First Trip to Milwaukee

Hockey trips are usually north, where there is better competition. (Lots more snow for yours truly to contend with, but the highways were clear.) This is our first time to play in eastern Wisconsin, so we went early to spend time with my second cousin Marie and her husband Paul. He's a retired dentist and she was a music teacher. Their daughters played violin and cello. So we had much in common. Our lunch was tuna sandwiches and blueberry cobbler a la mode! We all retired to the music room for a few fiddle favorites from the twins, followed by all the "Mary Poppins" songs Paul had on his grandfather's player piano!

Sing-alongs are fun, but then we were late to the downtown museums. We wanted to see the Discovery Center, but it closed early (at 4:00). So we spent our last hour at the Milwaukee Art Museum instead. The Museum is a work of art by Calatrava--being shaped like a huge white ship on the lake shore. It even has sailing wings that open and retract!

Paul was a great tour guide, and I believe he has the whole art collection memorized. We "sailed" past a full suit of armor and an Eyptian sarcophagus to go view the entire room of Georgia O'Keefe paintings. She was a Wisconsin native. There was also a painting by Picasso, Klimt, Kandinsky, and a Chihuly sculpture (the glass blower). Paul is quite a glass-blower-artisan himself.

We finished up with macaroni and Wisconsin cheddar cheese at Alterra, a 130-year-old pump-house coffee shop.