From Milwaukee
I'm in Milwaukee right now, we got in around 9:30 or so, made it back to the hotel around 10:30. Today we mostly just drove around, taking in the city, then did the Brewers-Reds game tonight.
Thus far, I'm very impressed with the city. Most everything we've seen is very cool or very pretty. The lakefront area is just GORGEOUS, the houses are incredibly nice and the beachview is very pretty. We poked around and had lunch in the "Historic Third Ward District" which is hard to say because you inevitably end up calling it the Third World district. slightly different. Also roamed a bit of Marquette's campus, got a sweater at the bookstore because I didn't bring any. It's colder than I expected, about 50 degrees tops. bleh.
What I've seen of Marquette's campus, I really like. It's definitely a much more urban setting than Seattle U or Xavier. Not as much green space, as far as we can see, but that's not a huge deal. The benefit is that it's right on the outskirts of downtown, so it's close to the action. additionally, I'm told a bus that runs to Miller Park stops right by the campus.
The game was fun, though the Reds lost, 5-3. It was funny on the way there, because our shuttle bus was just filled with Brewers fans who were just so...midwest. Like, the accents and goofy phrases and they were loud and rowdy and it was just funny. I wore my Reds shirt with pride.
When we got to the ballpark, we were just amazed at the contrast to the two main parks we know, Safeco and Great American (Cincinnati). Those two are very urban, right in the city, so you park in whatever little lots or garages you find and walk however far you must. Miller Park, however, is a little more secluded, you actually drive through a residential area to get to it. And it just has this one massive parking lot. We couldn't believe we were seeing people tailgating before a baseball game! Football, yeah. but baseball?
The park from a distance looked a bit like Safeco, because they both have retractable roofs, but coming closer they were definitely different. Safeco, even with the roof, is still very open air. Even if the roof is on, if it's cold outside, it's cold inside. But Miller was very enclosed. The roof was on, and I think the park would look very odd with it off because there's just no open space otherwise. This was good, because it kept the temperature very comfortable, but bad, because of the enclosed feeling.
In the end, we all felt comfortably that Safeco was a superior ballpark...Miller was pretty enough, very new looking, but it was too sparse in areas (convention center-like), the sound was very echoey and things were hard to hear, stuff like that. Oh, an finding our seats was a royal pain; we got instructions from 3 employees, and each gave us different, but still wrong, directions. super.
Tomorrow is the actual Marquette open house. starts at 10AM. bleh. I want to sleep...
Thus far, I'm very impressed with the city. Most everything we've seen is very cool or very pretty. The lakefront area is just GORGEOUS, the houses are incredibly nice and the beachview is very pretty. We poked around and had lunch in the "Historic Third Ward District" which is hard to say because you inevitably end up calling it the Third World district. slightly different. Also roamed a bit of Marquette's campus, got a sweater at the bookstore because I didn't bring any. It's colder than I expected, about 50 degrees tops. bleh.
What I've seen of Marquette's campus, I really like. It's definitely a much more urban setting than Seattle U or Xavier. Not as much green space, as far as we can see, but that's not a huge deal. The benefit is that it's right on the outskirts of downtown, so it's close to the action. additionally, I'm told a bus that runs to Miller Park stops right by the campus.
The game was fun, though the Reds lost, 5-3. It was funny on the way there, because our shuttle bus was just filled with Brewers fans who were just so...midwest. Like, the accents and goofy phrases and they were loud and rowdy and it was just funny. I wore my Reds shirt with pride.
When we got to the ballpark, we were just amazed at the contrast to the two main parks we know, Safeco and Great American (Cincinnati). Those two are very urban, right in the city, so you park in whatever little lots or garages you find and walk however far you must. Miller Park, however, is a little more secluded, you actually drive through a residential area to get to it. And it just has this one massive parking lot. We couldn't believe we were seeing people tailgating before a baseball game! Football, yeah. but baseball?
The park from a distance looked a bit like Safeco, because they both have retractable roofs, but coming closer they were definitely different. Safeco, even with the roof, is still very open air. Even if the roof is on, if it's cold outside, it's cold inside. But Miller was very enclosed. The roof was on, and I think the park would look very odd with it off because there's just no open space otherwise. This was good, because it kept the temperature very comfortable, but bad, because of the enclosed feeling.
In the end, we all felt comfortably that Safeco was a superior ballpark...Miller was pretty enough, very new looking, but it was too sparse in areas (convention center-like), the sound was very echoey and things were hard to hear, stuff like that. Oh, an finding our seats was a royal pain; we got instructions from 3 employees, and each gave us different, but still wrong, directions. super.
Tomorrow is the actual Marquette open house. starts at 10AM. bleh. I want to sleep...