Milwaukee Day 2

Thursday, August 08, 2013
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
This morning we met a friend and his daughter for breakfast at a great restaurant in the historic 3rd ward district. We enjoyed the chance to catch up with friends and learn about Milwaukee from locals. Thank you Dennis!

After breakfast we headed for the Harley Davidson Museum . The museum looks all the part of the famous iron horse. Lots of raw steel and concrete. Inside is an amazing collection of Harley Davidsons. From the first year 1903 to present day. In between there are a variety of motorcycles. It was interesting to learn the history of the company. HD was started by four individuals, three Davidsons and one Harley. At some point HD was bought by AMF and nearly died as a result of management and the economy in the early 80's. A group of employees formed to buy HD from AMF and they worked hard to save the brand. They have certainly succeeded. This year Milwaukee will host the 110 anniversary of HD early next month.

Also interesting was how HD motorcycles were used in Europe during WWII. The servicemen who used the HD motorcycles in battle returned home with an urge to get a motorcycle for themselves, and many of them did just that. The museum is a must if you are a Harley owner or just a motorcycle enthusiast. We are neither and still really enjoyed a couple hours learning about Harley Davidson . After the museum I got to ride a stationary Harley to feel the rumble and hear the roar of the exhaust. It was fun but not enough to get me to buy a Harley.

Next we headed for Miller Park, the ball park of the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers are out of town so we just made a drive by and then headed for downtown Milwaukee for lunch. We found a historic tea house for a light lunch. Next we set out on foot for the Milwaukee river walk. Milwaukee has three rivers that merge near Lake Michigan, the rivers feature many bridges and boats, along the shore downtown are walk ways. At one point is the "Bronze Fonz" which pays tribute to the Happy Days tv show that was based in Milwaukee. We took pictures and kept walking. We next visited the Pfister Hotel. A beautiful old hotel much like the Davenport in Spokane or the Peabody in Memphis. The lobby has a barrel ceiling with a beautiful mural painted on it.

We walked on towards the lake front . As we got closer to the lake front we saw a crazy looking building. It looked like a ship sailing in from Lake Michigan. It is the Milwaukee Art Museum. We took some more pictures and headed inside to see how the building looked from the inside. Inside was just as cool as the outside with amazing views of Lake Michigan. We decided to take in the art exhibits as well. The featured exhibit was worthless. If that is art than anyone, and I mean anyone is an artist. Fortunately the museums permanent collection was worth seeing. Worhal, Picasso, Monet, Wall, O'Keefe, and many more.

After the art museum we walked up the lake front for a bit before returning to our car. We drove further up the lake front along great parks. Parks with fields, tennis courts, beaches, volleyball, playgrounds, bike paths, and more. The Milwaukee Parks have been acknowledged as some of the best in the US. Well maintained and full of great things to do and places to see.

We returned to the historic 3rd ward to browse a few shops before dinner with friends. For dinner we met Constantine and Kathy with their grandkids at a river front restaurant. The food was good but the company was great. We enjoyed hearing more about Milwaukee from locals as well as catching up with them. After dinner we headed back up the lake front to a ice cream (custard) shop right on Lake Michigan. The custard was delicious and we continued visiting until after the sun went down. The kids were tired so we said goodby and headed for out hotel.

Tomorrow we set off for our final destination of this trip, Minneapolis. Good night.

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