Tuesday it must be Columbus... Ohio...
The trip from Zanesville to Cincinnati was easy and took us through Columbus. Lunch was at the Columbus Museum of Art (CMA). Museum food ranges from often horrid to the occasionally sublime, but it's usually, in all cases, overpriced and served by unhappy attendants left over from some defunct grade school cafeteria. The food at CMA was very good, and for the quality of it, very reasonably priced. First, the menu was limited to 2-3 entrees plus a few soups. While the café itself, called the Palette Café, was open from about noon to 3pm, the meals are only served until 1:30. Least you think that a limited menu and limited service hours are an issue, I can assure you they are in fact the very hallmark that guarantees quality. There was a warm wild mushroom soup with roquefort, and a chilled almond peach soup; both were great. I had some salmon cakes with a balsamic vinegar reduction and some haricots verte. Everything was very reasonably priced, served on very interesting china, and served not by wage slaves but by museum volunteers (Women's Board members) ensuring that the service was charming, friendly, and so forth.
The museum (http://www.columbusmuseum.org/) itself is a nice collection of American and European Masters; there was also a nice selection of traveling shows (e.g., Monet to Matisse) and a special hands-on exhibit for kids. For those who know me, my eyes were drawn to their sculpture garden, as well as sculpture placed around the outside of the museum and within a brightly lit “ballroom.” The Louise Nevelson was inside and very interesting. Outside there was an interesting abstract Henry Moore (three piece reclining figure; draped 1975) and some other work, maybe one by Julian Schnabel but it was hard to tell as the info “plate” was rather faded…
Much of the entire trip has been marked by some wind and rain, and the trip through Columbus was no exception. After leaving the Museum we journeyed a few blocks to German Village; an area in the southern end of Columbus where many people of German descent settled and built homes and businesses using similar architectural styles including buildings of modest size constructed of brick. The rain precluded much photography and stopped us from walking about. I did make a quick driving tour of the area and stopped by the welcome center (Meeting Haus) to see a short video on the area. What was noteworthy was how much of the area survived intact and that the preservation of the area dates from the 1950s. After avoiding Starbucks and indulging at a local clone (Cup of Joe) I headed west to Cincinnati.
