A buddy of mine has been inviting us to come to Louisville, KY for a while, and after some delays, rearranged plans and other life events, we finally went. While Louisville is about a 5-6 hour drive, it still requires some planning, especially if you want to visit the highlights. In retrospect, while we got lots of stuff right, we also got a few things wrong. For example, we didn’t anticipate big lineups for bourbon tours. Luckily, neither of us enjoys bourbon or cares enough, since we’ve been to enough booze tastings and factory tours before. However, if you are into it, it is worth buying tickets online ahead of time just to get an available spot. Regardless, Louisville is much more than just bourbon. It is quite a historic city with lots of places to visit and things to see.
I don’t plan trips, for a few reasons. The biggest one is somewhat counterintuitive: I want to be surprised and delighted by findings. The counterpart is that if you want to enjoy something to the fullest, it is worthwhile to read and study things before you see them in person. Well, at least in my opinion… which I only follow on a few occasions. So my wife planned and booked quite a hotel: The Brown. We got lucky, since during the off-season prices are reasonable and the hotel is historic. As far as the room goes, it was a bit larger than what we are typically used to, but what’s important is the rest. It is really posh, grand and old. You can feel the past glory and the parties that took place there over the years. Live music, grand lobby and just the atmosphere. The phrase “ladies and gentlemen” booming over the entrance comes to mind every time you enter. At some point I felt horribly out of place wearing shorts, a T-shirt and running shoes. No one bats an eye, but man, you feel inadequate entering a hotel dressed in such attire, almost disrespectful of the place. Believe me, I never bother much about my clothing, but somehow it bothered me there. It is hard to pass along the feeling, but in a way it felt like the hotel itself was judging me, the walls whispering to each other and pointing at the proletarian. The Brown is truly something. Perhaps I’m so impressed because we never stay in such places, but I mean, it is something. One small nugget that really got to me is the phone booths. They are located on certain floors, decorated with old newspapers, and the only piece missing is the phone system itself. Otherwise, you can imagine people standing inside, making expensive calls, talking over the outside noise and turning away from the prying eyes of people waiting outside for their turn. Simply glorious.
To complete The Brown experience, we went to the hotel restaurant. Now, we don’t typically eat in hotel restaurants for a couple of reasons: price and local availability. Nowadays it is fairly simple to find really good food of whatever cuisine you want at reasonable prices. But it is The Brown, so we went for the signature dish, “The Hot Brown,” and Derby pie. Well, that’s where the experience took a little turn, and not for the better. Derby pie was fine, but you get something that looks like it could have easily come out of IKEA, with a bit of whipped cream on the side and a price tag of $12. That seems a bit unreasonable to me, since my expectations were set at a much chunkier “Southern” size. The Hot Brown was pricey, but I didn’t mind that. What I did mind was how bland it was. I’m not a food expert, and I guess The Hot Brown is probably selling well enough as it is, but it was a bit of a letdown. Aside from the hotel restaurant, everywhere else we went, the food was pretty good.
I don’t know if we got lucky, if Google reviews are less fake there, or perhaps Kentucky really does have better restaurants in general – my wife insists on the latter. For the first time, I tried a Cuban restaurant, and it was spectacular. I’m still trying to work it out, but that not-particularly-fancy Cuban place made me question all my previous experiences with Mexican and Tex-Mex food we typically get in Michigan/Ontario. I don’t know how to describe it, but let me put it bluntly: Havana Rumba & Tapas Bar made me feel like typical Mexican food is just plain crude and lazy. Another noteworthy spot is Blue Dog Bakery & Cafe. We don’t get easily impressed by American bakeries after the French Grand Tour, but the cafe was so good that my wife even bought bread – and she rarely does so. Pleasantries of the stomach didn’t end there. We did sushi, pizza and, inevitably, KFC – it had to be done – all of which were good.
My buddy Daniel took us on a city tour, walking everywhere and telling us about the history of each location. He is truly something else. It will take a while to digest all of it, but Louisville is a pretty nice place – on one hand full of stuff, on the other quiet enough to enjoy. I was trying to think of a comparison, but I can’t find one. I’ve been to a few cities, and in some cases a place can remind you of another place, or have a similar vibe, so you can compare or at least use it for reference. But Louisville doesn’t seem to fit into anything I have experienced. It is a lively city, but not crazy busy. It has enough industry but somehow doesn’t seem formal. It has modern buildings but incorporates history in unexpected locations. It is like an easy-smiling Southern gentleman who does not bedazzle or hassle you. He can host the Queen of England and not make a fuss over it. I don’t like cities and typically never imagine myself living in one, but in Louisville, I actually imagined myself living there… perhaps not downtown, but a few blocks away in a quiet corner. It just feels warm and welcoming in a subtle way – like a slow, calm river. You can cross it without worrying about being swept away, or simply find a spot to lie down without being carried downstream. Well, at least that’s the feeling I get.
