Traveling with the Jones

9 Fun Things to Do in Milwaukee

Milwaukee, we thought, was all about brats and beer.  Turns out, it’s a city for art and foodies. And there’s still plenty of beer, brats, cheese, Friday Night Fish Fries, Harley Davidson and Brewery tours to keep you entertained and fueled in the traditional style.

We visited on a cold weekend in May, and here are 9 fun things we found on our weekend wanderings in Milwaukee.

1. Watch the “wings” sail at the Milwaukee Art Museum Located on the Lake Michigan waterfront, the Santiago Calatrava-designed museum addition features a wing-like brise soleil which opens to a 217 foot span.  You can watch the “wings” open Tuesday -Sunday at 10 am, and again at 12 noon, or close at 5 pm, unless high wind or causes the wings to stay in their folded position.  Inside the art museum, there are 20,000 works of art, ranging from antiquities to the present, including an extensive collection of American Folk Art, plus special exhibits, a delicious café and well-stocked gift shop.
2. Eat terrific Italian food at Zarletti    Food like we’ve enjoyed in northern Italy: Osso Bucco, hearty risotto and hand-made rustic pastas, plus a huge wine list for a small restaurant with emphasis on small Italian grower producers.  We loved the friendly service and the Wilhelm Walch Pinor Noir from Italy’s Alto Adige region.
3. Visit the Milwaukee Public Market  Patterned after the Seattle Public Market, the Milwaukee Public Market was opened in 1995 in the former Commission Row area of Milwaukee’s Third Ward. More like an endless assortment of restaurants, each with  a single focus specialities, this is a great dining choice. The second floor offers table seating to dine on all of our purchases. The Market also showcases a variety of cooking classes in The Madame Kuony Demonstration Kitchen.
4. Have a wine flight and then buy a bottle of your favorite at Thief Wine Shop & Bar.  Our favorite stop in the Public Market, this wine bar offers 30 wines by the taste, glass or flight, and offers plates of accompanying food or allows you to bring food from other market vendors.  Across the aisle, the retail store offers more than 500 different wines by the bottle from around the world, and offers a discount if you’ve tasted in the wine bar.  The Wine Thief is owned and operated by Sonoma wine country veterans Phil Bilodeau and Aimee Murphy.
5. Walk, taste & learn on a Milwaukee Food Tour. Theresa Nemetz knows how to make history fun with food and drink samples at six or more restaurant and/or bar stops throughout  Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. It’s a walking tour, with history, insider secrets and a progressive dinner.  The company also offers tours of Brady Street, the Riverwalk and Old World Third St. and a Bloody Mary Brunch. You won’t leave this tour hungry.
6. Walk around; you might run into a “Food War” As we were walking around downtown Milwaukee on a Saturday morning in May, we heard screaming and saw signs of a television or movie shoot as we walked by Bar Louie, 1114 N. Water Street.  Later in the afternoon, we learned it was the Travel Channel’s “Food Wars”, filming a “Battle of the Burgers” episode with Sobelman’s Pub & Grill and AJ Bombers duking it out for the best burger. The show is supposed to air on the Travel Channel this summer or fall.  Walking around Milwaukee, you never know what you might run into.
7. Don’t forget the cheese, it’s Wisconsin.  Sample cheese, beer and wine flights at the Wisconsin Cheese Bar. You can buy your favorite cheeses and sausages in to-go packs next door at the Wisconsin Cheese Mart  at 1048 N. Old World Third St.
8. Engage a friendly bartender like ours at Avenue Lounge in the Doubletree Hotel.  Besides sharing all the tips for the best places to see, he explained the Friday Fish Fry, advised of good restaurants, and sold us on Wisconsin’s second largest beer brand. It’s Spotted Cow from New Glarus Brewing Company  in New Glarus, WI.
9. Take a brewery tour: we didn’t have time but our friendly bartender advised that while the Miller Brewery Tour has the best production value, the Lakefront Brewery offers the cheapest tour with the most beer samples.

Have you visited Milwaukee? Or perhaps you live there or spent your summers at festivals there?  What’s your favorite Milwaukee discovery? Please share in comments.

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Overcoming its closed past: Sarandë, Albania   

Although it has beautiful Mediterranean beaches and sunny weather, Albania was an isolated and closed communist country from post World War II until 1990 after the fall of communism. With a Stalinist-type dictatorship, the country disassociated itself from neighboring nations and even other communist countries.  Albanians suffered from violence and anarchy in the late 1990s but the country is now more open for tourism.

Sarandë (pronounced and sometimes spelled Sa-ran-da) is a small town on the Gulf of Sarandë, situated between the mountains and the Ionian Sea, only two nautical miles from Corfu, Greece.

The National Park of Blue Eye

Visiting Saranda on a cruise ship, our tour included an hour-long trip to the National Park of Blue Eye.

Along the drive, we saw small pillboxes (military bunkers) everywhere – a remnant of the communist era.

You can still see many pillboxes (military bunkers) throughout Albania – a remnant of the communist era.

