This is the historic Athenaeum Hotel. I felt smarter just walking around the lobby. The hardest thing about visiting Chautauqua is learning how to spell it. Chautauqua. (That's almost as hard for me as Cincinnati.) But once you've got that part down, it's simply a matter of choosing what you want to do while you're there. Listen to a lecture by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist? Attend a performance by the world-class Chautauqua Symphony or a smaller chamber ensemble? Go for a bike ride along the nearby country roads? Or would you rather just wander around the postcard-perfect Chautauqua village and admire the pretty houses? No worries. You can do it all! I did, and I was there for only two and a half days.