The day after we arrived in Cleveland there was an article in the paper that listed the top 5 cities losing population and the top 5 cities gaining population. Ohio was the only state that had two cities in the top 5: Cleveland and Cincinnati.
We had a great trip, and Cleveland does have something to offer but it's hard not to think that the only thing holding the place together is duct tape and chewing gum. (Other parts are blocked off my massive amounts of orange cones, "the state flower of Ohio" we were told.) I don't think anything in that city works any better than it has to and people were super nice and eager to be helpful but consistently completely worthless.
Our checked bag didn't arrive with us and after wrangling that bit at the airport, we took the Red Line into town which was easy and offered a nice view of rusted broken down stuff overgrown with rich green foliage.
When we checked into the hotel we let them know we were missing a bag and we found food and went to bed.
The next morning I watched the USA gets their butts kicked by Ghana and Bob spent almost the entire time on the phone trying to track down the bag. The airline said the delivery people had it. The delivery people said the hotel had it. The hotel said they didn't have it. Bob went around in circles, with much more patience that I would have had.
Finally, when my game ended, we went downstairs to check again and what do you know, the hotel had the bag. It had been delivered in the middle of the night. It had our name on it. They knew we were looking for it. You'd think they would have tried to get it to us.
We spent some time wandering around downtown and then met a friend of Bob's from high school who drove us around. We went to University Circle and looked at the Frank Gehry building and walked around enjoying the day. We had great weather, mostly mild, sure-muggy, and a fair amount of rain but nothing we couldn't handle. While we were there, there were areas of flooding in Ohio but not near us.
On our way back into town we got turned around and ended up driving around East Cleveland which was quite an adventure. My favorite shop was the Bible Shop/Exterminator. I'm not making this up.
We had a wonderful dinner at the Great Lakes Brewing Company and later had ice cream and wandered around a little bit.
The next day we switched to the hotel where the wedding was going to be and then went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I wasn't knocked out by the whole thing. If you've ever been to EMP (Experience Music Project) in Seattle, you've more or less seen it AND you've seen a Gehry building all at the same time. I think EMP is a little better.
Some great things were the movies. There's a montage of inductee ceremonies that I loved and another movie about the inductees that's fantastic.
By the time we were wrapped up there and had some lunch it was time to meet the girls coming into town from the west coast. We all gathered for some cocktails and a fun dinner and then early to bed. We had a big day on Saturday.
I took in the Germany v. Sweden game and then walked around downtown until I met up with Bob. We had a late lunch and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the big party.
I'm running out of steam here so the quick version is: the ceremony was in the Old Stone Church and a great celebration followed. Everyone was thrilled for the Bride and Groom. Super fun party, yay.
