Just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio, this appealing little community is nestled under several bridges, including the Roebling Suspension Bridge, the prototype for the Brooklyn Bridge. For travelers to the Cincinnati area, Covington offers an attractive alternative (or supplement) to the big city—such bed-and-breakfasts as the Amos Shinkle Townhouse (in a lovely Italianate home from the 1850s) appeal to vacationers and business travelers alike.
As for Covington's attractions, we put the Basilica of the Assumption at the top of the list. It's modeled after the French Gothic architecture of the famous Notre Dame de Paris. Interior features include 82 hand-poured stained glass windows crafted in Munich, Germany, including a 24-ft/7-m-wide and 67-ft/21-m-tall piece, one of the largest in the world, and two rose windows (each one 26 ft/8 m in diameter). The Stations of the Cross are made of Italian mosaic, each one containing at least 70,000 pieces. There's a triptych portraying the history of salvation by local artist Frank Duveneck, and the font of the Baptistry is carved from a single solid block of Italian marble.
Mainstrasse Village is a collection of shops and eateries housed in five restored blocks of a 19th-century German-immigrant neighborhood. At one end of the village is a fascinating bell tower: On the hour, mechanical puppets emerge from the tower to reenact the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
Located in the center of the village is the bronze Goose Girl Fountain. Greek sculptor Elefcherious Karkadoulias created the piece. Using his daughter as a model, he cast it using the "lost wax" method. The fountain was erected and unveiled in October 1980.
The nearby community of Newport is the site of the impressive Oceanic Adventures Newport Aquarium. Visitors get to walk "through" the underwater world in 200 ft/62 m of clear tunnels. You can watch sharks cruising inches/centimeters above your head. The aquarium is located in The Newport Levee, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex that houses 20 theaters, Gameworks, The Shadowbox Cabaret and The Funny Bone Comedy Club. Also in Newport is the city's Millennium Monument, which houses the World Peace Bell, said to be the largest free-swinging bell in the world. Covington is approximately 75 mi/120 km north of Lexington.
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