Tuesday, March 31, in Madison

Today we stayed in Madison. After another breakfast of oatmeal and coffee, we drove through the low-income neighborhood of Vera Court and then immediately drove past the dwellings of Madison's One Percent in the adjacent neighborhood of Maple Bluff.  We saw million-dollar houses and also the mansion of the governor of Wisconsin.

I had a little bit of volunteer work to do at the warehouse for the Wisconsin Medical Project. We send donated medical supplies and equipment to Cuba and to places in Africa including Kenya, Senegal, Guinea, and Cameroon.  Here are some of the boxes ready to go to Cuba:

While I was doing my work, Marie Therese and Anne Marie waited for me in the nearby public library. Alas, the library had nothing written in French, not even Le Monde.

From here, we went downtown.

Our first stop was the State of Wisconsin Historical Society. I forgot to take a photo here, sorry. We went to the 2nd floor to see the exhibit about Native Americans in Wisconsin.

Then we went to see the Capitol Building. (Madison is the capital city of the State of Wisconsin.)

In front of the capitol, the Solidarity Singers were singing songs of protest.

We joined them for a short time.  You can listen here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Grfb4JjKQ&feature=youtu.be

 Inside the capitol, we all took many photos.

This is the inside of the dome.

Here we are inside the chambers of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

This is the ceiling of the Wisconsin Senate chamber.

Anne Marie is trying to turn off the flash on her camera. No luck!

For lunch, we went to Himal Chuli, a Nepali restaurant.  We had cups of dal and momos and we each had a mango lassi. Very sorry — no photos. We were too busy eating.

After lunch we went to the Chazen Art Museum at the University of Wisconsin.  Marie said the art was very good.  Trop peu de temps pour admirer des oeuvres  aussi riches:Calder Picasso Moore,Miro,Duffy... nos mirettes etaient excitees.

While Marie Therese and Anne Marie looked at the art, I sat on a bench and fell asleep. Pretty soon I heard the voices of two angels singing a lullaby in French. When I opened my eyes, Marie Therese and Anne Marie were singing and smiling and looking at me. They were singing Meunier tu dors.

Next, since we were already at the university, we walked to Memorial Union, a building on the shore of Lake Mendota. We bought ice cream cones and ate them outside. The ice cream is made here at the university.

Next, we drove to my old neighborhood near Lake Monona. (Madison has three lakes!) 

We looked at my old house, and then walked to the lake to look at effigy mounds, built by Native Americans from 500 to 1000 years ago.

In the photo above, you can see that part of the lake is still frozen!

Then we went to the Willy Street Co-op to buy food for supper.

My friend, Becky, is a cashier at the co-op.

On our way back to my house, we stopped to see more art by Doctor Evermor:

And then we went home and cooked supper and talked until after 10:00 at night!