Madison, at its best

When I generally write about any place I have been to, I kind of filter, put in what we have done, describe the place ans just move on. But to write about Madison will not be all that easy. Coz it is to be seen and felt... But I would still like to try...

Madison is a small little town in the state of Wisconsin. This was where we spent 2 days out of the long weekend mentioned in my last post Go Chicago. This is a quaint little town with all the beauty that a typical American neighbourhood has to offer. The city is based around their state Capitol and built all around it. Yes, exactly the way Trichur round is :)

As we were put up near Monona Terrace, there was the very beautiful Lake Monona flowing with an elegance I have rarely seen. And cycling around the lake and the capitol is a very common task for people there making the environment more eco-friendly and making the people, much healthier.

We were indeed happy that we didnt visit the place during winter as the place freezes even before winter seeps into other places. It's generally cool and has an inviting touch to it. As we spent our days stolling around the small city and taking in some of what it had to offer, we realized that this was the first time that we felt American culture at its best.

It's home to University of Wisconsin and the merry student population adds to the picturesque town. At evenings, the university has a lot to offer to the general public and this includes food and music at a park overlooking the lake. Trust me, you couldn't have seen both young and the old looking happier!

Once in a year, the city hosts a food festival 'Taste of Madison' and weren't we lucky to be there at the very time? With Peruvian, Brazilian, Indian, Thai, Italian and all kind of cuisines(complete with desserts), it was not just a street food fest, it was a celebration. And the food was just yummy.

The Dane county farmers market, the Botanical Garden and museums are all listed in the things-to-do wiki for Madison. But once you are actually there, all you gotta do is walk out and enjoy the city for what it is. And you will not eb disappointed for it celebrates all the time, the Celebration of life...

Go Chicago!

To make up for the anniversary trip that hurricane Irene blew away with it and to make the most out of the labor day weekend, we went to this small town near Chicago. The place was beautiful, and displayed American culture at its best with restaurants lined up, awesome Tiramisu, biking around lakes, an university overlooking the lake, jazz and pop music in the evenings(with country food, of course), cool breeze at all times of the day, and a food festival over the weekend to top it all with.

The place had a healing effect to it, which could soothe one. After spending a couple of days in this serene location, we embarked on our journey to Chicagoland. The city does not have the hustle and bustle of New York, but is busy in its own natural manner. There is no rushing, but there still is so much energy and adrenaline. And yes, it is truly beautiful.

As we got into the elevator in the Willis Tower(formerly known as Sears tower), we were eager to see the Skydeck and go out onto the ledge. The first step into the glass floor was slow (I should probably add that a few heart beats could have been missing then :), but soon excitement took a better hold and I stepped out 4.3 feet from the Skydeck, the tallest building in the western hemisphere!

The view from here was breathtaking and on a clear sky day like the day we visited, one can see the four states: Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan.

After Skydeck, we took a nice long walk in the city, all the way to Shedd Aquarium. And when I said long, I really did mean loooong. On the way we passed 'Agora'. It's a sculpture of men withour arms and head. Though wiki says that it depicts democracy, we felt that it more suited us, the IT professionals :)

For someone whom the biggest aquarium visited ever was the one at Trissur Pooram Exhibition, Shedd's was indeed a magnificent place. From tiny-weeny fish including the jelly fish to the killer sharks, they are all there. We were indeed thrilled at our first meeting with Penquins, sea lions and dolphins. That was about it. For the rest of the meetings, like the ones with killer sharks, anacondas and the sort I was really happy that there was a glass between us and hoping that I would never see them this close again without this amorphous solid material barricading between us!

It was then time for a cruise in the sprawling lake Michigan. It had taken to drrizzle by then, and the view was spectacular.

As we got off at Navy Pier, we watched a few weekend shows there and took a long stroll around it. The rain dampened the spirits a little bit at this point as all rides were cancelled. That was the only disappointment in the whole trip, I would say.

A trip to Chicago will not be complete without visiting the Millennium Park which is why we decided to make a pit stop there and walked away from Navy Pier. Though we lost our way and ended up walking on the bridge instead of the river walk, we eventually made our way. Thank goodness I was not the one with the map!

The 'cloud gate' was indeed bristling with tourists but we couldn't not resist taking a few pics there before we headed to Buckingham fountain in Grand Park where a music fest was happening.

A beautiful fountain, a cup of coffee and music was all we needed to decide that we should stay just there and wind our trip up without further ado.

And that was precisely what we did.
After spending quite some time there, we started our journey back home, happy that our plans for this trip worked out really well and craving for more...