Milwaukee Travel Information
Here’s a quick word association quiz that will show how Wisconsin
savvy you are: Milwaukee. What comes to mind? If you rattle off
architecture, beer, art, baseball, beer, baseball, bowling, beer,
canoeing, charter fishing, Harley-Davidson and beer, you can relax –
you may not be born a cheesehead but you’re certainly set to tackle
the state’s biggest urban center – and live to drink another draft.
With a population of 580,000 or so, Milwaukee, graced with vast green
parks and a view of Lake Michigan as it shimmers off to some
clandestine appointment with the distant horizon, somehow manages to
strike a fine mellow balance between happening cultural destination –
there’s always something on here, from sports to symphony - and laid
back lakeside retreat. Most of the downtown attractions are best
approached on foot, centered, as they are, near the confluence of the
Menomonee and Milwaukee Rivers just before they sweep off into Lake
Michigan. Start with a walking tour along the Riverwalk to get a
feel for the general rhythm of things in this Great Lakes city,
stopping along the way to investigate the going trend in gallery space
and explore the diversionary Eisner Museum of Advertising and
Design. Sniff bratwurst on the breeze when you get close to
Usinger’s, held to be America’s finest in the sausage making business,
and admire architectural variety around town – the Pabst Mansion
provides a good look at what inheriting a fortune in beer bucks will
buy you, while the Milwaukee Art Museum presents a façade slightly
more avant-garde. The fine art collection inside is a definite
must-see, though those with impatient children in tow might want to
break a day of sight-seeing up at this point with a side-trip to the
Savannah bush or Old Delhi market in Milwaukee Public Museum. There’s
also an IMAX theater there, and a great hands-on Discovery World
Museum that should educate and entertain nicely –don’t overlook the
Betty Brinn Children’s Museum either, where creative efforts are
encouraged. If you’re an avid museum-goer, continue on to the
Milwaukee County Historical Center, the International Clown Hall of
Fame or the Haggerty Museum of Art on the campus of Marquette
University. While you’re there, have a peak inside the St Joan of Arc
Chapel, brought to the US from France in the early
20th-century. Those inclined toward birds, bees, and other
things botanical won’t want to mix a blossom-brightened walk through
the Boerner Botanical Gardens in Whitnall Park or the peaceful trails
in Schlitz Audubon Nature Center. For wild animals though, try the
Milwaukee County Zoo. Bikes are a great way to cover more territory,
so get peddling to increase your sight-seeing sweep – if you didn’t
haul along your own two wheels you can rent a set (and three-wheel
trikes for adults) locally. Anyone with a serious passion for bikes of
the motorized kind should by this point be anxiously waiting to learn
more about visiting the Harley-Davidson plant; watch an engine come
together on a tour down the assembly line, there’s talk of a museum to
come. Should the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, a Frank
Lloyd Wright creation, start you thinking about making a few
structural changes to your own home, head for the Villa Terrace or the
Charles Allis Art Museum to get serious decorating ideas. Last,
but by no means least, no trip to the “Beer City” would be complete
without tasting a pint or two. Even though this is no longer home to
big name brews – Miller is the only hanger on – there is a healthy
selection of microbreweries taking up the slack, and the interested
taster can get up to snuff on the big-time production of this beverage
drunk round the world at Miller Brewing. In this swell Wisconsin
city, there’s enough to do downtown to keep visitors busy for several
days at least, but with time to spare, spend a day out charter
fishing, explore charming historic architecture in atmospheric
Cedarburg or devote your energies to a boat tour of top microbreweries
along the river. Wet, dry, hungry, hung-over, modern art, motorcycles,
leisurely nature walks or wild animals, Milwaukee is all about
options: the choice is yours.
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