December 21, 2009
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Weekly Photo Challenge, “PART 3- Christmas Downtown Cincinnati”
…MERRY CHRISTMAS XANGA…Follow the Link to Visit and PLAY the
Weekly Photo Challengethis week, for Dec. 11 – Dec. 17, 2009
“the Christmas Season through New Years” suggested by PhotoGraphics..PART 3..
…Christmas in Downtown Cincinnati…After our failed attempt to capture Christmas while candy shopping in Cincinnati, we made a special trip to town in the late evening of December 15 for Photos. We drove familiar roads from Loveland into Montgomery then to Reading in hopes of catching the stained glass window of the church I attended as a child, lit with the lights from inside the church. Once again a failed attempt so back to the interstate I-75 to continue our drive into Cincinnati. The evening was a joy filled experience with so much beauty, shining reminders of Christmas but it included a bit of sadness at the same time.
1- For the most part, the streets in downtown Cincinnati are directed as one way streets so there is always some confusion driving there. I’ve never memorized into my mind the map of streets (my mom knew them all) so always have to hunt and peck my way around. I can get anyplace, just not in a straight bee line. There are a lot of walkways over the streets taking shoppers from one store to another but what street we are on in the above moment is a mystery unless I decide to go back to town and make sense of the corner buildings in photos.
2-Fountain Square is the center of town. It is home to the Tyler Davidson Fountain which was dedicated to the city in 1871. Read HERE at Wikipedia for more information. You see in the above photo, the square lit for Christmas. The annual tree lighting was the day after Thanksgiving on the 27th of November and hundreds of people witnessed the event of the sixty foot tree with its 20,000 lights and a five foot star at its top, joyously lit for the season. Read more on the event and see a video with the excitement HERE. There have been, in the past, ice rinks kept on the Winter time square but I did not notice anyone skating while we drove so I don’t know if it’s done anymore. *** AFTER WATCHING THE VIDEO myself, there is a large ice rink behind the fountain in use by lots of fun loving, energetic people who are enjoying the Christmas festivities on the square, unseen from the cars driving by. We who are trapped inside cars for photo taking miss a lot but thanking the Cincinnati Newscasters for a fun update on the square.
3- In this photo you see the fountain caressed with the soft lights of Christmas. Its very top is darker in the image so not easily seen in the photo. I wasn’t sure I had sucessfully taken any pictures of the fountain as in the car when it’s dark and we are in moving traffic I miss a lot of shots I’d like to take. I got lucky and discovered this one among my photos taken that evening.
4- This is Garfield / Piatt Park and another Wikipedia link for you, HERE. It doesn’t show off well in my photo but it’s a lovely little spot providing some green in the city. I am not sure but think the arbor lights may be lit evenings, year round, not just Christmas.
5- Macy’s is fairly new to Cincinnati and I’ve never shopped there. The building shows itself off with lots of windows and the colors are perfect, surely planned for Christmas.
6- This is the sad part of this entry, the John Shillito building. It was, when I was small, the place to shop in Cincinnati. The windows you see are quite large (a large car could be parked easily in any of them) and they completely surround the building, or did. My mother brought us here to see Santa and to see the displays that filled these windows at Christmas. I can recall freezing while standing and watching but it’s a really good memory. Those window displays were the best I’ve ever seen in window animation. Everything from Lionel trains to rocking horses and dolls and teddy bears plus everything a child could want in any toy to expensive clothing filled the store windows. I realize cities change but the loss of Shillito seems to me to be a bit of history gone. The store changed hands going from Shillito’s to Aires to Lazarus and ??? and I’m not really sure of the sequence as I couldn’t keep up with the changes. The building is now called Shillito Lofts and I believe it is, or will be, city dweller apartments of a more expensive nature. The apartments will be a plus for renters as it is near the center of town and sits only a stones throw from fine restaurants, the Riverfront and baseball and football and the art and natural history museums the Cincinnati Symphony and Opera and Ballet and the Findley Market which is also historic to Cincinnati so one more link for you HERE.
7- This is the business district of Loveland, the little city my husband and I call home. Most buildings aren’t more than two stories so it isn’t as grand a spot to show off for Christmas as is Cincinnati or larger cities but it has a nice historic feel and a quiet countenance I appreciate. There are nice little shops and the bicycle trail and a canoe livery in the historic district. Festivals are held in the parks and the parks are very nice. There is a lot to be said about smaller towns and villages. I could never have been a big city girl. Merry Christmas Loveland.
Christmas entries Part 1 HERE
Christmas entries Part 2 HERE
Have a beautiful Christmas Xanga
Comments (15)
Really nice trip downtown!! Thanks!
Great photo’s of a decorated city. I live in a small city so we do not have many tall buildings either. I find the big city’s overwhelming to drive in but I loved having a tour here by your photo’s!
