When people talk about different places to visit around U.S., Milwaukee isn't one of the common names that come up in those conversations. I've been to Madison in 2015 summer for my cousin's graduation ceremony. It's a pretty little town with beautiful lake side. We only went for a day trip and I was pretty exhausted, but I loved it. Growing up in a port city, I loved lakes, seas, oceans all my life and I love any cities that have water body, it soothes me.
Madison was beautiful but I had no image for Milwaukee in my head. Anyway, last November I had a chance to visit Milwaukee for the Digital Library Federation (DLF) Forum conference. It's one of the biggest conferences in the library world and is usually hosted in lovely places (last year was in Vancouver). I looked up for places to visit before leaving for the trip. The Art Museum looked interesting (I visit art museums wherever I go, so that's always on top of my list) but otherwise, I wasn't sure what to expect from it. But before I go into more details I must say that I absolutely loved Milwaukee!
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| Beautiful lake side |
On my way there, my flight was almost 4 hours delayed and I wasn't happy about it. I wanted to arrive early to visit the art museum but that didn't happen. My friend and colleague Eka was already there enjoying amazing looking sushi all by herself! After I reached the hotel Eka and I dropped our bags and went out for a walk around the city.
My first impression of Milwaukee was - it's a walkable city, which is always my first preference for any place to live or visit. The city has many historic buildings due to its growth and popularity in the mid-19th century. It felt like a treasure land where you find the jewels one by one with every new adventure. I loved the lake side views especially, looked so pretty even at night with all the light reflections from little boats, decorations from surrounding parks. It's a place where you hold hands of your loved one after a tiring day and sit by the lake while enjoying the breeze and watching little waves, and that's all you need. After our walk we went to a fancy Italian restaurant, which again was very romantic and we both didn't have partners :p It was still very nice, it's always great to spend time with her :)
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| View from my hotel room, I think it was a performance theatre |
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| Lake side view at night |
The conference started next day at the Pfister hotel, which is amazingly gorgeous. There were many interesting presentations and conversations. I didn't present this year but it was still a good learning experience. I wanted to go to the art museum as I couldn't make it the day before and I did but it was closed (-_-). However, it was a nice walk and the surrounding lake looked pretty in the day light with bright blue.
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| The Art Museum |
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| Different perspective of the museum |
The third day I had decided that I've to visit the museum at any cost! So near the end of the last session I headed there and finally had my peace of mind enjoying the paintings. Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the building itself is an enchanting piece of art with stunning interior and exterior design.
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| Museum interior |
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| Entrance view |
We were supposed to leave the next day, so that night all the NCSU folks had dinner together, which was great. I got too exhausted and had to come back to hotel alone while others went to get drinks after dinner. Also, it was a very important and sad night for everyone - Trump got elected. So, next day was very gloomy and depressing for all. The weather was great in the morning, so we walked around the lake side for pretty long after the conference.
On my way back I got myself a magnet (it's a ritual). As the day was bright and sunny, the sunset was stunning too. I kept getting distracted while chatting with Todd in the boarding area. All in all it was a good trip and felt little sad to say goodbye. I loved Milwaukee and if I've a chance I'd love to live there.
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| Wisconsin magnet, of course cheese!! |
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| Gorgeous sunset |
