This morning we went down to the riverfront to see the winged pigs. They sit on top of steamboat stacks at the entrance to Sawyer Park. Cincinnati
used to be called Porkopolis because pork packing was a major industry for the city. The pigs wear crowns because Cincinnati is also known as Queen City. This is because of the steamboat history in the Ohio River. Many of the steamboats had 'queen' in their name. When the Great American Insurance building was being built, they wanted to honour that heritage and put a crown on the building. Most crowns were too elaborate to build so they copied Princess Diana's crown which was much simpler.
We knew it was a relatively short drive to Columbus so we made a detour to Jungle Jim's grocery store. This is the most bizarre supermarket. It is huge and stocks grocery items from 75 countries. In the Australian aisle we found Vegemite and Allens snakes. The snakes were $5.99 for a small bag. The supermarket is fully decorated-a huge tin of Campbells soup on a swing, a bear singing Elvis, a band made up of cereal characters, a giant cake, a giant chilli in the Mexican isle etc. It was a fascinating place.
Once we got back in the car, the GPS had trouble picking up the route for us so we followed the signs to Columbus. We were travelling on a highway that had lots of traffic lights which was annoying. Finally the GPS started working and redirected us onto the interstate. We had only just got on when we hit a massive traffic jam. I assumed it was roadworks because they are everywhere but it turned out to be an accident. We were held up for more than an hour behind it.
We finally arrived in Columbus, the capital of Ohio. Our hotel is in the area known as Easton and is across the road from a massive shopping/restaurant complex. We went over there this afternoon as I needed new sneakers and stayed over there for dinner. Tomorrow we will see the sights of Columbus.