EL BLOG DE AMPOWERFLOWER

Aventuras y anécdotas fuera de casa

Monday, January 17, 2011

Milwaukee y los puentes de Madison...Milwaukee and the bridges of Madison county

Hola a todos!! Hoy tambien tengo algunas aventuritas que contaros ;). Ayer Thomas termino antes de trabajar y puesto que teniamos unas 3 horas mas de lo habitual en un sabado de trabajo, pensamos en hacer algo. Eso si, pensamos en hacer algo, pero no pensamos mucho...
Decidimos alquilar un zipcar y conducir una hora u hora y media hacia el norte y hacer un poco de senderismo en Wisconsin, el estado siguiente a Illinois yendo hacia el norester. La ciudad mas grande de Wisconsin es Milwaukee y solo esta a 70 millas de Evanston, por lo que decidimos pasar alli la noche y empezar el senderismo a la mañana siguiente :)
El plan parecia muy bonito, por fin algo al aire libre, naturaleza, etc, pero claro! no habiamos pensado en la temperatura que hace por estar tierras en esta epoca del año...
Hi everyone!! Today I have some new adventures to talk about :) Yesterday Thomas could finish earlier and since we had at least 3 more hours free than on a normal working Saturday we thought of doing something. I say "we thought" of doing something, but we really didn't think that much...hehe!
We decided to rent a zipcar and drive one hour or one and a half hours North towards Wisconsin and do some hiking in any of the parks there are in that area. Milwaukee is the biggest city of Wisconsin and it is only 70 miles far from Evanston, so we thought we could spend the night there and do the hiking next morning;)
The plan seemed nice, something outside, nature, etc, but of course, we hadn't thought about the temperature here during the winter...
Cogimos el coche y condujimos alrededor de una hora hasta Milwaukee donde llegamos hasta nuestro hotel. La ciudad estaba desierta, literalmente desierta!! no me lo podia creer, Milwaukee es la ciudad mas grande de Wisconsin y no hay nadie?? en ningun sitio? que pasa??
Dejamos nuestras cosas en el hotel, que era bastante mediocre por cierto, y nos fuimos a cenar a un restaurante de comida americana que estaba bastante cerca.
Una de las cosas que notamos cuando llegamos a Milwaukee es que hacia mas frio que en Evanston, pero considerablemente mas, eso si que es frio y no lo que ha hecho por aqui hasta ahora :)
El restaurante estaba a menos de 10 minutos a pie desde nuestro hotel, pero en ese trayecto que era supuestamente en el centro de la ciudad, no vimos a nadie!! a nadie! y hacia muuuuucho frio!! lo podeis ver en las siguientes fotos :)
We took our car and drove around one hour to Milwaukee where we had booked a hotel. The city was empty, literally empty, I couldn't believe it.
Milwaukee is the biggest city of Wisconsin and there was no one there? no where? que pasa?? We left our stuff in the hotel (it wasn't too nice either) and we went for dinner to a restaurant of American food which was pretty close to the hotel.
When we arrived in Milwaukee we noticed it was really cold, much colder than here in Evanston. That was really cold compared to here! OMG!
The restaurant was less than 10 minutes walking far from our hotel, but we didn't see anyone on our way. We were supposed to be in the city center...downtown! it was soooo freakin' cold and there was no one there!! you can see some pics :)

Esta soy yo congelandome para hacerme la foto con el rio Milwaukee (congelado) de fondo. This is me freezing while we take the picture with frozen Milwaukee river behind.

Llegamos al restaurante, "Kil@wat" y nos gusto mucho, al menos la apariencia. Alli descubrimos que habia un partido muy importante de la superbowl y el equipo de Greenbay (Wisconsin) estaba jugando contra los Falcons de Atlanta. Al parecer, era un partido muy importante y una de las razones por las que no habia nadie en la calle. Por cierto, los de Wisconsin ganaron, asi que el ruido en el restaurante era bastante debido a la celebracion.
Despues de tomar algo en el bar, nos sentamos en nuestra mesa y pedimos nuestro menu. El precio estuvo genial y la comida excelente! menos mal! algo tenia que ser bueno!
Yo tome tacos de tartar de atun de entrante y de segundo carne. Thomas tomo sopa de "fennel" (buscad el significado porque en España no lo tenemos) y luego trucha. El postre tambien fue genial...uhmmm! yo me pedi un "estudio de manzana", que tenia helado de manzana con canela, donuts y tarta de manzana frita, buenisimo! ahi teneis las fotos!
We arrived at the restaurant "Kil@wat" and we liked it a lot at the first glance at least. We discovered there that there was a very important superbowl game between Greenbay (Wisconsin) and the Atlanta Falcons. Apparently this was the main reason why there was no one in the street, apart from the cold...By the way, Wisconsin won so the noise at the restaurant because of the celebration was loud :)
We drank something in the bar and then we went to the dinning room. We order our menus and the food was really awesome. The price was good and the taste great. I took tuna tartar tacos as the starter and meat for the main course. Thomas took fennel soup and rainbow trout. The desert was the best part :). I had "a study of apple" with cinnamon-apple ice-cream, doughnuts and fried apple pie, uhhm! Dinner made my night :) you see here the pictures!

En el bar. At the bar

Con mi postre. With my desert.

