Exploring My City Part II
by Kristin
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| The gallery in the Columbus Metropolitan Library |
More than a few weeks ago, I posted about my adventures here in Columbus with my nephew. I was put in charge of entertaining and educating my nephew for two days each week while he is on summer break. Since the last post we have checked out a many places and learned many new things. Like a teacher, I created a lesson plan which included a list of places for me and my nephew/student to visit and the days in which we would visit them. After much research this list included the Anthony Thomas Factory, the North Market, the Columbus Metropolitan Library, and some of the traditional places like COSI and the Ohio History Center and Ohio Village. Today I will only cover a few places we visited. These are the places I found to be less covered in all of the sources I found on entertaining kids in the Columbus or entertainment for tourists in general. The sources listed places and ideas but
sometimes I still had to come up with a way to make things a little more interesting and fun. Check out our latest adventures!
sometimes I still had to come up with a way to make things a little more interesting and fun. Check out our latest adventures!
Columbus Metropolitan Library
Well, I know what you are thinking. Educational? Yes! Entertaining? Could be. There are books there and reading for children and adults is a great thing. It's a library, why is that so special in terms of tourism? Well, it is within the largest 100 libraries in the country, it is a beautiful representation of Greek architecture and they have a beautiful small art gallery upstairs. All my years of checking out books there and eating muffins from the little café cart, I never knew about the upstairs gallery until this past month. My nephew and I renewed our library cards, checked out a few books then spent some time looking at art in the gallery. The gallery featured some interesting pieces made from glass, book pages and fabric. To make a day of it, we got lunch up the street at Hills Market and ate our lunch behind the library at Topiary Park.
Well, I know what you are thinking. Educational? Yes! Entertaining? Could be. There are books there and reading for children and adults is a great thing. It's a library, why is that so special in terms of tourism? Well, it is within the largest 100 libraries in the country, it is a beautiful representation of Greek architecture and they have a beautiful small art gallery upstairs. All my years of checking out books there and eating muffins from the little café cart, I never knew about the upstairs gallery until this past month. My nephew and I renewed our library cards, checked out a few books then spent some time looking at art in the gallery. The gallery featured some interesting pieces made from glass, book pages and fabric. To make a day of it, we got lunch up the street at Hills Market and ate our lunch behind the library at Topiary Park.
I really loved the chocolate factory tour! The tickets were two dollars for adults and a dollar for my eleven year old nephew. We were given vouchers with those values to use toward a purchase at the end of the tour. There was no photography allowed in the factory because they produce chocolate for well known companies who outsource their work. While we were there, we saw them making Christmas candy for one of the names most of us have known since childhood. Here is a hint, rhymes with sticks! So when you see egg shaped Santa Clause chocolates filled with cookie and caramel this coming December, it was probably made at Anthony Thomas's Factory using the outsourced company's recipe. We walked through a glass catwalk over the workers where we could see everything being produced. The workers who weren't on high demand assembly lines waved and smiled at us as we passed. At the end of our tour we were given a free buckeye chocolate. Then most people strolled through the store to find a way to use their vouchers. No surprise, we were among them. Leaving the place twenty dollars lighter, we were excited about our chocolaty souvenirs.
The North Market
I recently introduced my nephew to the North Market. I grew up visiting the place. It is the place most people go when they can't find an ingredient they need for a recipe anywhere else. In fact it was the place I went to buy a special kind of goat cheese for my French cheese cake I made for a project for French class. I t was also the first place I tasted Jeni's ice cream. It is a great place to meet friends for breakfast, lunch or early dinner. Believe it or not it is also a great place to take kids. It can be a great cultural experience for a child with so many different foods from different countries. Most vendors offer samples. Often there are large areas dedicated to sampling what the vendors sell. My nephew had a great time sampling salsas, sauces, popcorn and ice cream. Sounds like a stomach ache waiting to happen but it is a good time. After walking around the whole place, we settled on some Polish cuisine for lunch. That was something new for both of us. It was a gamble with us both trying something new but we really enjoyed the meal.
My summer with my favorite little guy is coming to an end. I have two weeks left with him before he goes back to school. Every week I looked forward to a new adventure with him and sometimes it felt like we jumped on a plane and went away for the day. There is so much to do and learn in the city we live in. While I love leaving to explore unknown territory elsewhere, I was surprised to get the same high and satisfaction from participating in activities in our own backyard. This was especially true when the destination or activity was just as new to me as it was to my nephew. There is so much to share and so little time so I will post my favorite places that I haven't covered soon.
Until next time,
Be Blessed! Be free! Be Adventurous!
