Cincinnati - The Findlay Market

Yesterday, Friday, we decided to venture into downtown Cincinnati. This city was established in 1788 at the confluence of the Licking and Ohio Rivers and is the third-largest city in Ohio. Named for the Roman dictator Cincinnati's, who saved Rome from a crisis and then retired to farming because he didn't want to remain in power. Now there's a concept. In the nineteenth century, Cincinnati was a boomtown in the heart of the country and was among the top 10 US cities by population with businesses flourishing, particularly in the pork products and hay areas. In 1827, the completion of the Miami and Erie Canal prompted a period of rapid expansion and prominence, during which residents began referring to the city as the Queen City. It continues to be known by that nickname today.

Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine district is know for it's 19th-century architecture, including the Findlay Market, which was our destination for the day. Finding the Market was challenging since we had no idea where we were going and blindly followed the GPS, with it's sometimes confusing prompts.
Finally we found the Market, paid our $5 for parking, and looked around. Our first sight was an unusual mural on the side of an adjacent building.

We walked about 2 blocks to the market, through some great old buildings.

This is definitely a turn-of-the-century neighborhood!

The Market displays a huge number of wares, from the largest crab legs I've ever seen,

to Belgian Chocolate Tortes,

and bacon that is sliced a full 1/2" thick! Yeah, we bought a bunch of stuff....yum!

After three hours at the market and having lunch (of course), we began to work our way home. It's a little convoluted to get from A to B since the nearest bridges over the Ohio are some distance away. It's roughly 40 miles to Cincy, and it was Friday afternoon of a holiday weekend, so by the time we got to Aurora we needed a break. There is a great little park along the river where we sat on a bench and watched the barges go up and down the river, sometimes at the same time!

Back at Little Farm, we saw that the "weekenders" had arrived. It has become a zoo!