Milwaukee

K and I went to Milwaukee this weekend and we had a blast! She had been wanting to go on a mini-vacation for the longest time and we finally settled on Milwaukee a few weeks ago. The crazy thing about this town is that it appears to have all the fun and conveniences of Chicago, but practically no traffic. During the short time we visited, we found the beach, a ritzy mall, breweries, bars and clubs (with a young crowd even), an art museum, a public market, distinct, higly rated restaurants and even an ultra modern 5 star themed hotel! And this was all in under 36 hours!

We started our trip by taking a brewery tour at the Lakeside Brewery. It's really a great tour because for $6 you get 2 pints of beer and a glass pint to take home. I love these kinds of tours because they always try to keep you entertained. Our tour guide was constantly making jokes and was very animated. I'd recommend this tour to anybody my age!

Next, we checked into the Iron Horse hotel. This hotel is a motorcycle themed hotel, hence the name Iron Horse. The decorations in the hotel are all dark and modern. You feel like you're in a different world in this hotel because of all the unique design elements they use in their rooms. They serve you hand and foot at this hotel as well with programs like the "Desires" program where they give you complimentary beverages and will give you recommendations for things to do based upon your tastes. Soon, they'll be opening up a massive hot tub that converts into a pool during summer months. I might have to come back to try that one out! I'd recommend this hotel to anybody that wants to have a unique hotel experience.

After the hotel check in, we headed to a famous German restaurant Called Mader's. Their dishes seemed pretty authentic to me, but I've only been to Germany a few times, so who knows. They also had a couple more unique dishes such as their rueben rolls, which were basically egg rolls filled with sauerkraut and corned beef that you could dip in either a sweet and sour or mustard sauce. For the price though, I might be tempted to try another restaurant as none of their food really wowed me. Milwaukee has several German restaurants. So I'll be tempted to try another the next time I visit.

Next we went back to the hotel to prepare for our fun night out. But at this time I realized I didn't pack any shoes other than sneakers and I only brought t-shirts as well. So with quick thinking we decided to run to Target and pick up a couple club-appropriate items. After all that fun we noticed it was raining and had to re-evaluate our plans. Since we were not familiar with the roads and we'd have to drive at night in the rain most likely with a drink or two in us, we chose to only visit the night life within walking distance of the hotel. We first went to the packed hotel bar downstairs. K tried a gingersnap martini and I had a beer. The crowd was mostly young and everybody seemed to be having a good time. We next moved onto a Jazz club where they had a cover, but they let us in for free since it was our first visit. It was a great experience even though the crowd was older and there was smoking. It was nice to go to a "different" type of club. After that we decided to call it a night.

The next day we packed up our stuff and headed to the public market. Th is place is somewhere everybody who visit's Milwaukee should see. They have the best bakery C. Adams Bakery. We were both sad that we didn't have more time to sample the delicious baked goods. We purchased a cheese danish there among other things that was so buttery and full of cream cheese that we couldn't believe our taste buds! We also went to a Mediterranian/Indian booth where we pu rchased samosas and Egyptian rice. Both were pretty good. The market also has a candy vendor, fish, meat, bread, cheese, juice, and wine vendor along with a full-fledged restaurant upstairs. Being Wisconson, you can be sure to find some very unique cheeses along with all the variety of cheese curds you could ever want. I bought ranch and cajun flavored varieties.

The last stop on our trip was the Milwaukee Art museum. This museum is probably one of the most architecturally stunning buildings you will ever visit in your life time and it is worth seeing for that reason alone. But the art exhibits could easily keep you occupied for days! This is another must see for tourists! To round off the weekend we took a scenic drive up the lakefront to the largest beach we've ever seen along Lake Michigan followed by a surprise run in with the nicest looking upper-class neighborhood I've seen in a long time. 95% of the houses in the area had a timeless and warm design, while at the same time being extremely luxurious, especially the houses on the lake front. We even saw one house whose lot was surrounded completely by a brick wall with two separate servants quarters!

All in all we had an excellent trip and we look forward to exploring more of Milwaukee next time. This city has to be one of the best the midwest has to offer and it can definitely keep you occupied no matter what you are into!

And so we leave Germany

As the trip comes to a close. I took the time to reflect upon how blessed I am for being able to travel this distance and and do so many things in such a short amount of time. And even now, the vacation is not over. I still have New Jersey and New York to visit yet this week!

Today we went to Castle Neuschwanstein (New Swan Stone) in Southern Germany. Well we also got a good look at Hohenschwangau while we were there because the father of the king that built Neuschwanstein built Hohenschwangau so they were right next door to one another. Anyway, Neuschwanstein was built in the 1800s because the king was reminiscent of the old castles built during medieval times. He built his castle to replicate the styles of those times. It is truly a beautiful castle but unfortunately, they do not allow you to take pictures of most of the castle and I was not able to document that leg of my trip :( However I got a lot of shots from the outside and the fantastic scenery around the castle. I probably got some of the best mountain shots of the whole trip.

After the castle we ate dinner at a restaurant by the castle. We all had traditional German dishes. I was ecstatic about this because one of the most fun parts of traveling abroad is enjoying the local dishes. I had the Jägerschnitzel, which consisted of a thin pork chop on bed of mushrooms in cream sauce with potato croquets. MMMM

I also bought a couple of souvenirs. I got a real German beer stein for less money than I would've though and a surprise for Kristin that I hope she likes. My sister bought a cuckoo clock as well, and it's prettier than mine, fooey. I've already been outdone. I think she fell in love with mine while I had it hung up here :) It is so much fun though. I really love it. So I guess that's all for now. I'll see you all back in the states!

Weekend Update

I had a very good weekend starting on Wednesday because that was my Friday! Kristin and I baked molasses and peanut butter cookies. Of course, I ate a bunch. Thursday Kristin and I headed to Iowa at about 10AM. We had made delicious sandwiches to bring along the night before so I had forgotten them. I kicked myself for that because I was really looking forward to it! In the evening we met up with my whole family and we went to a Casting Crowns and Tree 63 concert that my dad had bought tickets for. That was my first Christian concert. It was alright and I was glad we weren't sitting close to the speakers. They had a scary looking drummer who they "let loose" do do a solo and it reminded me of a Tool concert.

On Friday Kristin and I headed up to Ames to see my campus and eat all the food that I missed. I ate the West Street Deli sandwich that I missed ever so much. After that I had Pizza Pit wings and cheese bread. It was all so delicious. I also picked up some ISU MEATS lab bratwurst and ate some of that for dinner. I was in heaven that day.

On Saturday the whole family went to see the covered bridges in Madison county. We also ran into John Wayne's childhood home while on the way. After we were all done we saw a sign for "Grandpa's Workshop" so we decided to check it out. Some grandpa opened up a shop in the middle of nowhere and sold lots of wood items. The cutest little kid was there too. She seemed like she was out of a storybook because she was so adorable. We got some free knickknacks and then headed home. I felt bad for not buying anything, but there wasn't anything I wanted! For dinner, we had a massive dinner that consisted of bacon wrapped fillet mignon, grilled potatoes, broccoli, and corn along with green beans and brown rice. Needless to say, I also over ate on Saturday. The whole weekend we played a lot of games of Apples to Apples and the whole family ate it up. I was happy about it and Kristin was also a big hit with the family.

Sunday was a travel day but we still managed to go to Target, eat at Tacos Mariana's, watch half a movie, and go to the church where my dad's church was visiting and eat their food. I over ate that day too! weird. It was all fun though. I had a great trip!