A Photo Blog - My Milwaukee Hotel

The Hilton in Milwaukee was built in the late 1920's and is it elegant and sumptuous. It connects to the Convention Center via skyway from the south, the other host hotel (the Hyatt) connects from the north. The Hilton is closer to the classrooms, the Hyatt is closer to the showroom floor. Both hotels have their advantages, but I prefer the Hilton's rooms and parking and the Hyatt's bar and restaurant. I end up walking between them often, and it's a mile round-trip between them. Here's a photo blog of what I loved at the Hilton - lots of chandeliers and over the top pretty.

I'll start with my room. It was in a strange short corridor and there
wasn't much to see from the window, but the bed was comfortable
and the heat/cold controls were very understandable and quite
adjustable. It was quite nice. 

As I mentioned, the view from my room wasn't much
to write home about since I looked at the opposing
wing. But it was very private and quiet, a real plus
when I'm working myself into the ground each day. 

The lobby is elegant. You can see one of the amazing
chandeliers to the left. The counter where you check in
is ahead of you. 

Moving away from the check-in desk, a small bridge takes you
over the lower lobby and toward the lobby bar. The bar is
only manned in the afternoon and evening and seems to host a lot
of private parties. I never was able to actually have a drink in
there. But there chairs, etc are very comfortable and I did
relax there one afternoon between events. 

The lobby bar features these wonderful chandeliers.
I loved the various mirrors and sculptures throughout the
room, also. They renovated this a few years ago and
it's quite nice. 

To get to your rooms, you have to either climb stairs or take an
elevator. I loved the decorative header above this staircase. 

This ventilation cover in the lobby area is typical of the
decorative elements throughout the public areas of the hotel. 

If you're not taking the stairs or the escalators, you're
using the elevators. They have a bank of eight elevators
all with decorated doors in elegant framing. 

One of the elevators got stuck during my stay (I wasn't
in it - thank goodness). The next day they had these
signs prominently displayed. I guess people
were too impatient to wait for the next available
elevator car. 

Finally, after a week, it was time to leave. Good-bye room! 

I'll talk about things of more substance tomorrow, but not everything can be earthshaking - LOL. Have a wonderful Thursday, I'm off to the gym and the elliptical machine.

Art Deco Style

There's something about Art Deco that just soothes my fur. The design elements, the proportions, the solidity balanced with reaching for the sky, and the elements of finely chosen materials, colors and metals, all combine to make me happy. It's almost disturbing. Where most people would get excited over a beautiful field of gently waving brightly blooming flowers in a gentle breeze, I get excited over the design of the Chrysler Building in New York. But, that's just the way I am. I adore architecture and part of architecture is form and design. Thus, when I went to MIA on Sunday, the only floor photos I took this time were of some Art Deco furnishings to share with all of you.

I'll start with this. An inadvertent selfie in the mirror of
this fabulous lighted table with shelves. I adore the
tops of the lights and how they balance the shelving below. 

Moving along, there was this wonderful "music cabinet" made
of rosewood and ebony with walnut accents and steel drawer pulls.
I'm not sure what the interior looks like, and I suspect it would have
been highly improper of me to have attempted to open the bottom
section, but I was sorely tempted. 

It's a bit large to be a bathroom scale in my house, but
I'm totally in love with it anyway. The textured metal of
the uprise, the carefully placed dial, and the perfect
choice of lettering form and words for the bottom. Who knew
a scale could have such beauty? 

It's obvious that this is a stand with multiple shelves,
but I was trying to discern it's function. I finally came up
with a telephone and mail stand. The phone book would
go on the bottom shelf, the phone at the top, and
the mail on the shelf cradled by the upper bent wood framework. 

Finally, a link and shoutout to CuriousWombat for the photos below. Last week on LJ and FB she posted a photo of an unusual Parisian doorway that I adored. At MIA on Sunday, I noticed that they had the exact door in miniature - a model of the door. I had to take a photo of it and its accompanying description to share with her and with all of you.

Here is the model of the doorway itself. It has wonderful leaded
glass that almost appears owl-like, and here it is surrounded by
elaborately rendered plaster. The selfie was
unavoidable since it is relatively small. 

Here is the description for the door. I thought is was quite amusing to
come across this after I had just been overwhelmed by her photo
 of the actual doorway in Paris. This is for you, my friend. 

So there you have it - how I spent my Sunday.

Yesterday DH dropped the purchase agreements over to our attorney and the suggestions and corrections he had were quite minor. I've got an email out to my flippers to see if the corrections/additions are OK with them, but I think we're still on track to get the small house sold by the end of the month, and at the latest, absolutely by the end of the year. So, as I head off to the gym today, I'm actually rather optimistic that soon one less thing will be on my plate. Happy Tuesday to all!