Milwaukee And The International Convention Of Jehovah's Witnesses

...continued from previous post:
      The following day, Saturday, August 29, the bikers were off by sun up, 

...for their 90-mile bike trek ​from Chicago to Milwaukee (see previous post, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-cozy-corner-the-concrete-beach-and-other-things-chicago).
         Later Tom and I set out from the house for the Western train station,

...to catch a train to Union Station for our 1 pm Amtrak train, also to Milwaukee, where we would unite Claire and Miguel with their overnight things.
​       We stopped on our way for breakfast at Le Café Station Grill,

...a cute little eatery next door to the Western train station,

...where the food is good and the staff so friendly.

      Soon after breakfast we were on a train that dropped us off a few blocks from our destination, Union Station.

    As we had a couple of hours to spare before we needed to board our train to Milwaukee, we checked our luggage in the station and strolled around the loop for a while.

      We then returned to Union Station and joined the long line for our Amtrak to Milwaukee.

    An hour and a half after we'd boarded in Chicago we arrived at our destination, the pleasant, sparkling clean  Milwaukee Intermodal Station.

       From the station we walked several blocks,

...to our hotel, the Marc,

     A few hours later our daughter and son-in-law arrived in Milwaukee looking not a bit the worse for wear after their 90-mile bike ride from Chicago. 
​      After they'd settled in and tidied up we all set off to seek out some dinner at a place we'd heard of called the 3rd St. Market Hall.
​         While walking the several blocks from our hotel to the Market, we noticed that the sidewalks were crowded with groups of people, all of whom appeared to belong to the same organization. Some wore international attire,

...and some wore blue vests that identified them as volunteers,

...and they all wore lanyards decorated with buttons.
​       Tom asked one of the volunteers and learned that Milwaukee was hosting an International Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses. The blue-vested volunteers were the Way finders, whom we assumed were there to help folks find their way. They crowd seemed quite friendly and sociable.

      We arrived at the 3rd St. Market Hall, 

...where we were greeted by an ad for the world's biggest mozzarella stick.

      The hall was also crowded with conventioneers, 

...but the crowd seemed in good spirits, and we were, too, in spite of having to stand in line for quite some time for our food, me at Smokin' Jack's Barbeque, 

...where I procured some quite good barbeque for Tom and myself.

      In the center of the hall was a quite unique feature, a self-serve beer wall. 

     Apparently one paid in advance for a sort of beer credit card. One then tapped one's card on the scanner above whichever brew one wanted, positioned one's cup, then pulled the handle that dispensed one's beer. It seemed to be drawing a decent crowd.
​        After dinner the bikers left for their concert and Tom and I walked back to our hotel.

      The following morning we walked to a nearby Dunkin Donuts for some breakfast. The streets were still busy with sunny conventioneers,

...as was the Dunkin Donuts.

      But it was all good.

     Soon afterwards we were back at the Milwaukee Intermodal Station.

      After we returned to Chicago that evening we walked a nearby barbeque restaurant,

...called Offset​ BBQ,

...where the BBQ was out of this world,

...as was the vegetarian fare my daughter had.

        Then, once again, we walked back home.

     To be continued...