La movida nocturna no era muy prometedora en Milwaukee, asi que nos fuimos al hotel para levantarnos con energia e ir a hacer deporte :). En el hotel hacia frio y la calefaccion subia a razon de 1 grado cada hora...ayy!!
Esta mañana a las 8 ya estabamos en pie y mi mala leche iba en aumento, entre el frio, la cama, que no tenia ganas de pasar mas frio, etc...
Hemos hecho los planes y hemos decidido ir a desayunar y despues conducir media hora mas hasta "Kettle Moraine State forest" en la localidad wisconsina de Oconomowoc.
Hemos ido a un bar de desayunos tipico americano y nos hemos atizado unos desayunos light con un cafe mas que horrible :). Si bien, se me ha arreglado el cuerpo despues de tomarme dos huevos fritos y lo que aqui llaman "tostadas francesas", es decir, el pan frito en mantequilla y luego lo mojas en sirope de arce :)
Todo muy light, pero la mala leche se me ha quitado, jejejejee!!!
Night life was not too promising in Milwaukee so we went back to our hotel to rest and be ready for hiking today in the morning. It was cold in the hotel and the temperature was increasing around 1 degree per hour...agg!!
At 8 am we were already up my mood was not too good. It was cold, the bed was not good and I really didn't feel like being freezing anymore...
We made our plans and we decided to go for breakfast first and then drive 3o more minutes to "Kettle Moraine State forest" for hiking. This place is in Oconomowoc.
We went to a typical American breakfast place and we ate very light breakfast with a horrible cofee :). I have to say that I was feeling a lot better after eating two eggs (sunny side up) and French toast :). Everything light, but my mood changed completely, hehe!!

Con el estomago lleno ya estabamos listos para empezar el senderismo. En una media hora hemos llegado a Oconomowok ;) y hemos entrado en el bosque. Hacia un frio de muerte, madre mia!! el sitio era muy bonito y habia mucha gente esquiando y patinando en lagos que estaban congelados de manera natural.
Hemos elegido una ruta cortita porque hacia mucho frio. Mi cuerpo iba muy bien abrigado con mi super abrigo, pero la piernas se me estaban quemando, jeej!
Hemos andado alrededor de una hora y luego hemos subido a un mirador para ver el parque en casi su totalidad.
Me ha gustado mucho, pero creo que es mejor ir alli con el buen tiempo y hacer una buena ruta. Eso si, el parque es ideal para todos aquellos a los que les gusta los deportes de invierno.
After stuffing ourselves we were ready to start hiking. We arrived in Oconomowok after 30 minutes driving and we entered the forest. It was very, very cold, OMG! the place was beautiful and there were a lot of people skiing and skating on naturally frozen lakes.
We have chosen a short trail because it was too cold. My upper body was warm with my nice coat, but my legs were burning, hehe! We have walked for around one hour and then we have gone up a tower to look at the park from the height.
I very much liked the part, but I think it is better going there when it is warmer so you can do a longer trail. It is really perfect for people who like winter sports though.





Despues de la ruta, hemos conducido un poco mas por el parque antes de pensar el proximo destino. Hemos visto que estabamos bastante cerca de Madison y del condado de Madison...el mismo Madison que el de la pelicula de Maryl Streep y Clint Eastwood "Los puentes de Madison". Eso es al menos, lo que yo pensaba...
En mi ultimo vuelo Madrid-Chicago conoci a una chica de Madison, le pregunte que si conocia los puentes y me dijo que si!! asi que crei que Madison (Wisconsin) era donde se basaba la pelicula, asi que alli nos hemos dirigido.
Despues de una hora conduciendo hemos llegado a Madison y de nuevo, no habia nadie!!! jajajaja! no habia gente y tampoco encontrabamos los puentes...
Nos hemos parado a comer en un sitio que por suerte ha sido muy bueno, excelente comida por 8 dolares :) y luego hemos preguntado por los puentes. Los camareros no habian oido hablar de los puentes...jejejeje!! y yo ya estaba sospechando. He mirado en mi iPhone y he visto "Madison county, Iowa"...ayyy!!! Los puentes de Madison estan en el Madison de Iowa, no en el Madison de Wisconsin...Mi gozo en un pozo!! Despues de ir alli especialmente por los puentes y alli ni habia puentes ni na! Nos hemos dado una vuelta por el pueblo despues de comer y como atraccion principal hemos encontrado una especie de capitolio, lo veis en las fotos.
After the trail we have driven a bit more in the park until we have decided where to go next. We've seen that Madison was not too far and I really wanted to see the bridges of Madison county because I love the movie "The bridges of Madison county" with Maryl Streep and Clint Eastwood. That was what I believed at least...
During my last flight Madrid-Chicago I met a girl from Madison and I asked her about the bridges and the movie, she told me the place was beautiful and the bridges too...Until that moment I thought Madison county was in Wisconsin, so we went there.
We arrived there after one hour driving and again, there was no one there!! we couldn't find people or the bridges...
We stopped for lunch in a very nice place, excellent food for 8 $. We asked the waiters about the bridges and no one knew anything about them...that was suspicious. Then I took my iPhone, typed "the bridges of Madison county" and then, surprise!! The movie is based on the Madison county of Iowan, not the Madison of Wisconsin...ahhh!! It was very funny, driving all the way to Madison to see the bridges and finding the second empty city, which is also the capital of Wisconsin...After that we walked around the place a little bit and we found the capital as the main attraction of the city.


Aunque hacia un frio de mil demonios, el lugar estaba desierto y no hemos encontrado los puentes, la experienca ha sido muy positiva y al final, me lo he pasago genial!!! Besos!!!
Even though it was freezing cold, the place was empty and we didn't find the bridges, the experience was positieve and a good time was had by all. Hugs!!!