Local, Near and Far: Our journey of exploring the world.

Tag: Basilica of the Sacred Heart

In Case You Missed It…South Bend

Every couple weeks we’ll be collecting links from past posts grouped together by location; we thought it handy to have everything in on
e convenient location as you plan your upcoming travels. We just finished a short series on South Bend, so here’s your recap:

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Studebaker National Museum: The Studebaker National Museum boasts an impressive collection of cars, traveling exhibits (that includes other automakers), and the largest Presidential Carriage Collection anywhere.

NotreDame3Notre Dame & The Snite Museum of Art: Notre Dame boasts a beautiful campus with majestic architecture in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and Golden Dome on top of the Main Building and the Snite Museum of Art for the art lover.

Fiddler’s Hearth Public House: Based on a recommendation in South Bend, IN we happily enjoyed the fish & chips, Beef Wellington, and cozy atmosphere at The Fiddler’s Hearth.

The College Football Hall of Fame: The College Football Hall of Fame is a fun way to spend a morning or afternoon and is family friendly, educational, and entertaining. It is also great for the football lover and the historian.College Football HOF

J.W. Chen’s Chinese Cuisine: If you’re in South Bend and looking for a delightful Asian restaurant with excellent customer service, we highly recommend J.W. Chen’s Chinese Cuisine.

Notre Dame & The Snite Museum of Art

No visit to South Bend is complete without at least checking out Notre Dame, after all, the top three things to do on TripAdvisor are on campus.  It is full of beautiful architecture, majestic buildings, and the famed Basilica of the Sacred Heart and Golden Dome on top of the Main Building. Listed at #11 and also on the Notre Dame campus is the Snite Museum of Art which next to the Studebaker National Museum, was one of my favorite things on this trip.

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The University of Notre Dame campus was founded in 1842 by a young French priest from the Congregation of the Holy Cross, Edward Sorin, and chartered by the Indiana legislature  in 1844.  A University only in name during the first decades of its existence, it included “religious novitiates, preparatory and grade schools and a manual labor school, but its classical collegiate curriculum never attracted more than a dozen students a year in the early decades.” The University now spans 1250 acres with 143 buildings and is organized into four undergraduate colleges — “Arts and Letters, Science, Engineering, and the Mendoza College of Business — the School of Architecture, the Law School, the Graduate School, and 14 major research institutes. Enrollment for the 2012-13 academic year was 12,126 students overall and 8,475 undergraduates.”

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South Bend, IN Overview

The first year or so of our time in Chicago was HARD. It was challenging physically, emotionally, spiritually; we were in our first year of marriage, I had some health issues that cropped up, and Matt was learning a very demanding job. We frequently (about once a month) took short trips for quick weekend escapes. It was during this time that we felt rested and enjoyed connecting with each other as we explored new places together.

We decided on a whim on a Monday that we would go out of town the following weekend. We didn’t know where or what we would do, we just knew we needed to get away. So, I set to researching! As I started to plan our trip, I checked the forecast and saw we could be in for some snow. But, it was Monday, so I set to planning with the thought in mind that “we won’t go far”.

Looking at a map to determine what “far” meant, I saw South Bend, IN. It wasn’t huge on the map but also not so small that there wouldn’t be things to do there. So, I set to researching to see if I could set an itinerary. Yelp and TripAdvisor (otherwise known as my trip planning BFFs) listed several restaurants we could try as well as things to do. After doing some research, I shared our potential itinerary with Matt. He was initially reluctant because…well, it honestly wasn’t that exciting on paper. But, it was going to be a short trip, and really we just wanted to get away, so we decided to move forward. Matt found a hotel and I worked on getting all the other details together.

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