Cleveland

Puff Piece

On Day 7 I was pretty mean to poor Cleveland. Today I’ll be a little bit nicer.

Of course there are many terrific things about Cleveland.

Cleveland has one of the better local newspapers in the country, the Plain Dealer. The paper’s current headquarters is one of my favorite new-ish buildings in the country, at 1801 Superior Avenue East. [PHOTO] It has lots of other appealing architecture as well.

My photo doesn't do justice to this beautiful building.

It also has a fantastic film festival, which was not only happening while I was in town, it happened five blocks from my hotel! It’s the 35^th year of the festival, and they screened movies from all over the world. I was able to see four of them: Undertow, Insidious, Rubber, and Connected (hey, all one-word titles … it’s a theme!).

I’ll say this about the 35^th Annual Cleveland International Film Festival: It was the best run such event I have ever attended. I’m used to film festivals being run by a bunch of arrogant know-nothing volunteers with screenings that are oversold and wildly off schedule. They run a very tight ship at the CIFF. I hope I get to attend it in the future.

Of course, Cleveland is heaven if you’re a sport fan. Like baseball? You can see the Indians at Progressive Field and cheer on the way cute porno-named Grady Sizemore. How about basketball? There’s the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Football? The Browns at Browns stadium. Not to mention arena football heroes the Cleveland Gladiators, also at Quicken Loans. The busy QL Arena is also home to Cleveland’s hockey team, the Lake Erie Monsters. That’s not even mentioning the pile of local college teams.

Cleveland is, of course, also home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s situated in downtown right on Lake Erie.

If you’re more the artsy type (you know the type of person I mean), you won’t want to miss Playhouse Square, the largest performing arts center outside of New York. It has seven theaters and over 1000 events per year.

I like this snappy apartment building in Cleveland.

Of course Cleveland also has the majestic Lake Erie!

Majestic Lake Erie behind the boring Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Not to mention it’s the home of my very favorite client.

Places That Are Less Appealing Than Cleveland

Rockford, Illinois
Waco, Texas
Barstow, California
Binghampton, New York
Lake Charles, Louisiana
The Entire State of Indiana

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 231 user reviews.

[ | | | | ]

Cleveland
March 28

Alrighty then! Checked out of the Residence Inn, got rental car, checked into Doubletree, returned rental car, made it work by 8:30!

Only four more nights in Cleveland, then on to New York on Friday night. Looking forward to being back in NYC!

If only Alex was available to help me with my bags.

I’ve been remiss about taking photos around town, so in tomorrow’s entry I’m going to include several photos of Cleveland.

I really think if the weather had been a little milder I would have gotten many more pictures while I was here. But it’s been as low at the mid-twenties, for pity’s sake.

///

One of the challenges of a trip of this length is the combination of having lots of pounds worth of baggage and many instances of having to move said baggage around. I’m not particularly fond of packing, and schleping my pile of bags from one place to another. I guess I should look at it as a real-life workout opportunity. But it’s the kind of thing that makes me think it would be awfully nice to have a servant.

Luggage Moves on Trip
(bold: already been done)

Home to LAX
Cleveland Airport to Residence Inn, Cleveland
Residence Inn Cleveland to Doubletree Cleveland
Doubletree Cleveland to Residence Inn Cleveland
Residence Inn Cleveland to Cleveland Airport
JFK Airport to Courtyard Upper East Side, New York
Courtyeard Upper East Side, New York to JFK Airport
Brussels Airport to Hotel Montgomery, Brussels
Hotel Montgomery Brussels to Brussels Midi Train Station
Gare du Nord, Paris to Marriott Rive Gauche, Paris
Marriott Rive Gauche, Paris to Gare du Nord, Paris
Brussels Midi to Hotel Montgomery, Brussels
Hotel Montgomery Brussels to Brussels Airport
Vilnius Airport to Holiday Inn Vilnius
Holiday Inn Villnius Lithuania to Vilnius Airport
Berlin Airport to Courtyard Berlin City Center
Courtyard Berlin City Center to Berlin Train Station
Munich Train Station to Hotel Muenchen Palace, Munich
Hotel Muenchen Palace to Munich Airport
Moscow Airport to Sheraton Palace Hotel, Moscow
Sheraton Palace Hotel to Moscow Train Station
St. Petersburg Train Station to Courtyard Pushkin Hotel, St. Petersburg
Courtyard St. Petersburg Hotel to Ferry Station
Tallinn Ferry Station to St. Olav Hotel, Tallin
My hotel in Tallinn. I think.
St. Olav Hotel, Tallinn to Tallinn Ferry Station
Helsinki Ferry Station to Hotel City Center, Helsinki
Hotel City Center to Helsinki Airport
LAX to HOME

Okay, getting tired just looking at this list! Be careful what you wish for, I guess!

///

Yikes! Speaking of being remiss, I’ve been VERY negligent of my Lynda.com training so far on the trip. I’m going to get better at that. I’m still working my way through the courses in Sharepoint and Lightroom 3.

For those of you not familiar, Lynda.com is this fantastic subscription website where you can learn almost any tech subject you care to learn. The instructors are top-notch and the videos are clear and focused. I highly recommend it!

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 264 user reviews.