Bluegrass Romance

(Note: This mini-mission could have also been titled “Make the most out of a 20 hour vacation”). Saturday afternoon at 4pm, Mr. Cecil and I dropped our three year old off at our good friends house, and then raced down I-64 to Louisville. We were headed to 21c Museum Hotel, where six months ago we spent our honeymoon.

It may not be fair this early in the game (we are only 8 weeks in to 2010) to name favorites, but 21c is a favorite. It is perhaps one of the few places in the world where it is possible to experience art without pretentious curators staring you up and down, evaluating whether or not you are worthy of experiencing art. 21c is part museum- North America’s first museum, in fact, dedicated solely to collecting and exhibiting contemporary art of the 21st century- and part uber-fantastic hotel. (Let me brag about them for a moment: 21c made Conde Naste’s Traveler’s Gold Listthis year, and it was named one of the World’s Best Places to Stay. This little hotel puts Kentucky on the map for something other than bourbon, basketball and horses).

But let me tell you why I love 21c, and let me tell you in video and pictures. For me and my husband, it’s a place that sparks romance because it’s a place that inspires us to get outside your everyday selves and participate in the creative. Here you get to lay down your fears of what others may think of you and don the courage of an artist-whatever that means to you.

Let me just tell you, wearing Venetian masks and prancing around a hotel at 6am in the morning requires one to shed inhibitions. People might (no, probably) think strangely of you. The potential for ackward moments will increase. (Apologies to the lady who glanced my husband and I in the sauna with our masks on-there was far less Eyes Wide Shut going on then you might have imagined). But if you are willing to risk your pride, the rewards are great. Romance and adventure await you…

We packed a lot in in 20 hours…and that’s not even to mention the time we spent at Proof, the restaurant and bar connected to the hotel. See more pictures from our night at the hotel and breakfast at Proof on my Flickr.

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Many thanks to 21c Museum Hotel who made us feel right at home even while wearing Grand Maulin Masks, for encouraging us to participate in the art and for setting us up in an amazing room and to the J Peterman Company who let us borrow the beautiful masks.

Lots of love to our friends too for watching Lucca for us so we could have a 20 hour romantic vacation.