I recently visited Madison, WI and although I feel like I barely explored it, there was a lot to love!
Here are a few of my favorite things:
- A local described Wisconsin as “the Silicon Valley of cheese” and I think he was right – so much cheese! Cheese everywhere! The little cheese shop just a couple of doors down from where I stayed was like stepping into cheese lover’s heaven so it’s probably a good thing I didn’t visit until I was on my way to the airport…
- The Madison B-Cycle program has 35 B-cycle stations with 350 bikes throughout the downtown area – people can sign up for a membership and enjoy unlimited bike rides whenever they want! Plus, the bikes are cute: red with baskets.
- A very vibrant downtown filled with young people enjoying the end of the semester.
- The capitol building is beautiful and surrounded by grassy lawns that people lounge on in the sunshine.
- Lots of good restaurants: I tried Peruvian food (fried quinoa with plantains – so good!) for the first time, grabbed lunch at a restaurant serving only locally grown foods, and sat at a charming restaurant bar sampling the bartender’s favorite dishes.
- Randomly, a couple on stilts in fancy clothes were wandering the streets one night.
- Lakes and trails every where!
- I woke up to a saxophone being played outside my window one morning – apparently it signaled the opening of a huge, awesome farmer’s market overflowing with flowers, produce, and…. cheese!
There were a few things I didn’t get to do: Visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin, have a beer on the terrace outside the memorial union building, or see a covered bridge. Next time – I definitely hope to return to Madison for more exploring someday!
I’ll leave you with a Madison cheese poem from the sidewalk sign outside cheese shop paradise:
Sweet dreams are made of cheese
Who am I to diss a brie
I cheddar the world and the feta cheese
At Fromogination we celebrate Wisconsin cheese!
