Rich loves to go to Weissgerber’s German restaurant in Waukesha, WI for his birthday meal. Something to do with ham hocks. That’s basically what schweinshaxe is. So we invited Dave, Chris, Tim, and Deb to go with us. Barb isn’t into German food so declined to join us. We did miss you guys, Barb and Mike!
After I sent out the email, I thought to ask Doug and Nina if they wanted to go with us also. They said yes. Then the plan became going to the Milwaukee Art Museum with Doug and Nina and then on to the restaurant to meet everyone else.
Doug was the best man at our wedding. Over the years, we’ve seen each other off and on. You know how life gets in the way sometimes. So it had been a few years. Rick was still Andy and not the tall young man he was today. We had never been to the Milwaukee Art Museum so that was a trip in learning how to navigate downtown Milwaukee. The museum is right on the lake front.
We arrived and found Doug and Nina in the entrance hall. After catching up for a bit, we ventured off to see the sights. Nina was interested in the current exhibit and it had possibilities for me as well. Rick decided to tag along with us. The exhibit was, “The Accidental Artist.” The theme was mostly folk art, but the artists had some link to mental institutions or extreme hardships. I loved some much of it.
Doug and Rich wandered the building and mostly talked to bring them up to date of each other. I think they probably talked about beer and brewing a lot. Doug is a big homebrewer as well.
Rick really loved the architecture of the building. It is designed as a large ship with a movable sail. Everything is absolutely white, including the marble floors. It is quite the impressive building. We decided that we would have to come back and spend more time wandering the hallways.
We arrived at Weissgerber’s before everyone. So we sat in the bar and most everyone ordered a beer. Not Rick though. After waiting and needing some type of food to go with the beer, we moved to the main room of the restaurant. The stained glass window in their is fabulous. Tim and Deb arrived first followed by Dave and Chris.
We ordered some wonderful German fare and drank some very nice beers and wines. Talk moved up and down the table. Rich’s birthday was the 10th. Dave’s birthday was the 13th. Doug still had to celebrate his on the 17th. April was a popular month for babies. We continued on to dessert and talked some more. It was really wonderful.
It was hard to say good night in the parking lot, but Sascha was waiting at home for us. Poor thing had spent the biggest part of the day on her own. I’m sure she would be glad to see us return. And she was. Rich had a great birthday dinner with friends. Rick made sure we got back home safely. Sascha provided the warm welcome back. Not a bad day at all.