Louisville, KY (October 7)

We awoke to rain.  Sunrise came noticeably later than we were used to because of being at the opposite end of the Eastern Time Zone. The rain gradually turned to mostly mist.

After breakfast, we went for a short walk.  A block from the hotel was Fourth Street Live!, which billed itself as Louisville's premiere dining, entertainment and retail destination.  The description might be a bit of a stretch and Monday morning was a sub-optimal time to assess it, but it had the makings for a vibrant nightlife. 

We returned to the hotel, collected our things and headed off to the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs. We spent a while in the museum while waiting for our 90-minute Behind the Scenes Tour.

I had to get out of the way quickly after taking this picture.
Truth: it was a video. To see the video, click on the picture.

The last time I was here, my horse won.

As we were walking by the case, a curator was just returning with the freshly polished Kentucky Derby Trophy, so I was able to get a picture of it with the usual intervening glass.

Our tour took us through much of the public area and some of the off limits parts of Churchill Downs, including the jockeys area.  We enjoyed it and, when watching future Kentucky Derbys, will no doubt be heard to repeatedly say, "Oh, we were there." and "Remember that." (I can almost hear you making a mental note to never to invite us to your Kentucky Derby party.)

Although parimutuel wagering takes place here even when the track is closed, that only happens Wednesday through Sunday, so the place was almost devoid of people making it slightly ire.

The jumbotron in the upper right-hand corner of the picture
above is 171' wide by 90' tall and 80' off the ground.

Only the winner of the Kentucky Derby stands inside the horseshoe.

The paddock where the 20 horses that run in the derby are on display.

Triple Crown winners are in gold.

Caricatures mural of all the Kentucky Derby winning trainers.

Caricatures mural of all the Kentucky Derby winning jockeys.

The jockeys' area, which was a bit more run down that I would have expected.  The pool table had so many gouges in the felt that it appeared to be unplayable. 

It is not unusual for a jockey to ride in multiple races on a single day. For the Kentucky Derby, a jockey and his saddle must weight (at least) 126 pounds. Lead is added to the saddle blanket if necessary.  

After having a bite of lunch and touring the museum a bit more, we whistled up an Uber and headed for the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. 

The museum was interesting. We saw bats being made by hand, got to swing bats of various weights (which range from 4 to 7 pounds) and stand behind a catcher (mannequin) as a fast ball is pitched at 90 miles an hour. I got to hang out with Ted Williams.

Hillerich & Bradsby is the name of the company that makes Louisville Slugger bats.

The tour of the factory was disappointing only in that it was a big group so that it was hard to hear and see everything and photography was not allowed.

Walking back to our hotel from the museum, we diverted down to the river, working along it passed a copy of the old riverboats. In the distance we could see America tied up, but that was further than we wanted to walk. Besides, we would be spending a lot of time aboard her. 

For dinner, we walked to the Brown Hotel for a Hot Brown. The English Grill was a treat to sit in.  Although it had been suggested that we split the sandwich, we hesitated until our waiter recommended doing so.  Along with a delicious Caesars salad made at our table, it was more that enough, but we had dessert anyway.  Mine was called a Chocolate Striptease - a chocolate cake with a chocolate 'tulip' on top into which they pour some alcohol and then light it.  The flame melts the tulip, drizzling hot chocolate over the cake.  It was pretty darn good.

We had a pleasant walk back to our hotel for a well-feed night's sleep.