There were 20,000 of them in a country that is smaller in size than Rhode Island, according to our guide. The countryside is very rural, with our bus sharing the road with a flock of sheep and goats.

Blue Eye National Park has 18 natural springs, and was previously blocked to most visitors as it was the private retreat of the top communist leaders of Albania.   

The “Blue Eye” National Park of Albania was previously a private retreat for communist party leaders.

The “Blue Eye” spring that looks like a human eye due to the deep blue color of water in the center with light blue at the sides.  It is thought to be a geological phenomenon of tectonic origin.  Shallow, clear water suddenly becomes very deep, bright blue in color, bubbling upward with a strong pressure that keeps divers from reaching its floor.  When visitors throw a stone into the “eye”, it disappears, then comes bubbling back upward.

Saranda, the honeymoon capital of Albania   

Saranda offers attractive waterfront hotels.

Back in Saranda, we enjoyed strolling along the waterfront and having a beer in one of the beachfront restaurants. The waterfront offers nice-looking hotels, and is reported to be Albanian’s number one honeymoon destination.   

Not the place for tourist shopping   

The only “tourist shop” in Saranda, Albania

We managed to find a few postcards, stamps and a post office, but this is not a shopping destination.

Getting to Saranda

We visited Saranda on the maiden call for Holland America Line aboard the ms Prinsendam in 2007. See our post detailing our visit here. No port calls are presently scheduled for Holland America through 2011. Being close to the Greek island of Corfu, you can take ferry or catamaran service from there to Saranda for a visit.

Learn More About Albania with these Books

History of Albania
Albania (Bradt Travel Guides)

We enjoy discovering new places with interesting history, even those not completely ready for tourists.

What’s your favorite destination discovery? 

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Checking partner airlines is one strategy in finding a frequent flier ticket for the trip you want to take.

Every Tuesday is Travel Tip Day

Today: 5 Tips for Finding an Airline Ticket Using Frequent Flier Miles

Do you have a stockpile of frequent flier miles, but feel like you can never use them to get free tickets for where you want to go?

Airlines have cut back on the seats they allocate to frequent flier tickets, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t available.  Redeeming frequent flier awards take planning, persistence, patience, and a few tricks, especially for elusive international business class tickets.  We think the reward –such as a business class ticket to Singapore for $78 in taxes versus a purchasing a similar ticket for a $9500 fare — justifies a little extra work.

Here are 5 tips for using frequent flier miles to get where you want to go:  

1. Check Partner Availability.  Most major airlines are part of a global alliance such as Star Alliance (United) or One World (American) or Sky Team (Delta). If you can’t find availability on the US-based airline try its foreign partners within its alliance.  For example, to fly to Australia using United miles, we found tickets on partner Air New Zealand.

2. Build your own itinerary. If you can’t find availability on the direct route, look at the individual segments and major gateway cities.   For example, if you’re trying to fly from Indianapolis (IND) to Rome (FCO) and the primary routes are not working, try a non-direct route such as IND-TORONTO (YYZ) – ROME.  Or, try IND-NEW YORK (JFK) -FRANKFURT (FRA) -ROME.  Yes, your flight will take longer and have more connections, but thinks of all the other places you will experience.

3. Look at the Gateways.    If you are looking for an international award and nothing is available from your home airport, search for the foreign segments first. You can worry about domestic connection to get you to the gateway city later. For example, if you’re flying to ROME, look for available flights though all the gateway and partner cities, i.e. NYC-ROME, CHICAGO (ORD) -ROME.  Once you’ve found seats for the long portion of the flight, then it’s much easier to find connections from/to your home airport. And if domestic flights don’t open up, you can consider buying a low-cost ticket from your home airport to the gateway, or use a domestic free ticket to get to the international gateway. Two examples: from Kansas City we can purchase round trip tickets to Chicago or Dallas – both major international departures airports – for about $150 in advance. We would book the international frequent flier award from Chicago or Dallas, and buy the connecting flights to and from the departure city.  Or, we have used a Southwest Rapid Reward ticket, combined with a Companion pass free ticket, to fly from Kansas City to Portland, where we connected to an Alaska Airlines flight to Alaska on a mileage award ticket.  Both options require that you allow plenty of time in between flights as you may not be able to check luggage all the way through.

4. Use Frequent Flier Software.  Programs like the KVS Availability Tool, with an annual membership contribution from $20 to $75/year (or the “Lite” version free for 2 months), allow you to query availability on many different airlines in one search.

5. Be Persistent. Keep trying, as seats open up daily.  As the flight get closer to departure and all seats are not sold, airlines tend to add seats to the frequent flier “bucket.” Depending on your airline, if you have top level “status” you can book a ticket as you find it, and then change to a better one as it comes open to frequent fliers.  Anyone can do this, but you may have to pay a change fee which can add up quickly.

Using these hints with persistence and patience, you will find a frequent flier ticket.  Happy travels!

With persistence, patience and perhaps using frequent flier software, you will find a frequent flier ticket and be on your way to your dream destination.

What is your favorite method of finding frequent flier tickets for where you want to go?   Please share in comments.

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