A few days in Louisville, Kentucky

What do you think of when you think of Kentucky?

For me it’s fried chicken (Hello KFC), but apparently it’s also famous for bourbon, horse racing, and baseball bats and even though it’s November and definitely not tourist season, there was lots to see that kept things exciting.

There is a lot of beautiful old buildings around town. I daresay I’ve seen about as many old Victorian buildings and architectural eyecandy as I did in Chicago. The beautiful fall weather just meant that I was able to wander around these rich neighbourhoods at ease. This is one of my favourite houses – full of pumpkins for Halloween. How many can you count?

 

Their public library is just jaw dropping. I half expected it to be filled with Latin books. The inside isn’t as spectacular as the outside, but it’s a pretty high bar to beat!

 

This is the “Door to Nowhere”, the facade of an old building that has turned into a bit of a local gem.

 

In front of Metro Hall, which I’m guessing is part of the City Hall complex… I made my way here because once a month the Mayor invites local bands to perform – free entry to the public. Oh, and these horse statues? They’re all over the place in the city, painted in different striking colours.

I went to a local free museum to go to and didn’t regret it! The American Printing House for the Blind still does exactly what the name suggests and prints books in braille, but they also have a floor devoted as a museum. This is an amazing place to take kids along because touching and playing with objects is obviously very much encouraged. Besides seeing the typewriters that are used, some of the books that are printed, and the history of advancements for the blind, there was also: Helen Keller’s bible

And a chess set for the blind – clearly distinguished shapes to mark each piece.

 

I can see why the internet lists a cemetery as a tourist spot. For one, Colonel Sanders’ final resting spot is here at Cave Hill Cemetery. For two, this place is so huge and sprawling and peaceful with wide roads and old trees and ponds that this seems like one giant park. Unfortunately it’s so giant that it’s easy to get lost in here.

I had the foresight to ask the security guard how to get to Colonel Sanders and I guess they experience this a lot because he told me to follow the yellow line (darn, not the yellow brick road) there and back so I didn’t get lost.

 

The first Thursday of each month, there’s a live auction that happens at Floyd Street Stock Exchange which, I have to say, is much more exciting than ebay. People are bidding sometimes with abandon for the most random objects. Doorknobs, cushions that look like postcards, German beer steins…. it’s here that you really experience “one man’s junk can be another man’s treasure”.

 

And then…on to the touristy stuff.

There are plenty of little art galleries and museums around – this blinged out car was parked outside of 21C Hotel and Art Museum. They have some pretty intense art pieces in there for anyone to view.

 

Of course though, no visit to Kentucky is complete without visiting the horse racing place, which is called Churchill Downs. The Kentucky Derby Museum is definitely worth checking out – they have tours and we were lucky enough that there is still horse racing going on in November so as part of the tour we got to see one of the horse races. Otherwise, their exhibits are really interesting and interactive. Other than facts about horses, there is also displays on the costumes and hats people wear to the Derby, jockey suits, videos of past Derbies, and more.

Another claim to fame in Louisville is the production of baseball bats by the Louisville Slugger. There’s a giant baseball bat in front of the museum (The largest in the world!) so it’s hard to walk by this place without noticing.

The coolest thing for me, besides watching their factory produce bats on the tour, was seeing Babe Ruth’s baseball bat. He’s one of the only baseball players I know, so the only player I could be excited about. Apparently he made a notch for every homerun he had in his record season in 1927. (If you can’t see where it is, it’s the sun markings around Louisville Slugger on the left)

 

Here we have the Big Four pedestrian bridge that spans the river over to Ohio. It lights up in different colours at night which makes this quite a romantic walk and great way to end a day.