• Price $65 per person (10 person minimum)
  With its world renowned breeding programs, the Cincinnati Zoo ranks as one of the top zoos in the country. In a private picnic shelter, the “Wildlife Comes to You” program lets you get up close and personal with animals. Then explore the zoo, with its rare okapi, wonderful gorilla exhibit, and fantastic cat house. Take note of the incredible array of 3,000 plant varieties that makes the Zoo also a Botanical Garden. Price includes transportation, admission, “Wildlife Comes to You” program, bottled water, and soda. Lunch is not included. Eateries are available on site. Wear comfortable walking shoes.

ARCHITREKS guided walking tour of downtown Cincinnati (12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.) 

• Priced $13 per person
  See Cincinnati starting at Ft. Washington where the city was founded in 1788. Learn its original—strange and funny—name. View the oldest building on our tour, the Taft Museum, built in 1820. Move along to see the many and varied architectural styles existing among the 19th and early 20th century commercial, religious and political structures. They all depict a unique piece of Cincinnati history. You will see a skyline feature that is quite unique, a building that was supposed to fall down the day after it opened, and a ‘literal’ building that shouts out to you, through its features, what its original purpose was. Price includes bottled water. Wear comfortable walking shoes.

Taft Museum of Art (1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.)

• Priced $7 per person (8 person minimum; 25 person maximum)
  Walk across downtown Cincinnati from the Netherland Plaza Hotel to the Taft Museum of Art. View the 1820 mansion, considered one of the finest examples of Federal architecture in the Palladian style in the country and now a National Historic Landmark. In 1927, Anna and Charles Taft bequeathed their home and collection of almost 700 works of art to the people of Cincinnati. See works of European and American masters such as Rembrandt, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Sargent, Duveneck, Whistler, and Farny. See exquisite Chinese porcelains, French Renaissance Limoges enamels, and what is considered one of the finest ivory statues in the world. Views from Uffizi: Painting the Italian Landscape will be the special exhibit in June. Wear comfortable shoes. No water supplied because of museum restrictions.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

ARCHITREKS guided walking tour of downtown Cincinnati (9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.) 

• Priced $13 per person (Please see ARCHITREKS description above)

Museum Center at Union Terminal (10:15 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.)

• Priced $85 per person (15 person minimum)
  Now a National Register Historic Landmark and considered one of the most impressive examples of Art Deco architecture in the country, Union Terminal opened in 1933 as a bustling train station, accommodating 70,000 passengers a day at the height of World War II. Restored to its original grandeur in 1990, it became the Museum Center, housing three museums and a research library. You will visit the Cincinnati History Museum and its full-motion scale model of the city from 1900 and a re-creation of the Cincinnati Public Landing of the1850’s, complete with a 94-foot side-wheel steamboat. Then you will be enveloped in the OMNIMAX Theater with its 72-foot domed screen and 44 speakers. Your tour will conclude with a special behind-the-scenes High Steel tour of the Museum Center’s upper dome above the spectacular Grand Rotunda. Be sure to wear tennis shoes on this exclusive tour as some sections include narrow corridors and elevated walkways. Price includes transportation, admission to the Cincinnati History Museum & featured OMNIMAX show, guided “High Steel” tour. Lunch is not included. An eatery is available on site.

Kings Island Amusement Park (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)

• Priced $85 per person (10 person minimum)
  Thrill as you speed at 55 mph on the twisted track of the Vortex, get soaked as you plummet down a 43 foot raging waterfall to the rapids below on Congo Falls, and then take in a live show. Enjoy the more than 80 rides, shows, games, and shops that Kings Island offers. Price includes transportation and admission. Lunch is not included. Eateries are available on site.

On Your Own

Explore the city with your sisters or on your own in the heart of Cincinnati’s downtown.

Points of Interest

Convention attendees are fortunate to have the beautiful Art Deco Hilton Netherland Plaza as their base, situated in the heart of downtown Cincinnati. Go individually, with old friends or with new friends, to the many points of interest, museums, and stores within walking distance of the Netherland Plaza.

Tyler Davidson Fountain on Fountain Square is a gathering spot for the city and is just across the street from the hotel at Fifth and Vine.

Graeter’s Ice Cream is a Cincinnati institution. Founded in 1870, they still make ice cream by the old French pot method. Oprah named it as her favorite ice cream and it makes numerous other lists as one of the top ice creams in the country. With a store conveniently placed on Fountain Square, buy a black raspberry chip cone and relax on the square.

