Weekend Highlights : Exploring Cincinnati

So far, this weekend has been rainy & dreary in Cincinnati. My mom, brother & I figured yesterday would be a great day to head to the Cincinnati Museum Center. Turns out we weren't the only ones with that same idea, but we were able to park fairly quickly and headed inside.

We got our tickets for the lego exhibit, also known as The Art of the Brick. Well known art pieces, sculptures & every day items recreated in legos by artist Nathan Sawaya.

Each rendition had a small placard that included a brief description of the piece, including a picture of the original art, if applicable. Also included was the # of lego pieces used, one piece, Moai, known better as an Easter Island head, featured over 75,000 pieces!

Many of the pieces included well known paintings & sculptures replicated in legos, including Van Gogh's Starry Night, The Great Wave & American Gothic.

Starry Night

The Great Wave

American Gothic

All in all, we spent about an hour walking through 100+ pieces of lego art. The end of the exhibit included Brickworks, an interactive play zone. Different stations encourage kids to complete a prompt, some included building as tall as they could, building with eyes closed, etc.

I opted out of this experience due to the number of sneezing, coughing, slobbering tiny humans in the area. And I do believe that was a wise choice.

T-Rex skeleton that contained over 80,000 lego pieces

A flying pig made entirely from Legos

Afterwards we headed for lunch at a Cincinnati staple, Skyline Chili. Cincinnati style chili is more like a meat sauce than an actual chili, and it's unique spice profile includes chocolate & cinnamon. Don't knock it 'til you try it though. Skyline Chili is known for 3-ways, spaghetti topped with chili & cheese. If you add beans or onion you've got yourself a 4 or 5 way. I opted to share a 4-way with my Mom & ordered an extra coney on the side. A little bit of everything.

4-way to the left, coney to the right.

After lunch we swung by the store, picked up a few items & headed home to make cookies. An old family favorite I hope to share tomorrow.