Saturday, May 31, 2008

A Day Downtown

We don't travel into the "city" much, and by "city," I'm referring to Milwaukee. There are lots of tasty restaurants downtown, but it just doesn't warrant a 30 minute drive to check them out, unless it's a special occasion. Needless to say, we headed into Downtown today for a few special outings.

First, we've been meaning to check out Body Worlds 1 at the Milwaukee Public Museum. This is the last weekend it's in town and we've been meaning to go since Christmas time with my friend Kerry and her boyfriend, Eric. So, we figured we better get down there before it was gone.

It was an interesting exhibit. Each of the bodies on display was donated for the purpose of preservation through plastination, the process of injecting plastic into human muscles, bones, and organs. It was definitely a unique look at the human body. I never took anatomy, but based on my limited study of the human body in HS Biology, this blew everything out of the water. I don't know if there was anyway to really see how the systems of the human body works in a book compared to this. I think the only thing that would come close is examining a cadaver. I can easily see how this exhibit would be something people would really enjoy seeing or be totally grossed out by!

To be honest, I thought there would be more full bodies on display. There were a lot of informational posters and display cases with plastinated human organs and bones. It was interesting to see up close the muscles I've injured, the bones I've broken, and the things I've sprained over the years.

When we were in Vegas, there was an exhibit on display similar to Body Worlds called Bodies. From what I understand, the difference between the two exhibits is the acquisition of the bodies used for plastination. I read in a LV publication that the figures in the Bodies exhibit were Chinese prisoners, so not really donated for the purpose of science at the person's will. So, a little controversy there.

After perusing the exhibit, we headed out to lunch. This week happens to be Downtown Dining Week - yeah for bargain meals! Thirty restaurants participate in this yearly event. Since Kerry and Eric are seasoned downtown diners, we chose a handful of restaurants we were interested in and had them make the final decision. We ended up at Hotel Metro Bar and Cafe for a tasty three course lunch for only $10 a person! Chris and I both at a green salad and Costa Rician Tiliapia. Chris opted for the Italian Almond Cake and I had the Key Lime Pie. Both were yummy!

There were lots of delicious looking menus for this event - $10 lunches and $20 dinners, both with three courses! With a dining experience like this, I wish we did live closer!

1 comment:

Whitney said...

Aly and I were just talking about downtown dining last night and Body Worlds, for that matter! I wish Madison had downtown dining. $10 for three courses is a great deal.