M M M

So I arrived in Madison around 3.  First stop-Botanical gardens. F'in amazing.  I took over 100 photos, and I learned so much about flowers in 3 hours.  It was so big and beautiful, with flowers so clearly labeled.  It was free And there was a Thai garden included!! I felt such a calm peace from the garden that day, and it was refreshing after all of this emotional turmoil I had been going through in Michigan. 

After I had had my fill of flowers, I decided to hit up a park, because it was a hot and sunny day.  I had a 40 of Miller high life sitting in my car, waiting for me.  I poured half into a water bottle (classy) and decided to sit in the park, next to the lake, people watch and draw.  There were a bunch of guys playing Ultimate frisbee, some girls drawing, and a lesbian couple frolicking.  I started a pen drawing, but didn't have time to finish it because I had to go meet my next couchsurfing host. 

So I drove to his house, and when I arrived, there was a strange man sitting on the roof.  It was he.  He came down to meet me, and my first impression was that he was a very attractive man.  His place was really chill.  It was right off Willy street, apparently the more hippy/vegan/bisexual side of town.  I liked dat.  We went to grab a bite to eat, then we went downtown to some bars.  The first one was an Irish bar, where his friend was playing fiddle.  There were about 8 people sitting around a table, playing traditional Irish music.  Like 5 old dudes, and a young guy and girl.  They were pretty amusing.  Across from us sat 2 couples.  It was 2 older men (60s) and 2 younger women (low 30's).  We were trying to figure out why they were together...the best guess was that the women were escorts.  But I don't know, and could not figure it out!  Anyways, the girl was wasted and broke a glass and the bartender got all pissed off and asked them to leave.


So the next day, we made breakfast, then went to the Terrace (over the lake) and played some card games, then I left him to go home.  I needed to take the bus, and it was 2.00$.  Not that much, but still I am really poor.  So I walked onto the bus, and the driver asked me for 20$.  He was kidding, but I said that I forgot my ID (Buses are free for Madison students), he ignored me and asked for 30$.  So I just walked on without paying.  I slipped on my sunglasses and headed northwest...:)

Wisconsin

Where was I...

So the day before we left, we decided to take a long walk around the city again.  We made the executive decision to take the dog too.  We walked along the lake, and when we were close to one of the museums, all of a sudden like 20 kids came running towards us wanting to pet the dog.  It was pretty funny.  There was some school field trip and kids were EVERYWHERE.  We decided to head downtown.  I went into a shop to get ice cream, and when I came out there was a bunch of yelling and I saw a police officer arresting someone that was resisting.  10 steps later there was a crazyass car with quotations all over it and terrifying dolls.  It also featured a loudspeaker with this guy's voice ranting about all these different things he believed in.  Then he parked and got out, he looked kind of bum-ish, but I was very glad to see him, because weird characters like that always light up my life.

Then we walked north towards home.  We ran into his magician friend from the night before; I sat on the dock of the river.  A goose slowly came closer and closer to me, then eventually right next to me.  It was cute, but I was also mildly afraid of it.   Later that night we went to this park on the lake and drank some beers and walked by the art museum so that I could get some night pictures.  It was very nice.  I left the next morning and back on the road I was..to Madison!