bigmacbear (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bigmacbear) wrote2021-12-28 11:59 pm
bigmacbear) wrote2021-12-28 11:59 pm
Christmas Trip, Day 7 of 8
TUESDAY, December 28th
I got up about twenty after five to pee and went back to bed, but didn't sleep well due to my backache. When Gary's alarm went off at 7:30, he rolled over and slept in so I got up, again deferring my shower so we could get breakfast. At the breakfast bar I was waiting for my English muffin to toast while a simply huge black dude wearing a gray knit cap, black sweatshirt, gray work pants and tan boots carried on a conversation with the breakfast lady and a shorter, thinner, and older hotel staffer about the remaining games in the Bengals' schedule, especially vs. Kansas City on Sunday (the hotel staffer said he thought KC was going to "get 'em"). We went back to the room for game shows and some quality time, then showers and hit the pool around 12:30. I did 10 laps, took a break to plan lunch and the rest of the day, then got in five more laps.
We returned to the room and decided to have lunch at Tokyo Sushi around the corner on Chester Road. We each had the sushi lunch special, with a first course of soup and salad and a main course of five pieces of nigiri, a California roll, rice, seaweed salad, and an orange slice (plus the obligatory wasabi and ginger). As we rose to leave, I noticed a bearish dude with an unusual haircut seated across the way.
We were going to visit the zoo for the holiday lights, but the combination of fairly heavy rain and Gary's boot was clearly not going to be very safe. So instead we headed for the Newport Aquarium via I-71 and I-471 to avoid downtown Cincinnati traffic. We parked on the second deck below street level and, after waiting for at least two different elevators, ended up walking up the stairs to the aquarium entrance. A sign informed us that entrance is timed and pointed to the Aquarium website to purchase tickets. Gary pulled up the site on his phone and booked the first available slot an hour later at 4:45. That settled, we took pictures on the promenade with the aquarium building or downtown Cincinnati as backdrop, then ventured over to the nearby mall to visit the restroom and sit down and watch TV until it was time to enter the Aquarium. There were quite a few bears in the building, many of them shepherding children through the exhibits. There was also a Hispanic family group of multiple generations, including a very nice-looking twenty-something dude in an olive shirt. I told Gary, "'No' is the same in Spanish as in English." We had just passed the middle of the exhibition when an announcement came over the PA that the Aquarium would be closed in half an hour. Still, that gave us plenty of time to check out the remaining exhibits, including the penguins. I spotted a group of four or five penguins standing in a semicircle looking like they were having a conversation. I started singing quietly, "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" 😊 We decided not to try the Shark Bridge because the walking surface was narrow and neither of us is as steady on our feet as we were (especially with Gary's boot).
After making our exit (through the gift shop), we noticed a light rain had resumed and quickly got pictures of the lit Christmas tree and made our way to the mall, in search of Rotolo which is an Italian restaurant, bowling alley, and game space. We had to order our food from the bar, and spoke with a pleasant young blonde lady who gave us a number to put on the table so they could find us to deliver the food. The waiter making the deliveries was a cute young bear in a uniform that looked more like a mechanic's than a chef's, with longish hair and a long, thick reddish beard. We were seated at a high table with an old motorcycle or motor scooter fairing attached to the end. There was a sign behind it which proclaimed the space "The Garage at Rotolo", and which explains the uniform. An air hockey table sat nearby, which a family of four were using, except the younger of two sons wasn't quite tall enough and was climbing the side of the table to get a better view, which looked dangerous considering the rickety-looking shelf he was climbing and the hard concrete floor; fortunately nothing more happened. As they were preparing to play a different game, this kid appeared incapable of gently returning the pucks where they belonged, throwing them hard enough to send them sailing across the room. Gary pointed out the mess he'd made of the chess set behind him as well, and opined that he felt sorry for the parents. Gary had a meatball hoagie and I had a cold-cut hoagie with spicy meats. I drank Bundaberg ginger beer (like ginger ale but spicier) and another lady asked me about it as she passed our table. When we finished eating, we played air hockey since the table was open; Gary won 10-3.
It was a short walk back to the car and we were on the road about quarter after eight, taking I-75 north since downtown traffic had abated. The rain was heavier than it had been all day and construction didn't help, but we managed to make it to the hotel in one piece. I dropped Gary off under the awning by the lobby doors so as not to get his boot wet. We watched college football and late local news, and I called Colleen to make arrangements for the following day. We polished off the leftovers in the fridge and went to bed about 12:30.
