After a nice leisurely morning, it was time for Matt and I to play tourist in Cleveland. Our first stop was the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The museum, opened in 1995 and designed by I.M. Pei, chronicles the evolution and history of rock and roll beginning with its roots in gospel, blues, rhythm & blues, folk, country and bluegrass. I found particularly interesting the section which detailed the early influencers of today’s popular rock and roll bands. The museum features a large 3-screen theater which has shows a continuously running collage of performance video clips of each inductee into the Hall of Fame. We spent a little over a hour to watch the entire loop of inductees. The top two levels of the seven level museum are dedicated to temporary exhibits, which during our visit was on the Rolling Stones, arguably the greatest rock and roll band of all time. I found it particularly interesting since I just saw the Stones in concert at the San Jose Arena last May.
From there we traveled by cab the West Side Market, a historic indoor/outdoor market spread across three magnificent brick buildings. Many stalls have remained under individual family control for much of the life of the Market, in a few cases dating back to its 1912 opening. The market's tenants and sellers reflect the cultural diversity of the surrounding neighborhood and Cleveland as a whole. The current roster of tenants includes those of Irish, German, Slovene, Italian, Greek, Polish, Russian, and Middle Eastern descents, among others. We had lunch in the quaint West Side Market Cafe located within the complex before returning to the boat to sun on the aft deck and to prepare for our departure tomorrow morning.
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