something special.  

We had been quietly drinking beer, laughing and enjoying each others' company all evening and into the night.  Sometime later in the night, we ordered another round of drinks and the server informed us that the bartender wanted us to settle up first because our bar tab was getting high.  As we reached into our pockets to retrieve some cash, we politely asked, "oh... no problem...  how much do we owe?"  

Our server informed us that our bar tab was $285 or so (if I remember correctly).  We were well aware that the beer was a bit more expensive in this hotel bar so we weren't surprised at our bar tab but we also understood that they were getting a little nervous that we might just bolt for the door without paying.  We were more than willing to settle our tab so quickly started to do so.

As we pulled our wallets and cash out of our pockets, the server noticed how much cash we had and quickly raised her hand up to stop us.  She said, "oh...  sorry, you guys are fine...  we'll settle up later."  She seemed a little embarrassed to have been told to get us to settle up.  She quickly scurried off to get us another round of drinks.  In hindsight, I wish I could have heard the conversation between our server and the bartender when she got back to the bar.

After that, we had a few more rounds of drinks and had ordered a bottle of champagne before eventually paying our tab and heading back to our less expensive, modest accommodations.  We weren't staying at this high end hotel but were across the river at a more modest place to stay.  That was a really fun night though and I'll never forget our server's face when we pulled out our wallets.  I also remember that we tipped her very well and she was very thankful.  

Today, this memorable lobby is sans grand piano and leads to a restaurant in a contemporary industrial style with a typical single story commercial ceiling rather than the towering ceiling of decades ago.  The lobby, however, is very much the same as I remembered it albeit sans grand piano (which was a bit of a disappointment for the pianist in me).  

Below, you can see Sheila, Lukey and Kenzie at the front desk.  They went to the front desk to check out as I headed for the front door to let our driver know we were checking out.  Right after I motioned through the glass doors to our driver that we were on our way, I captured this last photo of our hotel...

Since it was the middle of the night, we arrived at the train station within minutes.  It was still hot (in the 90s) but there was no traffic and Cincinnati was eerily quiet.  

We've been to a lot of train stations and they really are all quite different from each other but this station, Cincinnati Union Terminal, is quite unique and unlike any we've seen before in our travels.  It is round with a large, tall rotunda ceiling and roof and in an Arts Deco style.  

At the moment, this station doesn't get much train traffic and thus probably not much pedestrian traffic so many utilitarian-type things have been added that don't really match the Arts Deco style.  Nevertheless, it is an interesting station.  I wish we could have explored it a bit but, since it was the middle of the night, security wanted us to stay in Amtrak's waiting room.  I suppose that is understandable considering how our current society seems to enjoy defacing and abusing property but, still, it was a bit of a disappointment.  We had about an hour to kill so I was hoping to get to walk around shooting some photos.  I did manage to capture a few though...

In the Amtrak waiting room, the walls were finished in parquet woodworking depicting railroad scenes.  In one corner was an Arts Deco built-in desk where you could, in the past, write on post cards or look up local telephone numbers in telephone books.  Today this desk remains simply for its historical value...

The same holds true for the wall of old telephone booths...

We had about an hour to kill before our train arrived so reading news and checking Facebook our cellphones came in handy for killing some time.  I actually recorded a few video clips of Lukey and Kenzie with my cellphone (I rarely use my cellphone for photography so this is highly unusual) and the resulting video is at the bottom of this page.  

On this night, even though it was 2:30am, it was still in the 90s outside so we dressed accordingly.  Consequently, because we dressed for temperatures in the 90s, it was a bit chilly when we were sitting in the air conditioned train station.  Apparently, we had grown accustomed to the triple digit heat and humidity.  Even though the train station really wasn't all that chilly, we were chilly!

Just before the train made its way to the station, we were directed to a long flight of stairs to make our way to the platform (dealing with another long flight of stairs sucked with our big bags)...  and, when we got to the platform, we were back out in the hot, humid night...

The conductor checked our big bags and we carried our carry-ons to our roomettes.  Lukey and Kenzie were in the roomette right across the hall from our roomette (photo below).  When we boarded at around 3am, the attendant had already turned down our beds for us.  I think we were all ready for another few hours of sleep...  Lukey slept on the top bunk which is right over their heads in the photo below...

Here is a photo of Kenzie and Lukey eating breakfast in their roomette in the morning...

On this leg of our journey, we were fortunate enough to finally be in one of the newest Viewliner Sleeper cars.  These cars were very noticeably clean and everything was sparkling like new which was refreshing to experience on our journey home.  Our journey westward at the beginning of our trip was not so clean, new, nor sparkling.  

After a week or so of brutal heat and humidity, clothes soaked in sweat everyday, days filled with activities, and walking many miles everyday, we all were pretty exhausted on our multiple legs to get back to Vermont.  We had a great time though!  

I should also mention here that Lukey and Kenzie were well-behaved and very polite no matter where we went and no matter who we talked with throughout this long journey.  This did not go unnoticed by any of these strangers.  Just about everyone commented on how polite they were which made us very happy.

Here is a very short video I shot on my cellphone while we were waiting for the train to arrive in Cincinnati...