"A Walk Along High Street in the Ohio... " a Columbus Travel Page by atufft

Columbus was founded in 1812 at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, and in 1816 became rededicated as state capitol with a street grid plan for development. Although the sport franchise and industrial cities of Cleveland, to the northeast on Lake Erie, and Cincinnati, to the southwest on the Ohio River, are perhaps more famous Ohio urban cultural enclaves, centrally located Columbus is nevertheless the most populated city in Ohio, and the home of the largest student body within the United States--Ohio State University. As the political center of the old crucible of the northwest, Columbus politics have produced several of the 7 American presidents born in Ohio. Today, the capitol building and grounds are well worth a stroll because Ohio does indeed have much to be proud about.

The restored 19th century German Village is worth a visit on foot. It was at a restaurant here where Presidential Candidate John McCain rubbed elbows with German-American voters. On the same day, Barack Obama delivered a speech to some 300,000 Germans in Berlin. So, when I visited town, I started here, just a month after McCain did, and then wandered along the streets of downtown in a northward direction toward Ohio State University. Thus, the things to do tips follow the route of my jog with a friend who had relatives in town, from German Village, through downtown and capitol grounds area, to the fashionable Short North district where I dined on a pizza.

Near the highrise civic downtown, Columbus has a pleasant river front park with a replica of the Santa Maria. This area is popular with joggers in the afternoon. We ended our walk in the Short North district, an uptown part of High Street filled with Brew Pubs, upscale restaurants, and trendy pizza joints. In any case, the downtown area of Columbus is much of what I cover here, often in some detail, so feel free to skip around my long list of things to do. These tips are placed not in order of importance, but in order of when I came across them in my jog through the city. Many of these tips try to document in some detail, so only technophile travel nuts like me or devotees to Columbus would find interesting in every tip here.