We had never been to the Madison Wisconsin and were anxious to explore the state capital/college town. We began in the state capital with its lovely, domed rotunda and exhibit touting the state’s role in pioneering women’s suffrage and its being the first state to ratify the 19^th amendment.

Unfortunately, we were visiting the city on Memorial Day. Most everything else, including virtually all of the city’s museums and restaurants, were closed.

Walking around Madison Wisconsin

Although most places were closed, we were still able to walk the pretty, virtually deserted city.

to at least view some of the city.We walked around a few of the central neighborhoods including

• Overture Center for the Arts;

• Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center designed by Frank Lloyd Wright;

• Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robert Lamp House

• We then strolled down State Street, which connects downtown to the huge (15,000 acre, 43,000 student) University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and is lined with student-focused stores, restaurants and bars. The campus itself has a number of lovely buildings, although it too was virtually deserted (as would be expected just after the end of the spring semester).

Madison Restaurant

We had time for just one meal in the city, and the luck to find a good meal in one of the few open restaurants. Eno Vino Wine Bar & Bistro was on the top floor of our hotel. The restaurant offers superb views of the city. It has a large, well-designed wine list and a number of very tasty small dishes. We began with a wonderful, albeit small duo of foie gras with seared foie and foie gras mousse accompanied by raspberry jam, toasted almonds and costini. Then we had littleneck clams and mussels with chistorra sausage, corn and bell peppers in tomato-saffron sauce. Another item was a larger than expected flatbread loaded with sausage, mushrooms, mozzarella and red sauce. All was wonderful with a bottle of 2015 King Estate Pinot Noir.

Madison Hotel

We stayed at Marriot’s AC Hotel. This is a very nice new hotel right by the capital building. The room was very comfortable with great bed linens and towels. The bathroom had a rain shower, but alas, no night light. The lobby is huge for some reason.  As you walk in, the people behind the desk say hi and it takes 10 seconds to walk to them. This is a great place to stay with one huge issue. One person behind the front desk consistently gave us incorrect information on a number of things. How far is….? Where should we eat…? For every question we asked, he gave us erroneous information or information that did not meet our criteria. For example,  when we asked about where to eat on Memorial Day where most restaurants were closed, he mentioned a lot of closed restaurants. These restaurants were closed on Mondays in general and not just for the holiday. Also, after we walked to them (which were a lot further that he indicated they were), their menus weren’t even close to the type of food we requested.  For a hotel of this quality, we would have expected more from the front desk staff.