Really Going To Cleveland ― At Last!

...Continued from yesterday: 
    Friday morning, the day of our foray from the suburbs of Cleveland to actual Cleveland, the sky was overcast and the forecast was for rain.

     And as we approached the Cleveland skyline the rain was, in fact, pouring down,

...but no problem, we'd brought our rain gear, and in any case the first Cleveland sight we planned to see was of the indoor variety, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

​     We found a place to park a few blocks away,

...and by the time we reached the building I'd already learned several things:
     1.  The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has a beautiful location next door to the Cleveland Browns' stadium and the Great Lakes Science Center.

​   2.  Both it and the Browns' stadium  overlook  Lake Erie.
  3.  Behind the buildings there's a scenic walkway  along the Lake, which I would have liked to stroll if the weather had been nicer.

    4.  The pavement in front of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame offers a spectacular view of the Cleveland skyline.

   5. Cleveland, Ohio, is the birthplace of Rock & Roll.

     Which I guess explains why the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is located in Cleveland, something I always wondered about along with wondering why it was built in the first place; I mean, Rock & Roll being more of an auditory or audio-visual medium as opposed to something anyone would be interested in experiencing inside a museum.
     However on this Friday morning there were quite a few visitors besides us obviously interested in the museum experience of Rock & Roll, most of whom appeared to be within our age demographic.​

     Anyway, the museum exhibited quite  a few photographs,

​...and artifacts,

...and covers of the Rolling Stone,

...though my favorite exhibit was a half-hour film showing some old "Bandstand" footage.

    After our visit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Tom asked if I would like to go to the art museum next.  I told him, no, I would prefer to ignore the misty drizzle and walk from the lakefront to downtown just to what there was to see, and so we did.

     Just as we were deciding it was about time for lunch we came upon a place called Wahlburgers, with a cheery electric green interior,

​...which we learned, soon after entering, was owned by the Wahlburg - as in Mark and Donnie - family.

    Anyway, Tom ordered a cheeseburger, which he said was good,

...while I had an outstanding portobello sandwich, .consisting of a big portobello on the bottom covered by a layer of little mushrooms, caramelized onions and cheese.

​     The french fries, on the other hand, were kind of cold and mushy. The Wahlburg brothers need to put their heads together and do something about  the fries.

   After lunch we walked to Public Square,

     Then we walked some more around the town,

     A downtown bowling alley.

     We came to an interesting-looking old building called The Arcade,

...the interior of which was a beautiful architectural arcade.

   After we left The Arcade we walked around until we came to another arcade, the Euclid Arcade, inside of which was some pretty mural work,

...and next-door to which was a little shop called Yum Yum's with some promising-looking donuts in the window.

       So we stopped in to check out the wares.
     Tom swears this was the best chocolate-covered vanilla creme-filled donut he's ever had in his life. (Which is saying a lot, considering how old we are and how many donuts we've consumed so far).

​ And while I couldn't swear that my jelly donut was the best I've ever had in my whole life, well, it was one darned good donut.

     In any case, the store's manager of eight years is a super-friendly  guy named Giovanni with whom we had a nice conversation.

     Then we resumed our walking and began to notice that the streets were becoming more crowded with folks dressed in Cleveland Indians gear.

...heading towards the Indians' stadium, getting an early start on that evening's game.
     Meanwhile our final destination of the day was the Cleveland theater district known as Playhouse Square, over the official entrance to which hangs  a piece of street art known as  the Chandelier (this we learned from the donut store manager Giovanni).

     We also learned that Playhouse Square is the largest performing arts center west of New York.

    Then we headed back through town to the lakefront where our car was parked,

...the streets festive with the crowds of Tribe fans.

Cleveland is awesome. Who knew?

"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
         by Patti Liszkay
is available at
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