More to see in Milwaukee!

Rise and shine!

My friend's bf joined us for the first part of the day and we decided to eat breakfast at a local coffee house chain - Alterra. From what I understand the lake front location we stopped @ was the most impressive set up. The chain is very environmentally conscious (so was Lakefront Brewery) and I kind of wished I could put the store in my back pocket to take back to NYC - great breakfast selection and coffee. Midwest actually serves Alterra coffee on their flights. (pic 32 on this link.)

After breakfast we went to the Pabst Mansion for a tour. The gift shop/start of the tour takes place in what was formerly a Beer Garden that was first displayed at the Chicago World's Fair. (Where he won a Blue Ribbon-thus the moniker attached to the beer...) Pabst brought it back and attached it to his house after the Fair. It was later converted into a small chapel when priests took over the ownership of the house but eventually they are hoping to raise money to convert it back and actually make it a functioning beer garden again.

The house has had a lot of restoration done to it already - gold foil accents re-added/revealed under paint, parquet wood floors restored that had been carpeted over, original fabric designs for wall and furniture being recreated in China and sent over, etc but there is still LOTS left to do. And in addition to the restoration they are trying to track down the original furnishings and paintings. Quite a time and money consuming task.

Some interesting highlights from the tour include - fire places that were in nearly every room but not functional. They were just for looks. Secret compartments in the humidor of Pabst's smoking/business room, lots of reference to his German Heritage including 4 sayings on his smoking room displayed on the ceiling as well as work ethic related ones directed at the help in the kitchen. We were told the Pabsts were quite the philanthropists, too.

Over 40 mansions stood in the area in the height of booming industry now only 4 remain. Pabst Mansion is the only one still functioning as a home of sorts the shells still exist for the others but they have been converted into businesses and the like. Before people banded together and took out several loans to save the mansion, a business man who had bought up the area and already replaced Pabst's stable area w/ parking was going to do the same w/the building. Thankfully that didn't happen, but it is a shame to think about how many historic sites thruout our country have not been saved and replaced by lesser things. Radio City Music Hall was nearly one of them, too.

We couldn't take pics inside but you can see 2 pics from the outside on this link- 33 & 34.

My friend's bf had to go to work so as he was work bound we were Eisner Museum bound. The musuem is modest in size but displays many examples of the best work in advertising and design thru the decades. Big Boy greeted us as we entered and there were many interactive displays where you could listen to radio ads, watch tv ads and view interactive websites. (See pics 35-38)

It was time to eat again before my friend headed to the matinee show. We went to Miss Katie's Diner. They boast quite a celebrity/political list of people who have eaten their food. Their menu says that Hillary Clinton had scrambled eggs & cornbeef hash and an article Rachel Ray wrote about the place is posted on a wall - she tried the 3 cheese omelet. I thought the food was probably better than the night before but it was nothing I was overly wowed about.

The diner had a standee of Hillary and at first we wondered if it was life size - wondering if the height was accurate. After comparing to our own height we thought it was probably accurate and then my friend thought we might as well take pictures which you can see on 39 & 40.

While my friend was @ her matinee I wandered Milwaukee a bit more and checked out an indoor farmer's market. There were a few things I would have taken back w/ me but they would have been a form of liquid so I knew it wouldn't get past security on my carryon. :(

Time for the show! Since the "caberet" area my friend performs in serves food it is more like a dinner theatre. While I waited for the show to start, I tried another local rootbeer by Sprecher. (see pic here) It is better than Lakefront's rootbeer but not sure if it is better than Upstreams.

The show was fun and since it is a 50s revue the crowd gets into it and everyone seems to enjoy themselves. My friend has said that she's gotten lots of comments from audience members who share their memories of that time w/ her. (See pics of the set and publicity poster.)

After the show we met up w/my friend's bf again and headed to Safe House. It is a speakeasy, spybar type place that you have to know a password to get into. Well, you still get in if you don't know the password but not before having to do something silly like dance a weird dance or something - of course a camera is on you so the people inside can watch!

Anway...we got over there and there was a line. Then we found out there would be a $4 cover. Not bad by NYC standards but back in the midwest it did give a person pause especially since we didn't know how long we'd have to wait. My friend's bf convinced us to stay and we are glad he did.

We whispered what we were told the password was by locals that worked w/ my friend into the door person's ear and thankfully got in w/out any craziness. Once inside it is a maze of nooks, halls, doors, beaded curtains and lots of various spy and celeb stuff to look @ on the walls. (See pics 44-51) It made me wonder if there was anything close to that in NYC - you'd think there would be but...perhaps Milwaukee is unique w/the set up.

By the time we got in and toured around we were more hungry than thirsty and unfortunately Safe House doesn't serve food. So we sat for a bit to people watch and then left to find a place to eat.

After a bit of debate, pizza sounded like an okay idea. So we went to the Pizza Shuttle only to be frisked upon entry! Yikes - must not be the best place to go after dark. We managed to get our pizza to go and leave w/out incident but we agreed that was the first time any of us had been frisked before ordering pizza.

And now...bed.