It's Mother's day! After our tiring drive back from milwaukee the night before, we decided to check out the zoo today. It was really crowded cos there's free admission for mummies today. This is gonna be a very bosim post cos there's nothing much I wanna say about the zoo. I much preferred my experience in the toronto zoo. so here are just some photos of well, animals.
see his driving skills..
giraffe lazing about.
We decided to explore cleveland a little. yes, after like 11 our of our 12 months. drove north towards cleveland lakefront state park.
7.45am: Left house knowing I have enough time to reach the PIE bus stop for my 154 bus at 8.20am.
8am: Reach PIE bus stop. Wait for 154
8.20am: 154 really reaches. Non aircon double decker. It's damn crowded and cos it was a long wait there were lots of poly/SIM students waiting to board the bus.
I refuse to board it cos my ride is damn long and I want a seat so that I can read + sleep. Besides, since this bus took so long the next bus usually will not be far behind, and will have less pple and will eventually catch up with this bus cos it has less people alighting/boarding! Right?
8.30am: Next 154 reaches. Aircon single deck. This time it's even more crowded than the previous. What to do. I squeeze up and end up standing on the step at the door. Boo.
After the poly stop lots of pple alight so I get a seat. whee. I fall asleep after a while.
9.30am: I open my eyes and see my bus stop whisk by me. I alight the next stop and walk a long way back. I thought my new heels were comfy until I reach office and see a blister on toe 4, right foot.
And my day hasn't even started yet.
12noon: people jio me for lunch, I decline cos I feel like eating instant noodles. People start leaving the office.
12:15pm: I grab my wallet and get ready to buy my instant noodles from the vending machine. I look in the coin compartment and see 25c. Oh. no coins. checks note compartment. no notes either. I'm like, almost penniless. and everyone's out for lunch. I decide between buying 20c peanuts and drinking 2 cups of 10c milo.
zq comes back with his food and I think of a less embarrassing way to borrow $ from him.
'hey you have coins? $1-2. Return u next wk', coupled with a grin.
12:20pm: Yay. I have $2. I walk over to the vending machine and buy one Lays, one doritos and one curry flavoured cup noodles.
12:25pm: I open the msg satchets and pour all of it in. Start filling the cup with hot water. I see some soup dripping down the cup. I turn the cup around and see a big slit along the cup where the water is dripping out from. At least I didn't burn myself.
I had started my 'lets get to as many states as possible before June 9' mood. Unfortunately not everyone was willing to spend the $ and weekend time to travel to a new state just for the sake of it. Also, cy+ks+seb+kev had already gone to Milwaukee on some weekend while my parents were here. But fortunately I managed to bug erwin to tag along with me despite warnings from those who had gone before that it isn't exactly very exciting there.
450 miles – about 7 hours 23 mins drive past 2 great lakes.
on the way we witnessed a fire. quite scary seems like half the house has been burnt already! there already are firemen there taking care of the situation. i was driving so i made erwin take this pict.
thank goodness i drove first cos the roads at chicago and milwaukee are soo packed with cars. eek. so erwin took the grosser roads. heh. the speed limit of 65 means you can cruise at probably, 74.9 and not get caught. we had breakfast at macs.. ah i miss the mc griddle.. kinda like mc muffin but the bread is replaced with a pancakey piece which is slightly sweet. love it!
Rockwell Automation Headquarters
the (almost) most important stop, our company headquarters! the only exciting thing about it is that that clock tower is the world's biggest four faced clock. right.
Milwaukee Public Market
off to check out the city. we went by milwaukee public market which, was, a market.
The grain exchange room was where wheat was traded in the 1880s, before stock exchange was introduced to milwaukee. So I suppose it's kinda like the sgx building now. Something tells me we were in the wrong part of the building cos it's supposed to have 3 stories, and look really grand like the following photo. But at least we were at the right place.
