Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Saturday, May 12, 2007

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.

Milwaukee Grain Exchange Room

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.

Safehouse

From their website:

Q. What is a safe house?

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.

crappy lunch at some foodcourt in some mall.

Bradley Center

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.