Rick Steves - Cleveland Tour

© Stuart Pearl 2013 - Click on Image to Enlarge for Slideshow

If you've been to Europe or planned to backpack in those countries then you've heard of Rick Steves.  His travel segments are regularly broadcast on PBS and available on DVD.  For several decades he's written a very successful series of guidebooks under the heading of Europe Through the Back Door. 

Flying into Cleveland around 3 PM from Boston, Rick entertained more than 1000 people last Wednesday night at the Ohio Theater.  He was in the midst of a tour visiting twelve cities in twelve days.  

Speaking for nearly two hours, Rick provided tips on how to see Europe economically, with the least hassle, and in a way to avoid the typical "canned" tours.  His suggestions offer a different path with fewer crowds, and a more intimate feel to your trip.

I've watched a number of his taped travel segments on my local PBS Station WVIZ.  One difference I noticed about Rick's live performance compared to the produced shows is his warm sense of humor.   He blends story telling humor with a high energy delivery that shows his love for the topic.

"All those happy friendly tour guides that seem glad to be with me...I PAY them to be my friends for those shows."

He spends four months out of the year in Europe and is thoroughly comfortable every time he visits. Each taped 30 minute segment we see on PBS or DVD requires six days of filming. 

Rick prefers to book one-way flights to his destination cities as opposed to getting round trip tickets. It's much more interesting to take a bus or train to the next city and then fly out from that location. 

 

It's all about travelling light and being unencumbered.  Rick's travel bag measures 9" x 22" x 14" which makes it perfect for a carry on, and he limits it to a maximum of 20 pounds.  A well made flat money belt is also essential for peace and security.  It can be worn under your clothes out of easy reach while you keep just the money you'll need for that day in a pants pocket. 

 

"At least a couple of times a year I'll feel a small hand gently insert itself into one of my pockets.  This adds to the uniqueness of the cultural experience for that particular.  It's not that pickpockets target Americans.  We have all the cool stuff though: money, fancy cameras and watches, expensive phones...and if we look like helpless tourists hampered by heavy luggage, then we are targetted as the next victim."

 



Rick speaking in the Smith Studio at Ideastream after the show.

In his early years of European travel Rick visited many of the great museums and viewed their masterpieces.  He enjoyed it.  However it was only after he began taking some art appreciation courses that the great works took on a far greater meaning for him.

"Art is like a time tunnel.  It takes you back.....you learn much from it, understand who paid for it, and what their motivation was.  It is then that you have a much better understanding of the people of that country and their place in time."

Ingenuity Fest 2012 - Squonq!

 
© Stuart Pearl 2012 - Click on Image to Enlarge for Slideshow

Know the right places in Cleveland and you’ll always find interesting events to see.  One of my favorites is the annual Ingenuity Festival. 

 

The first Ingenuity Fest was held in 2004.  It's been intentionally moved to different sites throughout downtown in subsequent years.  There has been a motive to these moves.

A main goal of the festival has always been to focus attention on buildings or areas of the city that were either ignored by people, or not very well known.  Who knew we had a subway level on the Detroit-Superior Bridge?  Some did but many ended up enjoying the 2010 and 2011 festivals held at that location.  The bridge even sported a giant waterfall.

 

 

A similar strategy was used for the 2012 festival.  This year's event was held in two large shipping warehouses at docks 30 and 32 on Cleveland’s lakefront.  It brought public attention to prime lakefront property that has recently fallen into disuse.

 

These warehouses contain 120,000 square feet of exhibit space as well as protection from the weather.  They are easily accessible, being a short walk from Browns stadium and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

 

The huge warehouses made it possible to showcase a number of performance, muscial and craft activities.  Just outside the dock area set a different mood with Squonk Opera and other attractions.  The festival always attempts to create a mashup of art, technology and performance.  Frequently the audience participates in the displays and activities. 

An icon of the event was Squonk Opera’s  “Go Roadshow” musical truck.  This vehicle sported a blimp, spinning grand piano, calliope, trumpet horns and rotors.  I didn’t have a chance to hear the performance but it was a fascinating spectacle to view against the setting sun on Lake Erie.

 

 

Events like this are a magnet for "fair food" and stir fry was on the menu.  This man was the fastest cook I've seen, dumping huge bags of vegetables into a giant wok.

 

A number of local artists used the large venue for mural sized efforts.  Work from the Rust Belt Monster Collective was one example.

 

 

 

 

The stonework of Giancarlo Callichia was one of the featured warehouse exhibits.  Other artists were also on display in the impromptu gallery spaces.

Wood sculptured dinosausr occupied an area of the exhibit floor.

One of the more fascinating installations was created by Anthony Castronovo.  He is an artist and educator "whose works blur the line between sculpture, ecology, engineering, and robotics."  

From his website he states  "I am interested in our human relationship to nature. I have explored this interest in many different ways including performance events, drawings, and sculptures." 

For Ingenuity Fest he created sculpture representing a plant / human  /machine hybrid.  It was pretty dark so you couldn't see the aluminum base very well.  However the red, green and blue glowing cast glass flowers attracted a lot of attention.  His blog shows more detail of these sculptures.

Photo of the photographer, by Don Nikolai

The Squonk blimp was pretty deflated by the end of the evening.  The dark coastline made for some nice imagery though of the Rock Hall on our walk back to the parking lot.


 

Clevelands Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - Northcoast Harbor

High Concrete - Capping the Pier

© Stuart Pearl 2012 - Click on Images to Enlarge

Nearly twenty stories up these construction workers don't have time to appreciate the Cleveland skyline.  They are pouring the cap on Pier 5 of the new Innerbelt Bridge. 

Using a hydraulic system they are pumping concrete up into the form that will create the top of the bridge pier.  They must carefully work the concrete into a maze of reinforcing rebar, kneeding and tamping the concrete like a baker, to insure that no air pockets form.  This would weaken cure.

Pier 5 rises from the east bank of the Flats right next to the Cuyahoga.  It's cap is similar to others and will require about 110 truck loads of concrete to fill.  That is 1100 cubic yards.  The black "skirt" hanging from the top cap is an insulation blanket.  It helps the concrete to dry and cure more evenly.

Whenever possible the rebar structures are assembled on the ground.  It's safer and faster to do it this way.  Cranes lift them into the forms.  The workers then anchor them in place and concrete is pumped throughout the structure. 

An extensive array of pipes snakes its way throughout the rebar.  As the concrete is pumped into the form, these pipes will become submerged in that "mud."  Cool water will begin flowing to keep the concrete from getting too hot during the curing process.  After approximately ten days the forms are disassembled and carefully lowered to the ground.

In this picture the Norfolk & Southern railway trestle crosses the river into Tremont on the west bank.  It passes the area previously occupied by Cleveland Cold Storage.

This early morning shot from the west bank shows the hydraulic pump arm injecting concrete into Pier 5.