Step up to the plate in Cincinnati: this ever-changing Ohio River city brims with major league fun - City Of The Month

The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, housed in a grand railroad station built in 1933, contains a trio of family favorites under one roof the Cincinnati History Museum, Cinergy Children's Museum, and Museum of Natural History & Science, plus an OM-NIMAX theater. Sweeping mosaic murals grace the cavernous rotunda of this National Historic Landmark, still used by Amtrak on its Chicago-Washington, D.C., route.

Other must-sees for families include the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, one of the country's top zoos. All-day attractions in the northern suburbs include The Beach Waterpark and Paramount's Kings Island theme park.

Historic Mt. Adams, an eclectic neighborhood clinging to a bluff above the Ohio, ranked high on our list of places to discover before leaving Cincinnati. A hangout for young people, Mt. Adams buzzes with cafes, pubs, galleries, and funky shops. Wander cobbled streets past vine-covered brick houses with tiny gardens and patios, and drink in vistas from the overlooks.

For lunch we popped into the Mt. Adams Bar & Grill, a wood-paneled saloon with mounted animal heads under a pressed-tin ceiling. A prime tourist spot is Rockwood Pottery Bistro, where guests dine in kilns of the former factory that gave 19th century Cincinnati a reputation for ceramic arts.

Examples of Rookwood pieces, such as ornate, painted fireplaces, can be seen nearby at the free-admission Cincinnati Art Museum in Eden Park, another reason to visit Mt. Adams. Built in the 1880s as the "Art Palace of the West," Ohio's first art museum last year unveiled its Cincinnati Wing, a showcase of ceramics, art-carved furniture, and paintings produced in the "Queen City," an oasis of sophistication on the early frontier. (Cincinnati's big art news this year is the May reopening of the prestigious Taft Museum of Art, which is doubling its size.)

When we got tired of waiting for the city bus to take us from Mt. Adams to the river, we started walking but got lost trying to find a path down the steep hill. A neighborhood resident, sensing out dilemma, said she was heading that way and offered us a ride, which we accepted. I don't normally hitch rides with strangers, but this little incident turned out be to just another pleasant memory of our visit to Cincinnati, a friendly place on the Ohio River.

Contact: Greater Cincinnati Covention & Visitors Bureau, (800) CincyUSA; www.CincyUSA.com.

COPYRIGHT 2004 World Publishing, Co. (Illinois)
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group