VOTE!

(Image taken from the internet)

At the Polls

After walking about a mile from Public Square in downtown Cleveland to the Board of Elections, I reached the polls at around 11:45 in the morning.  It was the first day of early voting in Ohio, and the line waiting to receive a ballot was long.  Obviously many people felt, as did I, that this was the most important mid-term election in our lives.

The line behind me kept growing longer and longer.  I waited about fifty minutes to receive my ballot, and those at the end of the line probably were going to have a wait of an hour or more.  However, no one that I saw left their place in line to return another day.  We were all determined to cast our votes now.  Two years ago for the Presidential election, the line was long, but it seemed that the wait this year was considerably longer.  I hope that the large turnout is a good sign.

U.S. citizens who live in another country vote according to the last address at which they were registered. So, I received the ballot for my former hometown of Olmsted Falls.  It was seven pages long.  Not only were we voting for senator and representative to Congress, but for governor and other state officials.  There was also a large slate of judges (including two Ohio Supreme Court justices) and a number of state and local issues. By the time I scanned my completed ballot and left the building, it was around 1 P.M.

The most important reason for this trip had been accomplished!  

Going Downtown

Tuesday marked the first day of early, in-person voting in Ohio.  I went to the Cuyahoga County Board of Election in Cleveland.  I suspected that there would be a lot of people turning out, and I did not know what the parking situation would be.  So, I decided to drive to the Rapid Transit station and take the train downtown.  The new headquarters for the Board of Elections is located about one mile from the center of downtown.  It was a sunny, brisk, autumn day, so I decided to walk the rest of the way.

I drove to the Brookpark station, and bought a round trip ticket for the train.  It cost 5 dollars.  (Two rides on the Mexico City Metro would have cost the U.S. equivalent of 55 cents.)

The Rapid Transit train was almost empty, a big contrast to the crowded subway and buses in Mexico City.

Granted, rush hour was over and I got on at the second stop on the route to downtown.  A couple people at most would get on at each stop.  I suspect that even if I had left at the height of rush hour, there would have still been plenty of seat.  In the U.S., people simply prefer their cars to public transportation.

After about a half hour, the train arrived downtown at the Tower City station.  It is located beneath the Terminal Tower where, in the era of train travel, Cleveland's terminal was located.

In 1990 the area was converted into a three story shopping mall.  Unfortunately, today most of the stores are vacant.  They say that shopping malls are dying in the U.S., but long before that, Tower City was dying because people would prefer to shop in suburban malls.

The beautiful lobby of Tower City which dates from the late 1920s when the Terminal Tower was built.

Exiting Tower City, you are on Public Square, the heart of downtown Cleveland.  It is surrounded by the city's tallest skyscrapers.

With 52 stories, the Terminal Tower was the second tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1927.  For several decades it was the tallest building in North America outside of New York City.

The headquarters of Huntington Bank is a skyscraper originally built for Sohio (Standard Oil of Ohio) in 1985.  It is 46 stories high and was deliberately built lower than the Terminal Tower so that it would continue to be the tallest building in Cleveland.

The Terminal Tower lost that distinction in 1991 however when the 57 story Key Tower was built.  It is the tallest building in Ohio.

Public Square's newest skyscraper is the world headquarters of Sherwin-Williams Paints.  It is 36 stories high, and was completed in 2025.

The oldest building facing Public Square is the Old Stone Church, a Presbyterian church that was built in 1855.

The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument on Public Square was built in 1894 and honors the men and women of Cuyahoga County who performed military and patriotic duties during the Civil War.

I saw a sign saying that on Tuesdays and Thursdays in October there will be food trucks on Public Square during lunchtime.

Several food trucks were already getting ready for business.

From Public Square I walked down Superior Avenue.

After walking about twenty minutes, just beyond the core of downtown, I came to the Board Elections.  Their new headquarters moved last summer to the building which used to house the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper.

Affordability

All of my friends here in Ohio are complaining about the high price of everything!

(image taken from the internet)

Playing Cards

While staying with Katie and Olivier, they taught me a card game that I had never heard of... something called "crapette".  It is a form of solitaire for more than one player, and the first person to get rid of all of their cards is the winner.

I tried to do some research on the origins of the game on the internet.  It appears to be of Russian origin, but the version they play uses a French deck of Tarot cards (not the Tarot cards used by fortune tellers, but the ones used in some European card games).  There are four suits as in the deck that we are are used to, but each suit has four face cards... King, Queen, Knight, and Valet.  In addition there are 21 numbered cards that do not belong to any suit and a card that is similar to the joker.  The game is not really difficult, but you have to look carefully to not miss an opportunity to play one of your cards.  I won the first two games we played, but that was "beginner's luck, and because their daughter was helping me.  Later, my luck ran out.

Katie gave me a deck of cards and the rules of the game to take back to Mexico.  However, I have never seen Alejandro and his family play cards, so I don't know if they will want to learn.

Fine Dining in Cleveland

You don't often think of Cleveland, Ohio, as a center of fine dining, but the city is indeed gaining a reputation for its wide variety of excellent food, from the ethnic food stalls at the West Side Market to elegant "haute cuisine" restaurants.  

I have been spending some time at the home of my friends Katie and Olivier.  Katie is a French teacher and was one of my colleagues way back before I retired.  Her husband Olivier is originally from France.  They both know French cuisine, so when they recommended a restaurant on the east side of Cleveland, I figured that the food would be top notch.

The restaurant, which is called "Edwins", has a unique story.  The chef, Brandon Chrostowski, studied at the Culinary Institute of America in New York, and he worked at prestigious restaurants in Chicago, Paris and New York before coming to Cleveland.

In his youth, Chrostowski had a run-in with the law.  When he came to Cleveland he established a non-profit organization called "Edwins Leadership and Restaurant Institute"  (Edwin is his middle name, and it is also short for Education Wins.)  He trained former prison inmates in order to give them them a second chance.  In 2013 he opened his own restaurant, and all of the staff are "graduates" of his training program.

"Edwins" is located in Cleveland Heights in an old building that used to be a jazz club.  The decor is very elegant, and there was live music.

Olivier and Katie

(That is Chef Chrostowski in the background.)

We were joined by their daughter Nina and her boyfriend, Antoine.

Nina and Antoine recently finished their master's degrees at the University of Bordeaux, and are in Cleveland for a visit.

The food definitely did not disappoint.  I had squash soup, and potato-wrapped grouper with fresh green beans in a red butter sauce.  The food was superb, and the service was attentive.  I was very happy to have experienced this unique restaurant!

Being Political Again

I am keeping very busy here in Ohio, so I am simply posting this image (I guess the modern term for it is a "meme") which I found on the internet...

 Is that a promise?!!!