Cincinnati Museum Center

Dear Husband and I recently enjoyed a visit to the Cincinnati Museum Center with his parents. The former Union Terminal--a large art-deco building--is now home to a variety of exhibit spaces, including the Cincinnati History Museum, the Museum of Natural History & Science, the Children's Museum, an Omnimax, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center. You could spend all day there, but we just did a morning, hoping to beat the crowds. No such luck, as it was a rainy day the week between Christmas and New Year's, so we enjoyed the exhibits--masked--with many families and children. It was almost like the before times.

We explored the Duke Energy Trains at Holiday Junction, which includes train sets for kids as well as a larger set with smaller figures. Both were very inventive. In another space, there were also Lego dioramas. Next we wandered through the Cincy history sections, then the science parts, from hands-on physics demonstrations past dinosaur skeletons to preserved flora and fauna. We ran out of time to look at the displays about outer space or see a documentary. Next time?

View from above the O-gauge train set, at 1/48th actual size, dusted with powdered snow.

Two trains pass each other; the one on the upper track is carrying presents and Christmas decorations. During the holiday season, the trains travel more than 100,000 "miles"! Below, the conductor has popped out of his track-side shack as a train passes by. I caught him before he retreated and the door shut again.

There were "Easter eggs" hidden among the kids' train sets, including butterflies, dinosaurs, and astronauts for a science-themed "I spy" game. 

There was the requisite Thomas the Tank Engine set, where parents and children named the trains to each other. It included a rotating water wheel, a windmill, and a bumpy incline circulating back and forth between two cliffs.

The next picture shows Cincinnati's town hall made entirely out of Legos. Reportedly it is a very beautiful building to tour in person.

So much to look at! Legos celebrating Chinese New Year, Santa Claus and his reindeer, and DH much captivated by everything going on. Below, the Ghostbusters are saving a church.

In the history section, I was of course drawn to the olde-timey pharmacy with its patent medicine bottles.

They have a (replica of a?) paddleboat of the kind that made Cincinnati "Queen of the West" and a gateway for internal migration as well as for products such as pork and Proctor & Gamble's Ivory Soap.

I also noted the food references, such as the boarding house sign advertising "meat served 4 times per week" and this collage of a sausage factory.

The natural history section was interesting, even if the spelunking experience was closed (presumably considered too claustrophobic for COVID). A large selection of nature photography in the four seasons gave way to a display about fireflies (do you call them lightning bugs?). There were cases of butterflies and of a variety of stuffed animals, including bats, a fox, owls, and this red-shouldered hawk. The last photo is of preserved mushrooms.

For lunch we met DH's brother at The Incline Public House for a lunch of burgers, cheesesteaks, and fries out on the heated/covered back deck. Too bad the rain dampened the famous vista of the city of seven hills. Next time!