Museums and Attractions

Indianapolis has several nice museums, a few within walking distance of the conference hotel.  The Indiana State Museum (where one publisher will host a party on Thursday night) is a nice space on the canal.  As its name implies, the museum focuses on all things Indiana--displays about natural history, history, commerce, and famous Hoosiers.  Not all exhibits are Indiana-related:  we geeked out over a Star Wars exhibit last spring.  The architecture is quite nice, featuring Indiana limestone, and sections of the exterior showcase each of Indiana's 92 counties.

The museum has an IMAX theatre and several decent and reasonably priced restaurants.  The old L.S. Ayers Tea Room is an historical replica of the tea room in the original flagship department store (like Macy's or Marshall Fields).  Many people can't stop raving about the chicken velvet soup, which is a little rich for us.  The Market Cafe features locally grown, casual dining options.

Indiana State Museum with the Canal Walk in foreground

Next door is the Eiteljorg Museum of western art.  We've never actually been there (not sure why), but we hear it's a decent museum with exhibits focusing on the West and Native American art.

Nearby is the White River State Park, connected to the canals and featuring lots of green space and an outdoor concert space.  The Indianapolis Zoo and White River Gardens (indoor botanical gardens) are open year round.

Baseball fans will appreciate Victory Field, home of the Indianapolis Indians, a AAA affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.  While tours are not available until April, when the season starts, a nice view of the ballpark is visible from the JW Marriott.

IMA Sutphin fountain

The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is within driving--not walking--distance.  The IMA is worth the trip, and rumor has it another publisher is hosting a party there on Friday evening.  The IMA is free unless you'd like to see one of the special exhibits, and it recently opened a design wing featuring modern and contemporary furniture, housewares, and so forth.  We really enjoyed a special exhibit featuring Ai Weiwei (one of the best exhibits we've seen anywhere), and we often stop by to look at the Asian art, Georgial O'Keefe paintings, Japanese prints, and a Calder mobile.  The grounds of the IMA are quite nice, especially during spring and summer months when everything is in bloom.  Visit the Lilly House and gardens, the greenhouse, the nature park featuring trails.

View of the IMA glass atrium entryway

The Children's Museum is also a drivable destination.  It features the usual science, cultural, and nature-related exhibits, and it's great if you've brought your children with you or if you want to bring out the child in you.  The gift shop has a large selection of educational toys.

Curious Dino peeks into the Children's Museum

Last Minute Downtown Indy Hotels

You waited until now to book your room? Oh, that roommate thing didn't work out? Well, check this out:

Hotels

Tripadvisor has current reviews of the 17 major downtown hotels and 3 B&Bs. If downtown Indianapolis were a clockface, the Convention Center would sit at its center. Nine to 11 is the Museum Campus.  At 11 is Marriott Place. It consists of four hotel brands: The new JW Marriott was built for the Superbowl, and glows Colts Blue. It has a large lobby bar for meeting up as well as a sports bar. Connected to the JW by a second floor bridge is a Courtyard, Fairfield, and Springhill Suites.

The Marriott and Westin are at high noon. Embassy Suites, Hyatt Regency, and the Conrad Hotel are at one o'clock. The Conrad is on Memorial Circle, the center of the city, and there are only 4 Conrad Hotels in the US (26 worldwide). At three o'clock is the Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites, and Omni Severin. The Omni is in the old train station, and you can sleep in an old train! At four Crowne Plaza at Union Station Hotel.

At six, directly south of the convention center, is Lucas Oil Stadium. Southwest of the Stadium at 7 is Holiday Inn Express, Comfort Suites, and Staybridge Suites. 

I have no idea if there are rooms available in an of these. Really. I'm not a travel agent. But ...

While these are all walking distance to the conference venue. On the rare occasions when we stay overnight in Indy, we have enjoyed the Indianapolis Marriott North, which has limited availability as I write this. The Marriott site recommends numerous properties to the northwest, north, and northeast of downtown, requiring a bus ride or drive downtown, in Carmel, Fishers, Castleton, or near the Airport. The bonus for staying near the airport? Take a free hotel airport shuttle to the terminal, then board public transportation headed downtown, the #8 buss, for $1.75. 

Matt Cox Recommends Downtown

The Libertine Liquor Bar… it’s also very walkable from the hotel(s). http://libertineindy.com/

Also, lots of good stuff in Fountain Square (on Virginia just southeast of downtown) that i didn’t even list here…http://www.urbanspoon.com/n/40/3907/Indianapolis/Fountain-Square-restaurants - Brass Ring, Siam Square, Santorini… all highly recommended. 

[Editor's note: I asked Matt about the Libertine - I have never been but am looking forward to a cocktail there after he and M.Eble posted wonderful pics from a recent trip - highly recommended by Matt and Indy Monthy. -ms]

• RAM Restaurant and Brewery on Illinois (3-4 blocks from hotel - a chain but a small chain, great food from what I remember in Denver) http://www.theram.com/indiana/indianapolis.html

• Scotty's Brewhouse (6-7 blocks from hotel - at Virginia and Pennsylvania) http://www.scottysbrewhouse.com/locations/indianapolis-downtown/

• Rock Bottom Brewery (on Washington - 6 to 7 blocks from hotel - http://www.rockbottom.com/locations/indianapolis-downtown/largeparties)

• The Rathskeller German Restaurant and Pub (12-13 blocks from hotel - Michigan and New Jersey) http://www.rathskeller.com/

• Bru Bar (12-13 blocks from hotel - 410 Mass Ave) http://www.bruonmass.com/

• Harry & Izzy's (6-7 blocks from hotel - http://harryandizzys.com/locations/downtown-indianapolis-location-information/)

• An "outsider thought" - Creation Cafe (three minute cab ride, more of a 20 minute walk - this is actually a really cool spot on the canal with views of downtown, etc. - it's another direction from the hotel but really neat and great food - 337 W. 11th Street) - they have rooms upstairs and my friend Brian who works for IU Medical Center and coordinates this stuff says they have used them before for the room and food. http://www.creationcafeandeuphoria.com/creationcafe/

The JW Marriott is easy walking distance from a lot of stuff downtown. The thing is, it's brand new and so it's a couple blocks from things. Not a big deal really, but nothing is "across the street" (except what's in the hotel itself). But once you're over into the downtown area you have a lot of stuff. Several chains of course (Champp's, Buca Di Beppo, PF Changs, Palamino, Hard Rock Cafe, etc., but none of that is probably ideal).

But do check these: 

There's no reason not to have something within walking distance really. Any of these would work pretty well for both atmosphere and food and should have the room. RAM, Rock Bottom, and Harry & Izzy's are closest but the others are really cool too. 

-Matt

Metadata

There are only so many Aardvark posts the larger #attwcon #4C14 communities will tolerate, and we love our relationship with #4C4E and don't want to wear out our welcome. We'll be posting as many reviews as we can manage to the Blog in the days leading up to the CCCC and ATTW Conferences in Indianapolis, and if you have a question or suggestion, or want us to add your review of your favorite place, tag your tweet #IndyJAC and we will do what we can to add your review to the blog! Or, email your review to conalvo@gmail.com, or tweet @salvo7. Share the short URL: http://bit.ly/1eds8o0