Fowle Family Adventures: 21c Museum Hotel

For our weekend in Louisville, Stuart was able to secure us some amazing rates at 21c Museum Hote l. This place is part boutique hotel, part 21st century art museum, part hip and cool bar, part gourmet restaurant, and all amazing. Even though it was voted the #1 hotel in the US in 2009 by Conde Nast Traveller magazine, 21c is far from stuffy. Perhaps it is because of all the funky, off-beat contemporary art on display, perhaps it's because their mascot is a large group of red penguin statues, created by The Cracking Art Group and who are present all throughout the hotel. These penguins have such a great personality and are so accessible that I will be dedicating an entire post to our favorite penguin, #96.

Given my penchant for photography, and the beauty of the hotel, I took a lot of pictures of the space. Believe me when I tell you that I've never been inspired to photograph the Hampton Inn, which is my usual lodging while traveling--this was quite the welcome upgrade!

The front entrance, and first introduction to the red penguins.

Shouldn't every hotel have an outdoor chandelier??

Stairway from the downstairs art gallery up to the main lobby.

Todd and I both fell in love with the wooden tables in the bar area.

This penguin hangs out in a well-behaved manner on his art display pedestal on the main floor. The other penguins in his flock, however, have been known to move about the hotel and can be found in a number of different places depending on the time of day.

One of these wandering penguins was hanging out by the elevators, so we decided to include him in our group photo. Notice that I am also in the picture (silhouette on the back wall, part of another art installation that projected our images on the wall--you can get a better feel for this a few photos down).