Louisville Day 1 & 2: Valentine's Day Repeat

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Repeat

As we pulled up to the Seelbach Hilton I realized that unintentionally the last time we were here was exactly seven years ago in 2002 when we were living in Cincinnati and came down to visit the city and spend some time in Bourbon Country. It didn't feel like a long time ago but seven years is a long time and the city had changed a little from how we remembered it, but it still remains a city that seems to lag 10 years behind the rest of the Midwest . . . it's downtown is completely lifeless and the only attempt at urban revival is Fourth Street Live which is still seen as a great project at a time when such project's times have passed elsewhere.

Retail in Louisville

We stopped on our way into town at the newest shopping destination in town, an open-air lifestyle center called The Summit. I see a lot of shopping centers around the country and this is the worst open-air center I have ever seen and yet, in what seems to be typical Louisville fashion, the place was jam-packed. They had a decent list of retailers but the layout was horrible and there was only one point and out which created massive back-ups. We had lunch at J. Gumbo's which is a local Cajun fast-casual place, the food is not at all good.

We next walked downtown which involved a bunch of vacant and decrepit old storefronts or impregnable office towers, it was very windy and unpleasant on top of it. Our final destination was the 21c Museum Hotel which feels out of place in this town and seemed to be an oasis for the city's alternative population. The museum at 21c was actually fabulous both from its scale and from the quality of the contemporary art it exhibits. We had a cocktail at the bar which was jamming at 3PM while the rest of downtown was a veritable ghost town.

At night we went to Fourth Street Live which, as stated previously, is not so impressive and sits in what feels like an abandoned and decrepit downtown area. There is absolutely no retail in downtown Louisville save for the Borders and Footlocker at Fourth Street Live, both of which are completely overrun by the few urban inhabitants. It doesn't feel unsafe here, it is just depressing. We went to a comedy show at the Improv featuring Hal Sparks, the comedy club is very nice, the food was okay (served by our friend Captain Brien from the Marco Island post), and Hal Sparks was funny. Jennifer thought he was really funny but he's grown his hair out David Spade style and I thought he was okay funny, not as good as the hypnotist at Off the Hook in Marco Island.

Crossing the River

Rather than go back the way we came where one of the cops might recognize us as one of the three cars hitting 100MPH on I-71, we headed to the north bank of the Ohio River to also see some of what scenic Indiana has to offer. In short . . . looks like Ohio.

Immediately across the river is particularly sad, I don't know what industry used to exist in Jeffersonville, IN but it is clearly long gone and has left ugliness all over behind. So we didn't stay there long after visiting the two malls in town which sit next to one another. We drove up I-65 in search of what Indiana's nature might have to offer.

Refuges and Parks

As a conclusion from our drive, my suggestion would be to go further west to the Hoosier National Forest which includes the town of French Lick where the famous resorts are located. I am sure the resorts would not be up to our standards but you can only expect so much sometimes and this is likely the best the area has to offer.

We pass the Clark State Forest which is rather small and did not look all that interesting; then the Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge which is also small and near Seymour and we somehow missed the turn so kept on going; then the Big Oaks NWR which seems to have not northern entrance despite being so big, so we couldn't go there; finally settling on the Versailles State Forest which was no different than any other large Ohio park save for the nearby bison farm and covered bridge we photographed.

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Photos

21c Museum Hotel
Mosque made of bullets. Incredible.

Our Room at the Seelbach
Redone, not bad, but not as good as the old design.

21c Museum Hotel
With the crazy red penguins. Wonder how they got that variance on a historical building!

My Beautiful Valentine
Ah what patience, even 7 years later!

Grand Dame of Louisville
The Seelbach Hilton

Seng Jewelers
No, you can't have that, the old man Davis was stuck on having us buy an $8000 ring.

Cathedral of the Assumption
Spire in the early morning light.