A Brief Stop in Madison

In July I (Paul) traveled to Madison, Wisconsin for a meeting with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. I've been to Madison once before, about 10 years ago, but only for a day. This time I also only had a day, but I had a chance to explore a bit of downtown before my meetings. Madison reminds me of a bigger version of Ann Arbor. The downtown is compact and dense because it's squeezed into a narrow isthmus between lake Mendota and lake Monona. The impressive state capitol building is right in the middle, and the University of Wisconsin is adjacent. There is great bicycle infrastructure, and a mishmash of historic buildings and new apartments and offices. It's a progressive city with a fun atmosphere.

The view of downtown from the plane.

It really is a neat location.

My hotel room was themed after the University of Wisconsin's football stadium.

This is the entrance gate to the actual football stadium.

Check out the awesome buffered cycle tracks!

A neat building on campus right next to downtown.

A pedestrian route through campus.

Karaoke, copy shop, sushi... definitely a university town!

Another nice stretch of businesses downtown.

A museum, theatre, and the state capitol building.

It looks a lot like the US capitol in DC.

We met up with colleagues for a concert in the capitol park.

A flight of local beers on a Wisconsin-shaped wooden paddle.

The capitol at night.

The Orpheum theatre.

A few of the varied styles of architecture. A lot of the areas downtown looked like this - old houses, new modern apartments, and old brick buildings.

Time to get to work.

A view of the terrace from the Department of Health offices.

I'd love to return to Madison to spend some more time exploring the neighborhoods of the city.