Columbus, Ohio

We stayed in Athens, home to Ohio University, last night.  This morning we were off to Columbus, the state capital.  Rain arrived in Columbus at about the same time that we did.  This is another of the larger capital cities.  I had never thought about the name of the city, but the first thing that I noticed in the Capitol Square was a statue of Christopher Columbus contemplating the round earth.  The statue's base has a prominent 1492 on it.


The capitol fits nicely into the urban setting.


There is plenty of brass statuary surrounding the capitol to stop and view.


On the inside, there is quite a bit of Civil War era art.



There is a self-guided tour available and there are no metal detectors as are now so common in our public buildings.  Perhaps, as the state seal notes, Ohio trusts in a higher power.


After viewing the capitol, we moved over to German Village, an area of well-preserved homes and shops dating from the late 1800s.  The brick and cobblestone streets were accented by some flowering cherry trees.


And, no city with public buildings is lacking an "Occupy" movement in 2012.  Here are the tents out in front of the capital along with my favorite protest sign.