Finding the Unexpected

One of the joys of travel is coming across the unexpected. It may be an unplanned stop in a village where you discover friendly people, interesting sights, or good food. It may be stepping into a side street after visiting a museum or cathedral, seeing an interesting shop and finding a "treasure" that you've been looking for as a rememberance of your stay. Or it could even be stumbling across a place you never knew existed in a city you have visited many times before. The photos included in this post fall into the latter category, just 50 miles from my home.

A few weeks ago, we drove to Milwaukee to take our daughter to the airport. It was a beautiful summer's day and her flight was later in the day, so we decided to explore. The beaches were crowded and orange road construction cones seemed to be everywhere, so we headed away from Lake Michigan in search for coffee and lunch. A two-hour parking place was found near a coffee house on a Sunday afternoon! Lunch and a bit of exploration were the game plan; we didn't have to be at the airport until after 5 p.m. As we headed eastward on foot hoping to find an uncrowded lake view, we came across the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum & Renaissance Garden. I, for one, hadn't known of its existence. We spent an hour or more exploring the museum and admiring its fantastic view of Lake Michigan.

As you look at the photos, you need to remember that this was once the private home of the Lloyd R. Smith family. While many aspects of Milwaukee are working class or university-centered, there has been also an element of affluence and many of those people chose lakeside homes as their places of residence. Milwaukee is definitely a city where there is a sharp divisions between the "haves" and "have-nots", one that is particularly hard for me to reconcile in my own mind.

The home, itself, and its furnishings were influenced by the family's trip to Italy in the early 1900's. As we wandered through what is now the museum, caterers were setting up for an Italian-American event. It was interesting to think that what was once a "mere" family home was transformed into a museum and cultural center. One expects to find this in the castles and palaces of Europe, not in metropolitan Milwaukee, Wisconsin home of Miller Beer and Harley=Davidson motorcycles. It was definitely the unexpected in more than one way. If you are interested in learning more about the museum or the history of the home that it used to be, you can visit their website: http://www.villaterracemuseum.org/index.html .

Thank you for visiting, feel free to stop by again. I hope that you have enjoyed your stay. In the meantime, may your travels be interesting and enjoyable.

Kerry