Milwaukee Riverwalk

The Milwaukee area was originally inhabited by multiple Native American Indian Tribes: the Fox, Mascouten, Potawatomi & Winnebago. The name "Milwaukee" came about from several Indian names for the area--"Millioke", meaning "good, beautiful & pleasant land", "Minwaking" which meant "gathering place by the water", & omaniwakiing, meaning "beautiful waters". Current Millwaukee natives love the abundance of water as much as the original inhabitants did! The Milwaukee River flows right through downtown Milwaukee, & the river is flanked on each side by the Riverwalk--a continuous pedestrian walkway that connects you with restaurants, brewpubs, shops & nightlife. You can even catch a "river taxi" here to take you up or down the river to a different area. (or at least you can when there's no ice covering the water!) Tom & I went walking along it today, as we've only ever been walking there once before. It was cold, damp, & overcast (what else is new), but we pretty much had it to ourselves. Milwaukee has wonderful buildings with great architectural features--many of these buildings were built in the late 1800's when there were lots of skilled craftsmen (many of whom immigrated to the U.S.) & were available to help build these--& the riverwalk is a perfect area to view some of these features from. I took a lot of pictures, but in the end I went with this one, as I loved the soft reflection of the buildings in the ice. The building with the awnings is the Rock Bottom Brewery & Restaurant --a great place to eat or catch a drink--There are offices for various businesses on the floors above it--including my brother's....we stopped in to take him to lunch, but he was still in court, so maybe next time! :) (if you look closely or view on large, you'll see there's a guy up in the air, cleaning the "O"--I think he's what the 2 people standing there are looking at!) :)