So I got a free plane ticket about a year back that allowed me to go round trip on any Midwest Airlines flight.  Of all the cities I could've gone to I chose Cleveland because it was somewhere I'd never been and it is the largest city in the great state of Ohio. 

I flew in from Milwaukee on Monday morning.  I arrived at Cleveland Hopkins at about 9:30 AM, so I had the whole day to explore.

 

 

Thursday was a beautiful day.  Well that is until I tried to take the plane back to Milwaukee.  By then it was thunder storming and my plane was REALLY delayed.  But the first half of the day was gorgeous, so I borrowed a bike and wheeled on over to Lakewood and Rocky River.

 

 

202.  My first stop was Edgewater Park.

 

203.

 

204.

 

From here I took the bike up Edgewater Dr, though the gold coast, and the up Lake Dr to Lakewood Park.  Beautiful houses along the way.  I almost think they're better than the Fairmount Blvd area.

 

205.  The skyline again from Lakewood Park.

 

206.  The cliffs up here are great.

 

207.

 

On to downtown Lakewood.  This city actually reminded me most of Milwaukee's city proper.  Downtown Lakewood resembles the East Side and Bayview areas of MKE, and a little further west on Detroit when you get closer to Rocky River reminds me of our more urban areas.

 

208.

 

209.  RTA services the burbs too!

 

210.

 

211.

 

212.  The new Library is stunning.  Very well done for new construction.  Bravo.

 

213.  This is interesting.  A hotel on top of an old bridge.

 

214.  The Rocky River.

 

215.  The Rocky River Reservation reminded me more of our State Parks here in Wisconsin.  What a beautiful asset to the city it is. 

 

216.

 

217.

 

218.

 

219.

 

220.

 

221.

 

222.

 

223.

 

I got as far south as Puritas, and decided to call it quits.  I took Puritas up and all the way over to West Blvd.  The sidewalks on West Blvd sucked for bike riding, but the trees were massive and gorgeous.  You can tell that it used to be a fine street.

 

224.

 

225.  Don't know what this is, but it's cool.

 

226.

 

After the bike ride, I walked to the Ecovillage Station to go back into downtown one last time before I left. 

 

227.  This beautiful old abandoned [school?] is begging to be reused.

 

228.

 

229.  This cool old apartment building was resonating with VERY uncultured noise.

 

230.  Brick streets abound in Ohio I've noticed.

 

231.  Very well done brick at that.

 

232.  This lovely little park is the entrance to the Ecovillage Station.

 

233.

 

234.

 

235.

 

236.

 

237.

 

And that's it.  I rode the Rapid back to the airport, stopped home for a few hours and then too the Amtrak down to Peoria for a wedding that was tiring as hell.

 

Here's me enjoying my popcorn at the airport...

 

Cleveland was a great city, and I'm glad I visited.  Thanks again for the hospitality.

 

 

 

very enjoyable set. looks like you had a nice visit -- you sure saw a lot!

WOW...what a set!  Glad you were able to cover so much ground and you really did see some interesting spots!

You saw it all...except Slavic Village.  But you could've skipped that anyway.  Congrats!

You saw it all...except Slavic Village.  But you could've skipped that anyway.  Congrats!

 

I know, I should've gone to Cleveland's Slavic Village.  Who knows, Cleveland's might take off now that my personal favorite Slavic village, called Czech Village in Cedar Rapids, was completely wiped off the map by the floods.

 

So sad:

 

My Slavic Village?  What, do you think I'm a Shaw High School graduate now?!?!

 

*BANNED!*

I never said yours...what are you talking about?  :wink:

Nice set!

 

212.  The new Library is stunning.  Very well done for new construction.  Bravo.

 

Indeed; the interior is just as well done. I'm still angered that the old Carnegie building's facade was destroyed during an earlier addition, though.

Outstanding tour, all 4 parts. You covered an amazing amount of territory!

Nice pics; that restaurant on top of the bridge looks awesome. It goes to show you that a little creativity can go a long way in finding a use for old existing infrastructure as opposed to simply erasing what was there. The bridge itself is really well maintained and looks great.

That's not a restaurant on the old Detroit Road bridge in Rocky River. It's an office building. But it's still very creative! And the office building was built down into the bridge.

Great tour.  Enjoyed all 4 threads and the pics were great.  I've never seen that building on top of that old bridge; pretty cool.

starting with the last set.......so far so good.