Sawyer Point is a mile long park along the Ohio River and a great place to walk, sit and watch the barges go by.

The Carew Tower, which houses the Hilton Netherland Plaza Hotel, is listed on the National Register for Historic Landmarks. Since its completion almost 80 years ago, the building’s function has remained the same: office space, shopping and hotel rooms. When the tower opened in 1931 it contained the latest in innovation, comfort, and technology along with exquisite Art Deco décor. Over the years, it has hosted such luminaries as Winston Churchill, Eleanor Roosevelt, Elvis Presley, Jodie Foster, and Presidents John Kennedy and George H. Bush. Ask the concierge for a “Walking Tour & Pocket History” brochure to the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza.

The Carew Tower Observatory is situated atop the complex that also houses the Netherland Plaza. From the observatory deck on the 49th floor, see for miles across Ohio, Kentucky, and the Ohio River.

Museums

The Contemporary Arts Center was founded in 1939 and was one of the first institutions dedicated to exhibiting contemporary art. Now housed in the groundbreaking building by Zaha Hadid, its focus is on new developments in the arts. In June, the Center’s special exhibit will be American Idyll: Contemporary Art and Culture Karaoke. The CAC is located at 44 E. Sixth Street. http://www.contemporaryartscenter.org

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center’s mission is to reveal “stories about freedom’s heroes, from the era of the Underground Railroad to contemporary times, challenging and inspiring everyone to take courageous steps for freedom today.” In its stunning building that reflects the winding flow of the Ohio River and the path to freedom, visit an actual slave pen from a farm in Kentucky and a drama about conductors in the Underground Railroad narrated by Oprah Winfrey. The Freedom Center is located at 50 E. Freedom Way. www.freedomcenter.org

The Taft Museum of Art is an intimate museum and was, until 1927, the home of Anna and Charles Taft. Built in 1820, the mansion is considered one of the finest examples of Federal architecture in the Palladian style in the country and is now a National Historic Landmark. The Tafts bequeathed their home and collection of almost 700 works of art to the people of Cincinnati. See works of European and American masters such as Rembrandt, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Sargent, Duveneck, Whistler, and Farny. See exquisite Chinese porcelains, French Renaissance Limoges enamels, and what is considered one of the finest ivory statues in the world. In June, its special exhibit will be Views from Uffizi: Painting the Italian Landscape. The Taft is located at 316 Pike Street. www.taftmuseum.org

The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum covers America’s first professional baseball team from 1869 to the present. The Hall of Fame is located at 100 Main Street. www.cincinnatireds.com

Shopping

Tower Place at Carew Tower is adjacent to the Netherland Plaza and has three levels of stores and restaurants.

Macy’s Fountain Place is across Vine Street from the Netherland Plaza.

Tiffany’s is across Vine Street from the Netherland Plaza.

Saks Fifth Avenue is at Fifth and Race Streets, across from the Netherland Plaza.

Batsakes Hat Shop is a family owned business since 1907 with a clientele ranging from regular Cincinnatians to Luciano Pavorotti, Tony Bennett, Bill Cosby, Snoop Dogg, Bob Dylan, Ronald Reagan, Deion Sanders, and numerous other sports figures. It is located at 1 W. Sixth Street.

The Ohio Book Store was founded in 1940 and is a true destination place for bibliophiles with five floors filled with used books including hard-to-find out-of-print materials. For a unique gift, buy a Time or Life Magazine from the week of your mother’s birthday. It is located at 726 Main Street.

Northern Kentucky

Walk across the Purple People Bridge to Newport or take the Southbank Shuttle, which runs between downtown Cincinnati and Newport and Covington, Kentucky. See the concierge for details.

Newport-on-the-Levee is a bustling mall with stores, restaurants, galleries, the AMC Movie Theater just across the Purple People Bridge from downtown Cincinnati. www.NewportOnTheLevee.com

The Newport Aquarium was ranked by the Zagat Survey’s U.S. Family Travel Guide as the number one aquarium in the Midwest. Pet a shark or walk through the 85 feet of tunnels, surrounded by 385,000 gallons of salt water teaming with sharks, stingrays, a loggerhead sea turtle, a moray eel, and various fish. Visit the Jellyfish Gallery, the Kingdom of Penguins, or Gator Bayou for a thoroughly seaworthy experience. The Aquarium is located at Newport-on-the-Levee. www.newportaquarium.com