World United States Ohio Cincinnati

Diana in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee From North to South in America

My Kind of City May 4, 2010

So I drove from Uniontown, OH stop for latte at a Starbuck in Cloumbus, OH and here I am in Cincinnati. Possible 1/2 hour away from the Cincinnati, the vegetation was breathtaking and I almost smell the freshness in the air. The expressway had a feeling of prue cleanliness. The moment my GPS with that very annoying woman's voice said, "Turn right, turn right" I saw the Westin hotel. I parked and went upstairs not to check in but to find out whether they had a room ( the challenge for me is not finding a room in any city, the challenge is driving into the unknown) for me overnight. They told me to try the Hyatt, The Hyatt told me to try the Hilton, and of course they had no room at the inn. However, the reservation assistant told me to try the Millennium Hotel, but before I stayed there, I called the Cincinnatian Hotel the very exclusive and elegant hotel in Cincinnati. They were also booked. So I return to the the Millennium and spend the night in an OK room but I had a king size bed and I rolled around in the bed like a kid. Two hours later I was ready to see the city and have something to eat. I had 48 Black Mussels in a sauce to die for, and a couple glasses of Menage a Trois Red Blend, CA at McCormick & Schmicks while watching the New York Mets and the Cincinnati Red on an outdoor screen in Fountain Plaza. So what is it that I like about this city? I saw Tiffany store, Macy and top rated resturants, hotels and the city represent the kind of diversity that is very important to me. I called all my sisters and friends and informed them of all the handsome businesslike men that I saw, all looking more like Smith. The cosmopolitan flair is just another thing that I like about this city. I spoke some Chinese with a Malaysian Chinese, met a girl that lived in Rochester and moved to Cincinnati this January with her Phd husband, had lunch a JeanRo Bistro with a Federation of American Women's Club member and that was very lovely and won a prize from Cricket phone by looking at a map of the USA and telling them which State was missing. In less than 2 mins, I got it....and you would never believe the State that was missing? Tennesse The highlight for the day was a visit to the Underground Railroad Freedom Center. A core activity of the Freedom Center is educating the general public about the history of the Underground Railroad against the broader story of America's struggle for freedom. The Underground Railroad is the symbolic term given to the routes enslaved Black Americans took to gain their freedom as they traveled, often as far as Canada and Mexico. Free Blacks, Whites, Native Americans and other slaves acted as conductors by aiding fugitive slaves to their freedom. What I learned There were probably at least as many attempts at escape from slavery in the North America of the late 1600s and the 1700s, both individual and in groups, as in the 1800s when various forces, from the national Constitution to the local slave patrols, were all aligned to prevent escapes. While primary attention is given to the drama of slave escapes to the free states of the North and to Canada, there was also a flow of runaways into Spanish Florida and into Spanish Mexico and the subsequent Mexican Republic. Although the numbers escaping across the southern borders never threatened to destabilize slavery, there were very serious consequences for American diplomacy. Indeed, American foreign policy in the antebellum era was often driven by the need to secure the national borders and prevent slave escapes. The majority of assistance to runaways came from slaves and free blacks and the greatest responsibility for providing shelter, financial support and direction to successful runaways came from the organized efforts of northern free blacks. Amendments Why the Fourteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth amendments were so important to Blacks, and why so many African Americans were happy to see the Obama's in the White House. I don't know about you but this is a place worth a visit and if and when you decide to go, please call me I will be on that trip to Cincinnati. I placed myself as a slave and when I walked outside the center, I felt free. But one thing struck me the most, I felt like I was going in the wrong direction. Every enslaved blacks were running North and I felt as if I was running South. It gave me such a airy feeling knowing that in less than one hour I was heading toward Kentucky. Hotel: Any of the hotels in downtown Cincinnati...if you get a chance check out the Cincinnatian Hotel Food: McCormick & Schmick and JeanRo Bistro Wine: Menage a Trois Red Blend, CA Tour: A must see....Underground Railroad Freedom Center Book: 1001 Things Everyone Should Know about African American History

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