I got up about twenty after five to pee and went back to bed, but didn't sleep well due to my backache. When Gary's alarm went off at 7:30, he rolled over and slept in so I got up, again deferring my shower so we could get breakfast. At the breakfast bar I was waiting for my English muffin to toast while a simply huge black dude wearing a gray knit cap, black sweatshirt, gray work pants and tan boots carried on a conversation with the breakfast lady and a shorter, thinner, and older hotel staffer about the remaining games in the Bengals' schedule, especially vs. Kansas City on Sunday (the hotel staffer said he thought KC was going to "get 'em"). We went back to the room for game shows and some quality time, then showers and hit the pool around 12:30. I did 10 laps, took a break to plan lunch and the rest of the day, then got in five more laps.
We returned to the room and decided to have lunch at Tokyo Sushi around the corner on Chester Road. We each had the sushi lunch special, with a first course of soup and salad and a main course of five pieces of nigiri, a California roll, rice, seaweed salad, and an orange slice (plus the obligatory wasabi and ginger). As we rose to leave, I noticed a bearish dude with an unusual haircut seated across the way.
We were going to visit the zoo for the holiday lights, but the combination of fairly heavy rain and Gary's boot was clearly not going to be very safe. So instead we headed for the Newport Aquarium via I-71 and I-471 to avoid downtown Cincinnati traffic. We parked on the second deck below street level and, after waiting for at least two different elevators, ended up walking up the stairs to the aquarium entrance. A sign informed us that entrance is timed and pointed to the Aquarium website to purchase tickets. Gary pulled up the site on his phone and booked the first available slot an hour later at 4:45. That settled, we took pictures on the promenade with the aquarium building or downtown Cincinnati as backdrop, then ventured over to the nearby mall to visit the restroom and sit down and watch TV until it was time to enter the Aquarium. There were quite a few bears in the building, many of them shepherding children through the exhibits. There was also a Hispanic family group of multiple generations, including a very nice-looking twenty-something dude in an olive shirt. I told Gary, "'No' is the same in Spanish as in English." We had just passed the middle of the exhibition when an announcement came over the PA that the Aquarium would be closed in half an hour. Still, that gave us plenty of time to check out the remaining exhibits, including the penguins. I spotted a group of four or five penguins standing in a semicircle looking like they were having a conversation. I started singing quietly, "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" 😊 We decided not to try the Shark Bridge because the walking surface was narrow and neither of us is as steady on our feet as we were (especially with Gary's boot).
After making our exit (through the gift shop), we noticed a light rain had resumed and quickly got pictures of the lit Christmas tree and made our way to the mall, in search of Rotolo which is an Italian restaurant, bowling alley, and game space. We had to order our food from the bar, and spoke with a pleasant young blonde lady who gave us a number to put on the table so they could find us to deliver the food. The waiter making the deliveries was a cute young bear in a uniform that looked more like a mechanic's than a chef's, with longish hair and a long, thick reddish beard. We were seated at a high table with an old motorcycle or motor scooter fairing attached to the end. There was a sign behind it which proclaimed the space "The Garage at Rotolo", and which explains the uniform. An air hockey table sat nearby, which a family of four were using, except the younger of two sons wasn't quite tall enough and was climbing the side of the table to get a better view, which looked dangerous considering the rickety-looking shelf he was climbing and the hard concrete floor; fortunately nothing more happened. As they were preparing to play a different game, this kid appeared incapable of gently returning the pucks where they belonged, throwing them hard enough to send them sailing across the room. Gary pointed out the mess he'd made of the chess set behind him as well, and opined that he felt sorry for the parents. Gary had a meatball hoagie and I had a cold-cut hoagie with spicy meats. I drank Bundaberg ginger beer (like ginger ale but spicier) and another lady asked me about it as she passed our table. When we finished eating, we played air hockey since the table was open; Gary won 10-3.
It was a short walk back to the car and we were on the road about quarter after eight, taking I-75 north since downtown traffic had abated. The rain was heavier than it had been all day and construction didn't help, but we managed to make it to the hotel in one piece. I dropped Gary off under the awning by the lobby doors so as not to get his boot wet. We watched college football and late local news, and I called Colleen to make arrangements for the following day. We polished off the leftovers in the fridge and went to bed about 12:30.