Thank you!
Thanks for the Christmas tour. The Christmas tree with the star is so lovely. What a fine sight for the drivers. Merry Christmas.
Really beautiful Becca the colours are fantastic and really tell the tale of downtown Cincinatti at Christmas. Considerin that you were in a moving car you did well to get such good photos and your editing sure brought out the colours. Nicely done. ~ Tim
The tree and the fountain are beautiful and I like also the green photo . Thanks Becca to share with us Cincinati by night .
I understand your kind of regret to see going away this magic Shillito store of your childhood become a building of dwelling .
Thanks again for you wishes .
Merry Christmas ( in Virginia ) to both of you .
Love
michel
How beautiful and thank you for taking me with you. Merry Christmas.
Lovely lights and decorations Becca.
Photos wonderful! Happy 2010 and thanks for the ecard!
@fauquet - Hi from Virginia, Michel. We did not have a white Christmas as I expected we would not. It has been cold but some sun also and pansies blooming in patches in the area. Christmas decorations dot the landscapes and it lives in my heart as well as good thoughts for the new year. We will spend another week here and then onward to home. I will be in touch through xanga and as my mood hits me an email or two.
Becca
@stixandstonz2009 - Hi and Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you and your hubby. I hope the season’s moments have been photographic and the food tantalizing to the taste buds. We are enjoying ourselves and wishing for everyone the same good week. Home from Virginia in a few days. Becca
@Timages - Hi Tim, a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours. We are in Virginia at this time and are having a good visit with daughter and family. Santa is always good but the food and the joy of Christmas and the promise that comes with it is the best part. I am really glad to hear from you and hope Santa possibly put a new computer under your tree. If not, a good fix would be next best wish for you. Thanks so much for your triple visit covering what I have done so far in this challenge. Becca
@tim_beddard - Hi Tim, catching up on a few comments and thoughts. I always appreciate your enthusiasm per my entries. It’s a Paint Shop Pro thing.
@Jaynebug - Hi and Merry Christmas and a joy filled new year. I look forward to your positive posts that lift me a little higher when I read the. The best to you and your family. Becca
@Donna7 - Thanks you for your visit and comments. Wishing you a new year filled with all your needs, good food and warm beds and good health. Becca
@guestbrief - Hello from Virginia. Hoping you and yours enjoy the season as it unfolds into the New Year. Becca
@Nanny - Love and hugs being sent your way. Wishing I was closer in miles to you. Becca
Dear Becca,
Your 3 posts are wonderful!
I’ve been here a few hours ago, seeing the pictures and reading the posts as they are so informative. It’s great to know another part of the world by the eyes of a Friend!
I wish you have a fantastic night! After all, one does not enter a new decade every year! =D
Thank you for being such a good Friend. I love to know that you are here…
Isabel
Thank you Becca and John for your beautiful New Year e.card received this morning .
I wish for you both a year 2010 filled with health , happiness and a lot of photographs !
Today January first it is frozing here .
I have just read your reply above ( I don’ t receive the e.mails of the replies ) . I hope you enjoy your time among your family .Please tell those I know hello from me.
Happy New Year !
Michel
@WhataWonderfulNewWorld - Good friend, thank you always for your uplifting and words filled with friendship. You are always a dear and thoughtful presence. If I could wish for anything for myself it would be a closer in miles existence to good people I have met and come to care for on Xanga. Happy New Year Isabelle and many more for all of us. Becca
My goodness. Looking at your pictures brought back memories for me as well. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Cincinatti. The last time I was downtown and saw Fountain Square I was 20 years old I think. We’d gone to a wedding reception on the top floor of one of the buildings down there – very swanky. I remember my father trying to navigate those one way streets and me begging him to find a White Castle after we left the reception. Something about late night White Castles that makes them extra tasty! We also had a Shillitos in Lexington. It was at one end of Fayette Mall. I knew they had been taken over by Lazarus and now I think Macy’s is in that spot.
I moved to Mobile 27 years ago. It’s a nice place to live. Not too big and usually the winter weather is bearable, though we’ve had the same cold hit us that has hit everyone else I guess. It’s certainly colder than what we’ve been used to. You should stop in the next time you pass this way though. I’d be happy to share some favorites with you. Best places to see. Best places to eat. Best places to watch the sun set – while eating even!
Hello Ms. Becca,
You made your site simple yet elegant. The pictures are a nice touch. I see that you have a wide variety of interests and observations here!
I like to write articles about Jehovah God on my site to help people to really get to know Him and His plans for us, especially in these troubled times. “…I am about to shake up everything, to turn everything upside down and start over from top to bottom – overthrow governments, destroy foreign powers, dismantle the world of weapons and armaments, throw armies into confusion, so that they end up killing one another.” (Haggai 2:21,22) (MSG)