Inside, you feel the presence of something ancient and otherworldly. The interior design is…read morebeautiful, simple, yet functional and elegant. One of the most wonderful places I've ever set foot into.

This is a wonderfully preserved Temple. It's a treasure and a testament to the Jewish history of…read moreMadison.

super gorgeous and nice place to study. Definetly not the most quiet though, not always but…read moresometimes the librarians can be very loud which makes it hard to study if you don't want to use headphones.

The WHS is a beautiful and easy-to-navigate library where you can find old Wisconsin newspapers on…read moremicrofilm that aren't available on the web. The staff is friendly, the materials are very accessible and the equipment is easy to use. The building itself is gorgeous, with vaulted, stained glass ceilings and long, old fashioned wooden desks each with small green lamps. Here's how our visit played out... Growing up as a kid, it was always fun to hear my parents' stories from their childhood in La Crosse, WI. My dad has a couple that he really enjoys recounting: one story is about an epic high school football matchup between his school and my mom's (my dad's team won, which may explain his fondness for the story), and a second story is about a lone gunman who robbed a hotel where my dad worked, my dad subsequently chased into a parking lot, and he got shot at in the chase. You can tell that both of these items of family folklore may be tweeked with a bit of exagerration. My siblings and I always wondered, are my dad's memories completely accurate, or are they big fish stories? Yesterday I convinced my parents to join me on a trip to the Historical Society, where they have a vast collection of past Wisconsin newspapers on microfilm. Tucked away in a back room, you can look up La Crosse Tribune newspapers from the 1960s, organized by month in an old school card catalog or on a new school online database. The library has tons of microfilm machines that are available for open use. You retrieve the microfilm yourself from a shelving system, and you're free to start scanning it on a manual-roller or automatic-digital machine. We quickly found newspaper evidence confirming both of my dad's stories, and his reputation for veracity remains intact. He was very pleased with our findings (I think he may have started doubting his own memory). He also got swept up by all the big headlines on the newspapers' coverpages (Vietnam, Nixon, controversies over interstate construction). The library staff was very friendly and willing to help us along during our search process. The entire visit only took us about an hour, and that's pretty quick, demonstrating how organized they've got things. We tracked down exactly what we needed in a short time amidst an enormous volume of materials and with only a vagueidea of when it all had happened. We were able to make digital, emailed copies of the newspapers for free, and we made some paper printouts of the important pages for 25 cents/page. The Wisconsin Historical Society Library is an excellent resource for the state and a great place to check on family folklore. And here's an idea: You could make a scrapbook gift for a parent, comprised of newspaper clippings that confirm their favorite stories or show big events from their childhood.

Beautiful City of Madison, Wisconsin. Great downtown with lovely restaurants and beautiful lake…read more You can see all the great characters in one place.

I visited Madison when I visiting an employee. I really came in with no expectations, which is…read moresometimes the way to go. No preconceived notions, just visit with an open mind. Luckily my employee is a resident Madisonian (not sure if that's an actual term for one that's born and raised in Madison), so she gave me a bit of a tour downtown. Madison seems pretty walkable, which is great. We went to the square, walked by the Capitol building, which was beautiful...especially all those beautiful tulips! We walked by the beautiful lake, around UW, and just explored the city. I never went inside, but saw a pretty rad children's museum, which apparently has farm animals on the top floor and a pretty epic outdoor play area. The one thing I found odd? Maybe it's not odd, but not being a resident, I noticed that almost all their coffee shops closed at 4pm. Which seemed early, but also I'm not a resident, so maybe it's typical. All in all, it was a great college city, with a large college campus, a lake, great shops and restaurants and everyone seemed genuinely pleasant.

The Majestic Theatre is a quaint concert venue that reminds me of 80's Hollywood clubs. I enjoyed…read morean intimate Buckethead performance with 300 other fans. The theatre is clean, the staff are friendly, attentive and organized. The MGE charge rail (sponsored by MGE) is broken which was disappointing. It would have been awesome if it actually worked. I guess it's been broken for a while. I would suggest taking down the promotional signage or have it fixed.

Amazing music venue in the heart of Madison Wisconsin. We have had the opportunity to see many…read moreshows at this venue. We opted for some cozy second row balcony seating. What a joy to be able to sit back and relax take in some music, have a drink and enjoy the evening.

This was my first time exploring any capitol building, but it was really beautiful! They offer free…read moretours so I joined in on one, and it was very informative. There were a lot of kids on the tour and the tour guide did a great job of explaining things for them. He also made a lot of jokes and was very friendly. The marble throughout the building is really pretty and cool to see. It's a lot of stairs but they do also have elevators. The observation deck at the top is definitely worth the climb also and offers a really pretty view of Madison.

