Weekend Highlights : Exploring Cincinnati & a Love Letter (Part 2)

4 whole days in Cincinnati for Thanksgiving left plenty of time to stuff my face with family, stuff my face with friends, and then repeat. And that's pretty much exactly what I did. You can see my first Cincinnati post here.

On Sunday, after waking up and eating oatmeal (cookies) for breakfast (Recipe here!) My mother and I decided to head out for some shopping, or rather, my mother decided & I was captive. Same difference. We headed out shopping, but quickly realize we were hungry, and diverted ourselves to a local pretzel shop.

Soft pretzels are my favorite food group. Yes, if you eat enough of them, they are indeed a food group. We headed to Brezel, a pretzel shop in the OTR (Over the Rhine) neighborhood of Cincinnati.

Proving once again that portion control DOES NOT run in the family, my mom (the same mom who cooked THREE turkeys for Thanksgiving...for 6 of us...) decided we needed 2 of everything, so if it was tasty, we wouldn't have to share. And we ended up pretty much clearing the shelves.

OTR was formerly sort of a sketchy part of town, but in the past 3-5 years has really made a comeback. It's now home to delicious pretzel places, several local breweries, and many hand crafted shops featuring local artists. We ventured into a few & found some great locally made pieces that would make for great gifts.

On our way back to the car I spotted a piece of artwork on a brick wall, so we crossed the street to see it. Upon further inspection it was actually part of a series of art pieces. Each depicted part of a poem about the city of Cincinnati, a love poem for the city if you will. The full poem, titled Seven Hills and A Queen to Name Them can be found by clicking the link.

Once we spotted the first, we started spotting others. We took a rather zig zag route back to the car as we wound through the buildings piecing together the love poem.

So, Queen City, I love that I can still explore my hometown. I'm so glad to see you changing, growing & breathing new life. Until next time Cincinnati.