A Downtown Oasis

After some terrible weather last week, I was absolutely delighted to finally enjoy some sun this past weekend, which has continued through this week. I decided that Sunday was the perfect day to take a long overdue trip to Findlay Market.

Located downtown, in historic Over-the-Rhine, the market is the continuously operated public market in Ohio. This is definitely not Quincy Market for those of you in Boston but more along the lines of Eastern Market in DC, although not as big. The market is open year-round and features a variety of merchants that sell everything from basic produce to bison meat to quail eggs.

I purposely held off on having breakfast at home so that I could head right to Taste of Belgium, this absolutely phenomenal store that sells, well you guessed it, Belgian waffles. I'm usually quite content to have a plain Belgian waffle but this time I decided to spring for the ham and gruyere crepe, which was bigger than a Chipotle burrito but 10 times better. It was impossible to eat and walk, which prompted me to sit, eat, and indulge in some people watching. College students, young children with their parents, tourists, musicians, and more pervaded the area that day. As the market is located in Over-the-Rhine, it attracts a very diverse group of people. OTR has a rich history as a German neighborhood back in the 19th century. However, over the past 100 years, the area has seen a significant decline and many of the beautiful buildings have fallen into disrepair. The good news is that there are many efforts from several organizations to redevelop the area, and from what I've read and seen, it seems like those efforts are working. Here's an interesting photo I took of one of the doors. Note that both pets AND handguns are not allowed in the building.



It should be interesting to see what happens in the neighborhood as Findlay Market truly is a diamond in the rough.