The things we tend to remember typically come with strong emotions attached. I don’t get excited about animals, racing or gambling, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Churchill Downs – the iconic racetrack and home of the Kentucky Derby. We went during an uneventful, lazy Friday afternoon. The place seemed to operate with minimal staff and was largely empty. While plazas, halls and pathways seemed dormant, somehow they silently conveyed reassurance that they were just resting in preparation for the biggest party ever. A general admission ticket is $10, and for that you get spots closest to the track and finish line. Looking around, you can spot fancy locations that no doubt provide a better vantage point. But no matter where you are, it seems like the entire area fills with deep, primordial emotion once the horses hit the track. It’s a strange feeling, like a once-great fire slowly smouldering away, just barely holding on before the inevitable end, when all of a sudden a gust of wind grants it a second life. The roar, the noise, the screaming – and the fire is back, bursting seemingly out of nowhere. It is hard to remain unemotional once you see those beautiful animals racing down the track. It is hard to describe. It must simply be experienced.
The racetrack has its own museum next door, and I wholeheartedly recommend visiting it as well. It provides lots of context for what you have or will experience at the track. While I have my reservations about any animal sport, I just can’t deny how spectacular it is. Unless you are attending the Derby, it seems like admission is available to us mere mortals, and you get a perfect excuse to dress as extravagantly as you want. One thought occurred to me and seems to have solidified: it is the perfect event for ladies to buy as crazy a hat as they can possibly manage. I don’t particularly fancy formal attire, as conservative colours seem to put me into a coma, but Southern attire is different. I can’t help but admire bright-coloured suits and dresses. I find it exhilarating, and as far as comparisons go, I find it similar to brightly coloured cars or houses. It just makes me smile like a child looking through glass at the candy counter. I just wish we had more bright colours around us… but as the quote goes, “…you can have any color as long as it is black.”
Driving down to a destination always provides opportunities to stop and explore places along the way. While I picked quite a few places, we only managed to stop at two. While a Nicaraguan food truck and small shop were a little surprise for my wife, Jungle Jim’s was a convenient compromise that turned into disbelief. I don’t enjoy shopping, especially grocery shopping, but I do enjoy unusual places, if I can call Jungle Jim’s that. The best description I can manage is: a grocery store and a theme park had a baby. The store is huge – and apparently we visited the smaller of the two – and themed with all sorts of things, decorations, paintings and characters. We spent about an hour and a half in there, and I felt rushed! The store had its own podcast studio. Yes, a whole studio for a podcast about the store. I have never heard of such a thing, and yet there it was. I guess having an animatronic Darth Vader in the middle of a grocery store doesn’t seem strange after that. I don’t know who came up with the idea for such a store or how they manage to pull it off, but it sure gave me a creative boost after witnessing it. In any case, if you have a chance, I recommend visiting it just for giggles.
The last honourable mention goes to The Party Source, located right on the border of Kentucky and Ohio. I decided to take the opportunity to buy a couple of bottles of 18-year-old rum by Flor de Caña – which is impossible to buy in Ontario nowadays. But the store impressed me with its variety, prices and, more importantly, expertise. My wife enjoys sake, so I asked what I could get as a gift for her that would actually impress her. A guy showed me a bottle and said, “This will get her impressed.” When I looked at the price, I asked if I should get something more expensive, but he looked at me and said, “No! You want this one!” I didn’t argue. I bought it, brought it home, and we opened it up. Well, I don’t know much about booze, but I can definitely say one thing: it is the best sake I have tried so far.
The trip worked out quite well, and huge thanks to Daniel for the invitation, the guide work and the recommendations. We didn’t have time for everything we planned. Things got skipped or missed, but that’s the trick to a good trip: plan contingencies, leave time and space, and have a positive attitude toward whatever comes down the road. I had always wanted to visit a VW meet but never had time. In an unexpected turn of events, I managed to do exactly that – big thanks to my patient wife, who was bored out of her mind while I was roaming around cars in an open field.
