There are three things that I remember from my 4th grade Chicago history class: Mrs. O’Leary’s cow started the Great Chicago Fire, I got an A+++ on my Fort Dearborn model, and “Chicago” was a Native American word for “bad smell”.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin holds a special place in my heart because of the five years I lived there long ago. After all, that’s the city where I met Mr. TWS. But sentimentality aside, would I recommend a visit to this city of about 598,000 located 90 miles north of Chicago?
I was walking around the downtown Historic District when I came across Market Square. People were relaxing and enjoying the pretty spring day or having lunch outside at Niko Niko’s. It was an inviting scene.
The Peshtigo fire raged through a 2,400 square mile area and killed about 1,200 people. Compare that to the Chicago fire which covered an area of three and a third square miles and took the lives of about 300 people.
Riding the trolley from Kensington Market to Bloor Street in Toronto last week, I was headed for the Bata Shoe Museum without any definite idea about what to expect. So I was quite surprised when I saw size of the building and then discovered the extent of the collection inside.
I’ve spent much time over the years visiting a close friend in Elmhurst, Illinois, a suburb about 16 miles west of downtown Chicago. But until last month, neither of us had ever been to the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art, an under-the-radar gem — really.
Bill Clinton was President of the United States when I took a tour on my second Washington DC visit. I’m not telling who was in office when I visited the nation’s capital for the first time,
