Our first walk through the steps of Cincinnati was the first walk in the book Walking the Steps of Cincinnati: A Guide to the Queen City's Scenic and Historic Secrets: Walk #1 The Good Friday Pilgrimage.
We plan to track all our walks using the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music phone from Cincinnati Bell. Using the Nokia Sports Traker app, we will create a map of our path based on our GPS positioning throughout and use it's automatic picture upload feature to attach photos Chris takes on his phone to the spot on the map at which we took it. Pretty cool, no? It should make it super easy for you to take the walk if you get inspired to do so!
We'll also probably be making videos for many of the walks, but are having "technical difficulties" with the footage from the first two (bad sound, trouble converting, problems in editing - bleah!). For now, here is a rough video, photos, and text version for you:
We began the walk at Eggleston & Third. It officially starts at Sawyer Point.
Check out the rest of the journey after the jump!
We crossed the parking lot on a hunt for the wooden stairs the book said to take up to the point where Pete Rose Way, Eastern Ave., and Adams Crossing merge.
We crossed the parking lot on a hunt for the wooden stairs the book said to take up to the point where Pete Rose Way, Eastern Ave., and Adams Crossing merge.
At the top of the steps, we found the correct landmarks - Adams Place apartments/condos and the old red brick firehouse.
A sculpture in front of Adams Place.
The old red brick firehouse.
Just past the entrance to Adams Place we found the set of steps that would take us up to the Celestial Street Bridge.
Chris on the steps up.
Next come these. Then around a few bends you cross...
This bridge! This spans over Columbia Parkway and Fort Washington Way. This bridge either is (or replaced) the card-carrying bridge mentioned earlier.
Up these (and even more after), then eventually we ended up at the corner of Hill and Celestial Streets in Mount Adams.
This is the beautiful little park at the corner that's an overlook.
And here's the view! Wow! This was gorgeous - but you know what, it only gets better!
The next leg of the journey involves heading to the Saint Gregory Street Steps - the book warned us that these steps include seven flights of ten to twelve steps each.
Thankfully, the book directed us to take this great "warm-up":
The Saint Gregory Street Steps are about half a block up the street from these three steps.
Apparently, they have more than one name - the placards at the base of the steps all say "Mt. Adams Steps."
This guy probably doesn't know it, but he got our spirits up even higher than the steps could. He was running the steps in an American Lung Association t-shirt. We're hoping we're all out training for the same thing!
Partway up the stairs we can see what we're headed for - the 151 year old Holy Cross Immaculata parish.
The view from up top! A handy skyline guide helps visitors figure out what they're looking at.
We paused for a team photo in the mirrored doors on the back of the Holy Cross Immaculata.
At this point, I'll admit, we got off track. Thankfully, it was only a few dozen feet. I chuckled a bit about being on "Guido Street" in an historically German part of town. In doing so, I walked right past the Guido Street Steps, which are hidden in the verdant foliage to the west of the church.
Okay, I lied. They're quite visible. We just zoned out. But, note that they're also called the "St. Gregory Steps."
Chris shows the way down this beautiful set of steps.
At the bottom of the steps, we went left up St. Gregory Street to the intersection of it and Pavilion St. Here's a bit of what the books says about this place:
After stopping at the fountain, we followed the Pavilion Street Steps up toward Saint Paul Place.
Here's a shot looking down the steps.
Here's the Holy Cross Monastery and Church.
We learned from the book that - at least in 1998 - the church is Italian-Renaissance-style and is now a privately owned property. The cool thing, though, is the role the sight played in Mt. Adams getting its name - THIS is the site of the nation's first observatory (which has since been moved).
The south end of St. Paul Place is a deadend street - it's only deadend if you're in a car, though. We took the lovely, secluded St. Paul Place Steps.
At the bottom of the St. Paul Place steps we took a right on Jerome Street and then another right onto Celestial Street. Following the book's instructions we "pause[d] to read the 'Mount Adams' Preservation Association Plaque." Heads-up: We are also instructed do this the next three walks.
This is what Chris was taking a picture of: The corner of Celestial and Celestial.
We followed the book's directions to continue on Celestial to Monastery, but there we veered off the path to take a set of steps we found near the corner of Monastery and the Ida St. Viaduct (which we later found out are also on Walk #4: Science Stroll).
After going down and back up the Monastery Street Steps, we got back on the intended path and continued on Monastery toward the Oregon Street Steps.
We found a closed set of steps and got a little worried:
Thankfully, we found the Oregon Street Steps after all.
The Oregon Street Steps bottom out on the corner of Van Meter Street and Wareham Dr. There we got treated to yet another stunning view of the city. Honestly, these walks are worth it for the views if nothing else - they really highlight the beauty of Cincinnati!
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