Teas and T's: Ark Encounter, Part 3

We had an extended breakfast with an egg-sausage-tomato-onion casserole which was excellent. Also better sausage links, lots of little pastries, more fruit, but oatmeal instead of grits. Boo-hoo.

Our surprise this day (we call them Dawnies) was another music group; a husband and wife, plus another guy; guitars, mandolin, and bass. Not my kind of music, but at least it wasn't so loud that your ears hurt.

We had a late start at 10:00 and our first stop was the Cincinnati Museum Center, housed in the former Cincinnati Union Terminal, which must have been ahead of its time. They divided incoming traffic with ramps so that taxis and cars used one ramp, buses another, and streetcars used the third. The main concourse had stores for books, toys, clothing, food, a movie theater, and a tea room where the tiles were designed by a Rookwood artist. They even had a barber and restrooms with bathtubs for long trip passengers. This was the time when traveling by train was glamorous and the style was art deco. The building houses the museum, but it's also a working Amtrak terminal. You can check it out HERE. Click on "Visit" to see what the museum has to offer. There's even an IMAX. I'd have loved more time here. Just walking through the door gave me a thrill.

Sadly, the tea room has been replaced with this - look on the right - it's right out in the rotunda.

Our visit was to see the large train display compliments of Duke Energy. It's portable, which has to be one huge undertaking. This thing is BIG. See the operator in the white shirt in the background? That gives you an idea.

I took this photo from an upper level. You can see people going down the stairs in the upper left. The cities with a bridge are suspended from the ceiling.

Since this is Ohio, we had to have the B & O Railroad sign. Remember from Monopoly?

They thought of everything - old trains

Passenger trains

The repair shop

Santa's reindeer, even Rudolph

The terminal with the police on duty

Snow on the vehicles

Christmas and winter activities

Even a hot chocolate stand

And the operator, working his magic

The trains were amazing, but so were the Legos, and they had trains as well.

I loved the gardens

And the buildings

Christmas, of course

Fairytales - Frozen, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty

A marina

With a Coast Guard cutter (for my ex-boss who served in the Coast Guard during WWII)

And he loves airplanes, maybe even Legos planes

The cutest train of all was in the gift shop.

The history part of the museum had businesses from the past to walk into (small, of course), but with a tribute to the river traffic, murals on two walls with a replica portion of a riverboat between.

I loved the little sewing stand.

And a hobo's kit. The item in the middle on the right is a pipe cleaner (the pipe is made of wood below the comb), and the bottom left item is an instrument called a jew's harp.

A sign of the times - Santa in a Covid mask.

I went outside to take photos of this wonderful building, and could only imagine how exciting it must be in summer with the water.

The view was great, the skies were blue, the sun was shining, the flag was flying - God's in His Heaven, all's right with the world.

As I went back inside, Terri came running to tell me to hurry if I missed the Taft exhibit. We had just enough time for a few photos, but worth hurrying to see. And we weren't late to the coach.

The exhibit is on loan from the Taft collection - not the president, but his younger half-brother whose former home is now a museum, but closed for preservation work. Something to add to your Bucket List for the next time you're in Cincinnati.

I love cows

And The Netherlands

More information HERE. Click on Exhibitions at the bottom and then Upcoming to see what I'm adding to my 2022 goals.

That was fun - now off to lunch at Washington Platform, one of the oldest restaurants in Cincinnati, founded 1860 (a little poor timing if you ask me).

I was a little nervous when I saw the artwork - not a fan of raw oysters.

Fortunately, it was just artwork. We had a buffet of chili, potato-leek soup, ham and cheese sandwiches, chips, salad, assorted desserts. The pictures reminded me of a favorite quote; The world is your oyster, it's up to you to find the pearls. Chris Gardner.

This is, however, a place for oysters and other goodies like fried green tomatoes. Check them out HERE.

And we're off to see The Ark Encounter. When you visit, be sure you have good walking shoes, and I would suggest going first thing in the morning when you're fresh. The ark truly is gigantic. There are three long levels, with switch-back ramps from one level to the other. I wimped out and used the elevators.

Like The Creation Museum, lots of reading, but also lots of exhibits. They thought of everything you might need when floating above a world covered with water.

Noah's Prayer

You start at the bottom level (animals). Very dark. The replica oil lamps were convincing.

Water tank at each cage

Food storage

Metal shop

Woodworking shop

Library (with rolled scrolls instead of books)

Noah style forklift

Leisure

Garden area

Kitchen

Living quarters and an escaped bird

There's a very large gift shop and the prices are reasonable.

The restaurant is called Emzara's Kitchen, named after Noah's wife. The food is very good, but the place seemed to be a little disorganized (perhaps short of help?), and remember that the fried chicken ends at 5:00 p.m.

When we left the restaurant, everything was beautiful as it was dark.