While Wisconsin is known for it's rural expanse, we do have at least one decently sized city that I'd like to introduce to you; Milwaukee. Living up to Wisconsin's reputation, there is no shortage of beer, brats or cheese and very down-to-earth. Milwaukee is also the place to go to admire the work of Wisconsin's brag-worth natives, Georgia O'Keef and Frank Lloyd Wright.
On our drive up from Chicago, we decided to stop "quickly" at the Gurnee Mills outlet shops. Being Torsten's first American mall experience, we ended up spending several hours wandering around admiring American Consumerism at it's best. Killing more time than we meant to, we ended up arriving in Milwaukee later than expected. So we spent the rest of the night getting cozy in our hotel, with our mountain of brochures, planning for the next day.
Never letting a sunny day go to waste, we decided on wandering around the city, but not before grabbing some grub at the Milwaukee Public Market. Note: Milwaukee on a weekday seems pretty deserted until they get hungry, then watch out. Getting food at the market during lunch hour may night have been the brightest idea in hindsight, but walking it off along the river made up for it. There are some seriously cool, old, industrial relics left around the city worth going hunting for.
While Summerfest and the Brewers might be the sparkle of most visitors eyes, I have a fondness for The Milwaukee Art Museum. The architecture alone wins me over. Every. Time. That part even the cheapskates like us get to enjoy. Since I've been here a few times before and there is a charge to go in, we skipped seeing the actual artworks hidden inside and just enjoyed the ground-floor views. Besides, when you are in Milwaukee you don't want to waste too much time looking at art when there is beer to be drunk!
Making it just in time to join the last tour of the day, our last sightseeing destination was Miller Brewery. The tour is absolutely free and they even shower you with beer afterwards. Sounds kind of like heaven, huh? If there is one thing I noticed Torsten and I never pass-up on while traveling, it's breweries. We don't even question it, we see one and some how wind up in front of doors being lured in by the smell of hops.
After a full day, we ended up crashing at the hotel. Now let me tell you about why we had no desire to leave the room, and even ended up not leaving until we absolutely had to check out. We never stay in rooms this nice. We usually find the cheapest, no-thrills room within walking distance to where we are going. But this time, without even spending more than usual, we got one of those fancy hotels with an indoor pool, sleep number beds and our own bathroom! We were smitten.
Cheers!
Check out Milwaukee!