It’s Milwaukee

It’s not Milwaukee’s fault yesterday was slate gray. It was. It was chilly too. My SoCal daughter and SoFla parents were quick to complain about the temperature.

Good morning from Milwaukee… or as I said yesterday as we drove from the airport, “We’re back in Buffalo.”

OK–maybe a little unfair. It’s not Milwaukee’s fault yesterday was slate gray. It was. It was chilly too. My SoCal daughter and SoFla parents were quick to complain about the temperature.

So far our whirlwind tour has been amazing! With 21 guests my sister outsourced dinner to Kil@wat at the Intercontinental Hotel. Excellent choice!

Dinner out worked well as it left everyone free to enjoy dinner and friends and family seldom together. I’m sure we were very noisy!

As we drove up to the Intercontinetal my first reaction was “This can’t be Milwaukee.” All that was missing was people! You could have shot a cannon across the lobby. I guess Thanksgiving isn’t a big night downtown.

With my parents in the car I pulled into valet parking. We ate dinner and came back to find there wasn’t a reason to move the car to the garage! It was where we left it.

My sister and brother-in-law took my folks home so Helaine, Stef and I were free to drive around Milwaukee looking for a place to buy a few cans of soda. If there was a convenience store open we didn’t see it. Again, Thanksgiving.

This is a city with immense buildings. Compare the big structures of New York City to Milwaukee and New York’s are taller. Milwaukee’s seem to take up more ground.

There is an incredible amount of architectural detail on most of these buildings. You don’t find this kind of artisan intensive construction today. It’s part of what distinguishes Milwaukee–a plus.

As we drove through downtown there were lots of trendy looking bars and pubs open. The city has a really livable and warm feel in spite of its extended winter.

I stopped the car across from Cathedral Square Park. It’s beautifully decorated for Christmas. That’s where the photo at the top of this entry comes from.

We’re in a classically beautiful hotel. The Pfister is very well know. The guest room we’re in is oddly shaped and a little dated, but well maintained. The public areas are spectacularly intricate with beautiful Victorian touches.

It’s funny the Pfister has Kohler fixtures in the bathroom!

This will be a very short trip. We’re on our way back tomorrow. So far it has been everything we could hope for and a little more. It’s great having our entire family together and meeting my niece’s two adorable kids. My nephew and another niece introduced us to their respective girlfriend/boyfriend. This is the kind of stuff we miss with the family so widely separated.

It’s wonderful my sister and I can share this time with each other and our parents. Too rare.

It’s nice for Helaine and me to spend some time with Stef.

I’m so glad we came.