Pfister Hotel
According to themselves, the Pfister hotel is a "Beautifully restored European-style Hotel with contemporary 185-room circular Tower addition"
After happily intruding the Pfister hotel, we walked along the streets where we saw lots of interesting architecture. Oh and only now do I realize that cylindrical tower in the first pict is called The Tower and is also part of the Pfister hotel.
Milwaukee Art Museum
my favorite part of milwaukee is that whale tail shaped structure at the end of the yellow lines.
milwaukee war memorial
inside the whale tail
we were allowed entry to the public lobbies where we could enjoy the very beautiful corridors. too cheap and non artistically inclined to pay to visit the art galleries.
as we left the place we were taking photos when these guys shouted at us to take a photo of them.. and I did. quite amusing.
nice?? the most interesting part is that the strips can actually collapse!
hmm. is it collapsing already?
there was this hands-on exhibit across the road from the museum and we had some fun there.
flapping sequin thingies which are turned by the wind
you can throw the little stones at the grated metal to produce erm, music.
can't really hear but well, you aren't missing much.
after we were done with all that playing, we turned around and !!! the tail had collapsed! ARGHHH we were so irritated that we didn't catch it collapsing. so unattentive of us.
A. In the intelligence trade, a safe house is a secret refuge for spies engaging in covert operations. The CIA glossary of intelligence trade idioms defines a safe house as a seemingly innocent house or premise established by an intelligence organization for conducting clandestine activities in relative security.
The safehouse is a spy-themed restaurant/bar. It is damn cool. All that's written outside is 'International Exports' and there's no mention of a restaurant or any suspicious activities.
outside/in the corridor
If you can't see it clearly or can't be bothered to see it, basically it's this dark corridor where you have to push the lever and the bookcase swings open. really cool.
When we finally got in, we were greeted by the bartender: "Greetings, agents!" Which makes you realize that all the silly things you did during the process of entering the restaurant was probably taped and could be seen from the inside. It was a pity that they had stopped serving lunch [it was about 3+] cos we were really hungry and had planned to lunch there. So we abruptly left the place.
This place houses events such as NBA matches and concerts. "It was a gift to the State of Wisconsin by philanthropists Jane Pettit and Lloyd Pettit in memory of Jane's late father, Harry Lynde Bradley of the Allen-Bradley company." Which kinda makes him our company's forefather.
One thing we noticed was that everything was in octagonal shape. Seems that Mr Bradley really liked that shape. The A-B logo, the clock tower face.. even the Bradley grave had a octagonal formation. Only read up on that after the trip, or I would have loved to go check it out. =)
octagon1
octagon2
octagon3
octagon4
milwaukee public museum
St John's Cathedral
totally out of point, but taken on the street opp the church
in the courtyard
there was a wedding there!
Marquette University
This is the St Joan of Arc chapel. Originally built in France and reconstructed here. One of the stones that it's made up of, is supposedly stood upon by Joan of Arc while praying, and she kissed it after her prayers. And thus that stone is supposed to be colder than the ones surrounding it.
very interesting sight, bridesmaids and soccer.
Mitchell Park Conservatory
Otherwise known as the domes. Kinda like a greenhouse I guess, where the poor tropical-plant-deprived americans can enjoy plant species different from what they're used to.
The domes were closed, not that we would have gone in anyway, but there was this cute sundial thing outside it which entertained us.
Miller Brewery
Milwaukee is home of Miller beer, which seems to me is one of the most popular brands in the US, next to the Budweiser. Well it's a pity that there are no brew tours on Sundays. Doubt i can drive after beer sampling anyway.
Miller Park
This is a baseball stadium, home to the Milwaukee Brewers. Kinda cool cos the roof can be opened and closed! We drove to an area opposite the stadium to have a better view.
and then it was time to go home.
and everywhere we go we go by this building =)
nice rest station which was built like a bridge across the expressway. Kinda cool cos that means it can be accessed by drivers from both directions. i had this turkish grilled chicken naan thing which was very messy. cos erwin had been driving the whole day, i then took over, armed with a cup of starbucks coffee.
