Laura and I take to heart the old phrase, "be a tourist in your own town" - but use it a little more regionally. With that in mind we decided to get a hotel in Cleveland near Playhouse Square and enjoy a couple of days of activities up North. We first tried a couple of brew-pub-only-offerings at Great Lakes Brewing - but as usual it was too busy to try and get a table. So we headed across the street to Market Garden and had a beer and an appetizer. Next we moved on to Platform Beer Co. I've wanted to get up and visit Platform since they opened this Summer. I've done photography work for the owner's other business, The Cleveland Brew Shop, and had been following their progress on social media with the new brewery since it was in the planning stages. They did not disappoint.
"Beer Cellar" - at the always packed Greal Lakes.
"Fall Porter" - at Market Garden.
Platform brews their own beers, has guest taps, and is also an incubator for future breweries. They have a 12 week session where they teach accomplished homebrewers the ins and outs of starting their own commercial brewery - and allow them to brew twice at Platform. I started with a beer from the first in the program - Ferndock Brewings' Sandusky Pale Ale - which was really good. Laura had Platform's Red Rye 88 which was a rustic red - just a hint of rye - very good too..
They don't have their own kitchen but they partner with local restaurants for the food - when we were there it was Momocho and we had some awesome tacos.
We love places with updated draft lists.
Laura - on the way out after a few more amazing beers.
After that we checked into our hotel - which was around the corner from the next destination - the new Hofbrauhaus Cleveland. There was a giant line to get in - we were told it was going to be two hours but I don't think we waited that long.
"Litre of Oktoberfest"
I ordered a few beers to from the outside window to drink while we waited - we also bought a pretzel from the pretzel girl who came down the line.
Laura and her giant beer.
When we were close to getting in we were asked if we minded sitting upstairs, "there is food and music" - sounded good to us.
Upstairs and downstairs are both classic German beer halls - long rows of community tables. We had some really good food and enjoyed the music but didn't stay all that long. After the giant beers and German food we were getting sleepy.
In the morning I went for a walk down Euclid Avenue, through Playhouse Square and into Public Square.
The Cleveland Arcade is a Victorian Era masterpiece built in 1890 - one of the first indoor shopping malls in the country - it was partly financed by Rockefeller.
This glass atrium is bookended by two towers - now Hyatt Regency's.
'The Soldiers and Sailors Monument' in Public Square.
It was kind of cool to walk around Cleveland and take it in like it was a foreign place. Every time I head up that way I'm always going somewhere specific and rarely get a good look at all the different buildings and architecture - which is another reason I love photography - slowing down and really trying to capture a place.
We had lunch at the new Happy Dog which is the old Euclid Tavern. I had seen tons of bands play at the Euc. in its glory days but probably hadn't been in that building 15 years. The new Happy Dog is just as great as the original.
"The Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern"
We finished out trip with a stop at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History which neither of us had been to since we were kids.
We enjoyed ourselves but I guess the wow-factor of a museum like this is bigger when your younger....or maybe it just seems a little quaint after having been to the gigantic NYC museums.
"Laura and T-Rex"
"Up-Close and Personal"
"Triceratops"
We finished out trip with some "Dino-Love".
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