German Village and Granville

Thursday, Oct. 25, 2017--Columbus and Granville

Today was a bit cloudy, but it was still dry.  My body was a bit sore from all the walking yesterday.  But I had plans and followed through with them.

In the morning, I drove south of downtown to the area of town called the German Village.  It is a very quaint area with mostly narrow streets paved with bricks and mostly small houses built close together with the fronts at the sidewalk line and small yards on the sides and in the back and an occasional corner retail spot, each probably a former corner grocery but now a variety of places such as chocolate shops, gift shops, restaurants, etc.  It has a European feeling to it and is a very popular neighborhood covering many blocks.  I just walked up and down the streets throughout the area and through the local Schiller Park.

From there, I needed to get to Hwy 16 to take me to the small rural town of Granville, but it wasn't easy.  So many streets are one-way and so many of those are closed off at various points because of reconstruction of intersections, installation of new under-street infrastructure, etc.  At least I knew I needed to go north to Broad Street and turn right.  But it took a backtrack or two and some zigzagging to make my way there.

When I did reach Broad Street, I was beside Franklin Park which is surrounded by nice mansions and is the home of the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.  I didn't stop, because I had read they are closed temporarily until tomorrow because of some work happening there.  If it doesn't rain, maybe I will go there part of tomorrow which will be my last day in Columbus.

Even though it is only 35 miles away, it was a long drive to Granville via Hwy 16, but it gave me a chance to see that part of Columbus.  For blocks after Franklin Park, there were nice neighborhoods.  Then I passed through an older area that has gone downhill over time.  Next came a suburban area with offices, new shopping areas, etc.  Finally, I was in the countryside.

Granville is nice and small New England-style town--one of the Top Towns in Ohio as far as multiple lists of places to visit.  It must have been a wealthy town, because there are so many large houses (blocks and blocks of them) from the 1800s and early 1900s.   There is a tiny, but beautiful and nice, downtown that is about 1 1/2 blocks long with one more block off to the side.  I walked the streets for a couple of blocks in all directions seeing the houses, the shops, etc.

Granville is also a college town with Denison University located on top of the hill above the downtown area.  Denison is similar to Trinity in San Antonio.  They have the same enrollments, are both highly ranked among small colleges, both have similar size endowments, both have campuses on hills overlooking the town, etc.  Denison has a noticeably diverse student body I observed and then read about online.  Up on the hilltop, I parked my car and walked through the major (central) part of the campus.

Back at the apartment in the middle of the afternoon, I finished watching the Danish series (the first 3 seasons of it) Dicte on Netflix; the series expires on Oct. 31.  Then at 19:30, I walked over to the High Street to explore the part of it nearest to my apartment.  There was only a short section of about two blocks with shops and restaurants.  Most of the businesses on High Street are the other direction from where I live, but now I know.