KCRag Forum

I recently visited Madison on a college tour with my daughter. It's a great college town. Everything I've read about it being the best college town, while somewhat subjective, is pretty much true. The city is wedged onto an isthmus between two large lakes (Mendota and Monona) with the former forming the northern border of the University of Wisconsin. Just an ideal setting for a university and college town. Very walkable city too.


Lake Monona - picture taken from a terrace a couple of blocks from the state capitol building.


State Capitol building is extremely photogenic. It sits in the middle of a square that anchors the main pedestrian drag (State Street) connecting the capitol area to the university.






Capitol Square


Capitol Square






Leaving Capitol Square going to State Street. There are buses that run down State Street but they are few and far between. At least in the summer. Without a car, be prepared to walk - or rent a bike.






















Lunch at one of two Nepalese restaurants on State Street.

I'll show some university pictures a bit later.

Madison isn't just a great college town, it's kind of a hidden gem in general of urbanity. I was there in 2009 and really loved it.

Yeah, before I ever thought of Austin and ever visited Portland, Madison was the cool city. It appeared to me as a summer paradise, coming from the tumbleweed blown streets of Warrensburg, Missouri, wondering what the fuck I was doing in rural western missouri.

As promised, a few pics from around the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The setting of the university is wonderful. The university is huge and I guess that is because the ag school, engineering school and everything else is on one single campus. It was pretty tiring walking across the entire campus on the hot day that it was. Other than the beautiful setting, the university itself is kind of stark.









There are several nice gardens on campus - here is one.





The student union is on lake Mendota which is a pretty dramatic setting

Beautiful campus and beautiful pictures. Thank you for posting.