Cleveland, Ohio

I have always loved watching the 24 hour marathon of A Christmas Story, every Christmas Eve and Day. It's my favorite Christmas movie. So while I was in Cleveland, I made sure to check out the house. It was recently bought and renovated to that in the movie. The house was actually always a multifamily home, and scenes in the movie were not actually filmed inside the house, but at a movie set in Canada. All of the outside shots in the yard, and in front of the house were shot here of course. The house is actually missing the dining room. There was just no room for them to add it without compromising the loooks of the outside of the house. Not everything in the house is exact to the movie, but it's still pretty cool. The leg lamp is prouldly displayed in the window, but it's not the original, the original, as you remember, was purposely broken during filming for the movie.
A Christmas Story House, now restored to its movie splendor, is open year round to the public for tours. Hours of Operation are Thursday-Saturday 10am-5pm and
Sundays 12pm-5pm.
Directly across the street from the house is the official A Christmas Story House Museum, which features original props, costumes and memorabilia from the film, as well as hundreds of rare behind-the-scenes photos. Among the props and costumes are the toys from the Higbee’s window, Randy’s snowsuit and zeppelin, the chalkboard from Miss Shields’ classroom and the family car.
Admission to the house also gets you into the official museum. The admission prices are Adults: $7.50,
Children 7 to 12: $5.50, 6 & under: FREE, Seniors: $6.50
After reliving A Christmas Story at Ralphie’s house don’t forget to visit the museum gift shop. You can actually buy a leg lamp, and they even have the crates with the "fragile" on them. They also have Lifebuoy soap, games, DVD's, Christmas Ornaments, something for everybody. I found the gift shop to be a little pricey, but proceeds from the gift shop help support and maintain A Christmas Story House and Museum. The owner of the three buildings, (house, museum, giftshop), actually spent a pretty penny putting all of this together, and really is going to have a tough time getting back what he put in.
While on the tour of the house, the tour guide talks in the living room for about 15 minutes, telling you the history of the house, and facts about the movie. After that, you are free to roam around the house, and back yard to take it all in. We were allowed to take pictures while in the house, with our flashes on. It surprised me, because while on the website before I went, it said flash photography was not allowed. So if that's the case, our tour guide didn't enforce that rule.
So if you are in the Cleveland area, be sure to check it out.
For more photos from my tour of the Christmas Story house, check out my Cleveland Marathon blog.

So I have eaten at quite a few Hard Rock Cafe's in my travels, and they are usually the same. Food is average, blah, blah, blah. Well, I was recently in Cleveland for a weekend, and I don't know if I was just really starving, (I had just finished a marathon), or if the Hard Rock changed their menu, but it was really delicious food. And I don't remember some of the choices being on the menu before. Maybe Cleveland's Hard Rock is extra good since the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame is there, I don't know, but I was really impressed with the whole experience.
The restaurant is located in the second tallest building in the city, which is called Tower City. The restaurant is two stories, we went into the top entrance, there was another down below. As soon as you walk in, the gift shop is right there. We walked in with a party of five on a Sunday at 3:00pm after the Marathon, which had over 8,000 participants, and the wait was literally less than 5 minutes.
All five of us loved our food. I can only vouch for what I had, which was the spring rolls (soooo good), and the chicken tenders with the best honey mustard I have had for a long time. Oh, I love a good "soda" (I say pop), and their soda was the perfect combination of carbonation and syrup. That's very important after running for over four hours. :o)

This is the hotel I stayed in for my marathon weekend. This hotel is located in downtown Cleveland. It is located on Public Square and is connected to Tower City Center, which is where there are great shops and restaurants. It is within walking distance to Progressive Field, Quicken Loans Arena and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. There is a huge city parking lot in front of the hotel, which was closed while we were there, so we opted for the parking garage at the hotel. I'm sure it was safer than the lot, but it was about $23 a day to park there, and the garage featured some tight parking, and pillars placed in weird areas. You can also valet park there for $30 a day.
The hotel's amenities include an atrium, an indoor pool, and a fitness center. There were also large ballroom areas, if you are planning an event. The hotel has a Mediterranean restaurant called Sans Souci, but we didn't eat there.
The hotel features vaulted ceilings, high arched windows and a beautiful marble fountain. It is a city landmark, and it was built in 1918.
Due to the marathon, we didn't really spend much time in the hotel, our room was medium in size, the bathroom was huge, but it was wheelchair accessible, so I am not sure what the standard size really are. Our room faced Public Square, so the view was great, and we didn't hear any outside noise.
All in all, this was a nice hotel, in a great location.