October 7, 2024 - Cleveland, Ohio - Monday

October 7, 2024 - Monday 

Cleveland, Ohio 

We arrived early in the morning and docked directly in front of the Brown’s Stadium.

We have a walking tour of Cleveland this morning culminating at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

Before we can start our walking tour, we must clear US Customs. There just happens to be an US Customs office adjacent to our dock area. It is cool and blustery and cloudy this morning. After clearing customs, we turned our passport in to the Viking staff (they will handle customs for us when we get to Port Colborne in the morning) and met our local guide. We head up the hill to the heart of old Cleveland. What are now docks is all “fill” area and much lower than the old settlement, so it is a bit of climb. It is a nice size group, and our guide keeps us entertained with all the pertinent facts of the area and the buildings that we are seeing.

Kay Bank, the modern building to the left and back
is also part of their headquarters.

Interesting lamp dedicated to a local inventor.

The Old Stone Church. The only remaining original building.

The Terminal Building. The base of this is a train station.

The Sailor's and Soldier's Monument

The Arcade

"Its Free" stamp as a piece of outdoor sculpture

We eventually enter the Cleveland Arcade building. Originally a shopping mall, it is beautiful. The upper stories are now a high-end hotel with only a few shops on the main level and lower level. It is also frequently used for events. In fact, they were setting up for an event while we visited. 

We continue the walk gradually working our way towards the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Entry to the Hall is included in our excursion. Our first impression is one of a lot of noise. There is music everywhere. You are listening to one thing and move a few feet away and it is something different. There are 6 floors, and we explore a little on each level. They have definitely accumulated a large amount of Rock and Roll memorabilia. However, for us, we did not see the fascination. So, we headed back to the boat. It is a bit of a walk, and we are glad when we get back. 

Something we had noted as soon as we were off the ship is a whole lot of bugs floating around. They are fairly good size, and you see them in piles along the curbs. I asked the guide about them. They are midges and harmless to people. But the sheer number of them is a bit creepy. They are everywhere. In your face, on your clothes, etc. As we got back to the ship there were quite a few Canadian Geese gobbling up as many of the midges as they could.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Architecture by I M Pei

Geese enjoying the midges

Cleveland in the afternoon with the skies clearing

This is also moving day for us. In our original room, we had noticed a high-pitched whistle coming from the window whenever we had wind. It wasn’t there the first few days but seemed to be getting worse. We reported it, and the engineering team worked on it. But the problem was not solved. It still whistled. We were getting a little concerned about what might happen if we get into some really rough areas (specifically the Antarctic) and expressed our concern. 

As it turns out, it is not an easy fix. In order to rectify the situation. The entire window needs to be removed in order to work on it. Certainly not practical in the middle of a voyage. Guest Services was able to locate a room that we could move to for the rest of the journey. 

The move went amazingly well. We had bagged up some of the drawers. But, all the hang ups and other clothes were put in tubs or boxes (hang ups went on a rack on wheels) and were easy to put back in the new room. We started the move about 1:30. By 3:00 we were essentially done. The room is identical to the first room, but one floor up and a few rooms forward and on the opposite side of the ship. 

About quarter to seven, we were treated to a wonderful sunset. One of the best we’ve seen so far.