While I do not spend much time in State Capital buildings, I would like to spend more time here, as…read morethe Wisconsin State Capital building is absolutely beautiful, a great space to learn about history, marvel at the intricate details of the stonework, look over Madison from the mezzanine level or take in the phenomenal artwork on the rotunda ceilings! The capital building is located in the heart of the city and is a perfect backdrop of any day, no matter the season. While great from the exterior, wandering around inside is way more fun. It is open to the public and free to roam, however you can get guided tours that get you access to the more restricted areas, including the floors. We wandered around for well over an hour and could have spent more time if we had more access. The mezzanine level was the best, as it allowed you to see lots of history as you made the circle indoors, then let you get every angle of Madison and the lake from the outdoor area. Parking is all public and street, so plan accordingly, but if you are staying anywhere in or near downtown, then you have easy access with a quick walk. Overall, the building is gorgeous and the staff were helpful from entry to exit. Lots to see, whether politics or history are your things, it is definitely worth a visit!

My husband and I went on the lake to lake tour with guide Stanley. We we super excited to eat and…read moretour our way through Madison!! We've done 3 walking food tours prior to this one and were excited to add it to our list. There were many things we loved about this tour; Stanley's enthusiasm, the beautiful day and great walking weather, the folks we chatted with on the tour and *most* of the food. The tour was extremely slow to get going. We were all very hungry; eating small breakfasts and no morning snacks in anticipation of a heavy food afternoon. The tour began promptly at 12:30. We spent a very long time in the Convention Center talking about Frank Lloyd Wright. And then when we left the history part of the tour continued for an hour. The first tasting of any food did not happen until a little after 1:30. First stop was Merchant, a funky restaurant/bar, where we were served a Small quarter of a cuban sandwich and a tiny arugula salad dressed in vinaigrette. The Cubano was very good but the serving we seriously tiny. Then we lingered waaaay too long (in my opinion) at the Merchant sitting at the table even though everyone had been done for a while. After the merchant we made Lots of little stops to look at landmarks around the capital area. And we did a little walk through of the capital building, which was very beautiful, but my tummy was still rumbling!!!! 2:22 was our second stop at Fromagination Cheese Shop. This was an absolutely adorable shop with oodles of cheese as well as other gormete food stuffs like cookies, pastries, honey, balsamic vinegar, mustard, jams and jellies and other gift stuff . 3 small pieces of cheese and 2 crackers. There were also a few samples around the store for tasting but really it was a very small food sampling. Shortly after that around 2:44 we made it to Ian's Pizza for a half-slice of Mac and cheese pizza. Ehhh. Did not like it. They had some really cool other kinds and just an awesome menu in general. Just was not into the Mac and Cheese slice. Ick Next up was a little after 3:00 and we stopped at Himal Chuli which was a Nepalese eatery for a Mango Lassi. I was disappointed that we did not get to go inside the restaurant. We just grabbed-and-go our drinks and walked to our next stop. At around 3:17 we stopped into State Street Brats where we were served half to a third of a brat and A half pint of Spotted Cow beer from New Glarus Brewery. Good tasting. But again, a very small sample Lastly we walked to UW campus to the student union for a vanilla malt. It was good. Wish we had gotten to try the ice cream. I'm sure they have some great flavors there. The union was amazing however, right on the lake. Lucky students. The tour ran over, ending around 3:45. My husband and I left still feeling kind of hungry which has NEVER happened to us after a food tour. So, we had a fun time but left with mixed feelings about the tour. Not sure how much we will recommend this one to ours friends. Would rather send them down to the zerve.com food tours in Chicago.

Monroe street tour was wonderful!!, great food all in walking distance!…read moreguide was well educated in Madison history. The food was excellent choices. went to many places I did not know were there! pizza, salad, beligum beer, mussels, so fun! enoyed every moment, if you live in madison or visiting this tour is a must!!

what a beautiful park! great at all times of day i assume, lots of green space to sit down and…read morestare at the lake!

We came for the beach. Maps said it had one. It was so tiny, filled with seaweed, dog poop, and…read moregarbage. A huge dumpster is sitting right next to it where people were dumpster diving. We did play at the playground for a few minutes. It was fine, but small and some parts were broken. There were spiders and wasps, but not many. There were a lot of young people there playing different sports and walking/running on the trail so if you are looking for that type of fun this will be a great place. It's a large space. We wouldn't go back. My kids kept asking to leave.

This is, hands down, my favorite art gallery in Madison. They have an incredible selection of…read morejewelry, glass, ceramics, and wall art. The owner, Brian Farrell, is not only extremely kind and attentive, he also has one of the best eyes for quality art that I have ever seen. I might not like every artist he brings in, but there is not a boring one in the bunch. The selection is eclectic, and truly unique. There is also enough of a range in price points that almost anyone will be able to find something here that can fit into their budget. It is always a pleasure to come in to this gallery.

We drive past this place daily and stopped in on a whim last weekend. There is a ton of variety and…read moreeven more that isn't on display. We ended up really liking a piece but it was a bit out of our price range. This was our first experience buying art and Brian was so kind, patient, and helpful. After we thought about it for a few days and we returned to purchase, he remembered us and our taste. He even brought the piece to our house to be certain we liked and hung it for us! We are really glad we stopped in and I am sure we will be back in the future.