If you’re in Wisconsin during the winter, you may find it a bit chilly, and rightly so. That, however, provides a wonderful opportunity to step instead some of the state’s most beautiful buildings to warm up for a while and to admire craftsmanship you’re unlikely to ever see again. Wisconsin’s architectural marvels span a wide range of styles, from evocative Victorian homes to impressive college campus buildings to nearly a dozen of Frank Lloyd Wright’s innovations. Read about the top five buildings in Wisconsin >
Tag Archives: Milwaukee
Bring On Brunch!
Who doesn’t love the occasional weekend brunch? Certainly not anyone in Brooklyn Heights, New York, where I live, and where that special weekend meal brings in the crowds to any place that serves brunch, resulting in lines that spill out onto the sidewalk. No matter; I’ve enjoyed lingering over this smash-up meal in many places outside of my neighborhood, in far more appealing surroundings than, say, Atlantic Avenue. Read about the top five brunches >
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Music in the Sky: The World’s Best Bell Towers
I’ve had the opportunity to ring the bells at the Church of St. Anne Shandon in Cork, Ireland, and at the Church of the Assumption on an island in Lake Bled, Slovenia. But, for the most part, my experiences with bell towers have been restricted to admiring their vertical beauty and listening to their heavenly music, and that’s rewarding enough. No matter their purpose, from cheerful chimes on college campuses to somber tolling marking a funeral, bell towers make for striking exclamation points in a cityscape. Read about the top five bell towers >
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Milwaukee’s Gilded Age Glory
Staying at a hotel in downtown Milwaukee that used to be a Gimbels department store gave me easy access to many of the city’s best attractions, including the remnants of its Gilded Age. Industrious immigrants, including a tidal wave of Germans and other Eastern Europeans, boosted the city’s population so that, by 1900, it was the 14th largest city in the United States. The work of these determined newcomers coincided with America’s explosion of industrial achievements and economic expansion, and they left behind a legacy of fantastic structures in their “German Athens.” Read about the top five buildings in Milwaukee >
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Delightful Domes That Grace City Skylines
Domes. They’re one of the world’s most versatile architectural elements. Whether they’re topping iconic buildings like the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, and the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, or they’re the buildings themselves, ranging from Eskimo igloos to Central Asian yurts to the geodesic dome in Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska, domes add that final splash of panache to our built environments. Found throughout the world, they seem to be appreciated by just about everyone as the perfect way to top off a building in a graceful, elegant style. Read more about the world’s top five domes >
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Appreciating Milwaukee’s Best Without the Buzz
Milwaukee’s sudsy past — when breweries such as Miller, Pabst, and Schlitz were filling up millions of barrels of beer every year, and the titular characters in Laverne & Shirley worked as bottlecappers in a brewery — has given way to a less foamy present (although it remains one of the best places to grab a cold one). The city’s Major League Baseball team’s name still conjures up those days of countless brewers, but the old “Beer Capital of the World” offers visitors so much more than a refreshing pint. From a museum of Harley-Davidson motorcycles to countless ethnic street fairs to one of the world’s largest music festivals, Milwaukee proved to be one pleasant surprise after another. These are my top five things to see and do in Wisconsin’s largest city >
Stephen Travels 