Art museum in 21C hotel
21C Hotel - Art Museum is one of the most interesting hotels in downtown Louisville (Kentucky). Previously, this building was a tobacco factory and liquor warehouse. Now, the building is owned by the 21C brand, renovated into a boutique hotel with an area of over 2,700 m2Includes contemporary art exhibition spaces combined with galleries.
Every detail is meticulously taken care of. The hotel lobby is a miniature art museum with many different works and genres converging from many artists around the world.
I curiously pushed the door open to explore the lobby, staring at the nude child statues right behind the reception desk with utter amazement. John, the handsome receptionist, added: “The 21C Hotel - Museum presents world-class 21st century contemporary art by artists such as Kara Walker, Bill Viola and Yinka Shonibare, and you can find them not only in the exhibition space but also in the hotel rooms - even the bathrooms”.
I immediately went into the bathroom and my mouth continued to gape at the moving eyes on the mirror as if they were talking to me. In the elevator, there were also lights arranged like works of art and along the hallway there were artistic interactive laser lights.
There are also many free exhibitions and events open to the public. Visitors are also encouraged to dine at 21C’s restaurant, Proof on Main, for a taste of traditional Southern American cuisine.
And don't forget to look for the red plastic penguin sculptures outside the hotel or standing on the ceiling of the building, the limousine covered in thousands of stones or the golden "naked" statue of David standing proudly right at the entrance.
I guess this is probably the only art museum in the world that is open to the public 24 hours a day, all year round. Because this hotel never closes!
5 star hotel in old train station
I came to this area to find information about trains running from the capital city of Indianapolis (Indiana state) to other cities, but the deeper I went inside the Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Downtown hotel, the more excited I was to discover another wonderful thing in the world.
The entire building of this old station is operated as a grand hotel inside with both the locomotive and the train cars turned into bedrooms.
I was keen to learn more about the hotel's glorious history. “This was the first major train station (Union Station) built in the United States in 1888 and although every part of this 130-year-old building has been transformed into a beautiful space - all of it has transcended time and the past, but is still rich in history."
"Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower are among the famous figures who have passed through the station. It has undergone two renovations, first when it was converted into a shopping center called Festival Market Place which opened in 1986 and then a renovated Crowne Plaza hotel in 1996."
This Romanesque Renaissance-style hotel has 273 rooms but is best known for its three train lines, the Blue Line, the Green Line and the Red Line, which make up a total of 13 carriages. All of the carriages are named after famous figures from the early to mid-20th century, including Charlie Chaplin, Jean Harlow, Winston Churchill, Amelia Earhart and Louis Armstrong. Each carriage has two bedrooms, making a total of 26 unique bedrooms.
I asked the two Mexican maids to let me explore deeper into each bedroom and luckily they agreed. I sneaked in and took pictures as if afraid of losing the beautiful angles in these strange rooms and then quickly turned back so as not to disturb them.
Standing next to the white sculptures scattered along the train cars, I asked Danny and his wife from Chicago, who enthusiastically replied: “We slept overnight in the train room - number 014 Greta Garbo. What a wonderful experience! A real historical treasure in Indianapolis. The room was a little cramped, but that exceeded our expectations for a unique train car. We also swam in the indoor pool with large windows.”
I have never tried it before, but in return I am feeling the coolness from being immersed in the happy feeling of "lost" in this wonderful hotel.
