I had ask where The Arcade was in Cleveland, there at the front desk, but I could have just looked out the back window walking down the hall to the Elevator. The Arcade’s entrance is on Euclid Street, but we soon found out there was an entrance on Prospect Ave as well. Not much activity in what had been world’s first mall in 1890. Detailed iron work railings and the crystal palace-like ceilings; malls have gone south since the late nineteenth century. We passed on the breakfast place, we really, just wanted a coffee, and the barber seemed busy but there was no shoe-shine man to speak of when my wife predictably suggested I get a buff.
Espresso achieved at the far end we weren’t far from Heinen's Downtown, built seventeen years later as the Cleveland Trust Company Building. It was suggested that this former bank would be open now and that inside we’d see not only the remarkable rotunda but a series of murals by Francis David Millet depicting the history of the city, which were certainly interesting to consider after having listened to six hours of tragic narration from Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee during the car ride. Heinen’s has certainly done a nice job creating a high-end market in what had been a bank. A pint-sized container of pre-plucked, pre-washed gapes was a cool ten-bills. Why then did I buy two?
Rousing the ladies we managed to be on our way by 9:45AM as planned and took a drive through what Cleveland calls, ‘The Flats” which appeared mid gentrification and after whipping around the end of the Cuyahuga River there we sped out on Route 2 to the Rockefeller Park en route to the Cleveland Art Museum. The park was extraordinary, reminding me of some lost corner of Central Park. We parked right outside, wondered about our plates and all our luggage but sauntered over, regardless and were soon in the enormous atrium considering which way to go. Assyrians, Minoans, Etruscans, Byzantines, Florentines these museum perambulations with my kids who are no longer kids who are aware of these progressions and who have visited Crete and Athens and Rome and Florence, is a fleeting parental glory, I suppose. Enjoy it while we can. We’ll need to leave after an hour and forty-five minutes.
Off then, to keep a date at Oberlin. My younger one had signed up online for the 1:30PM info session and the 2:30PM college tour. I’d almost completely overlooked the fact that Oberlin was here, near Cleveland. This, as I’d been driven once through the night by my high school teacher to visit his alma mater and I’d had a wonderful time hanging out with an old pal who was a freshman and his odd ball, stoner friends in the dorm. But I must have went back home the next day and I certainly didn’t visit Cleveland.
Josh gave the info session. He did a fine job of making Oberlin resonate exceptional. A college counsellor who was in attendance seemed to think it was just fine to ask seventeen questions but beyond that it was informative as billed. Smart folks they had umbrella’s ready and this was important. While this was my little one’s first college tour proper, as last year everyone was closed for Covid, I have been on a dozen. But this was my first one in the rain. It poured though we persevered and the skies broke long enough to merit some plant identification: A bur oak. What a handsome tree. I plucked a few acorns. Perhaps they’ll grow.
Oberlin would have been “pretty cool” for my daughter, I suppose but for the text back I received from my friend's son who attended Oberlin. “Where should we go for lunch?” I asked. “Kim’s for Korean food” came the reply. He’d have had not known that this was the single best thing he could have possibly typed for my daughter. There was a Korean market and a small eatery with very nice Korean chow, served informally in plastic plates that my wife didn’t approve of but my daughter thought was great. The gal who served us was an Oberlin student and she suggested we apply early. Lots of financial aid and grants if you do! Good looking out. After Kim’s I’m almost certain this in on my daughter’s list. I'd love to have to revisit here.
Friday, 06/25/21
No comments:
Post a Comment