I Rode My Bike Again Today

And the first place I rode it was to the bicycle store to purchase a shiny new helmet. I am still a little scared riding around, turning and going over bumps tends to freak me out, but I survived. It will probably be a while before I get all of my confidence back.

I took the time to ride into central campus and take some photos of the buildings. Follow the numbering system below, because no, I could not get Blogger to arrange them in a nice pretty format.

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6


1. Bascom Hall (1857) - A national historic landmark, and the greatest symbol of the UW-Madison campus. It houses administrative offices now. In front is a statue of Abraham Lincoln, author of the Morrill Land Grant Act (1862) that created space for land-grant public universities of which Wisconsin is one of many.


2. View from the base (looking west) of Bascom Hill, the central gathering area of campus. Bascom Hall stands atop the hill, while Science Hall is at the base.

3. Science Hall (1887) - Also a national historic landmark, one of the first buildings in the country to be constructed entirely of masonry and metal. Now houses Department of Geography, among others.

4. The Red Gym (1891) - Located just to the east of Memorial Union, the Red Gym was the campus' first gymnasium and armory. It now houses a mysteriously amiable group of students in the official UW-Madison visitor's center. There is a Facebook group dedicated to proliferating the theory that the Red Gym is actually Bowser's Castle, of Mario Brothers fame. They certainly do bear a striking resemblance to one another.

5. View to the east from the Memorial Union Terrace, with Lake Mendota in view. The multicolored chairs with the sun-ray design are pretty famous, apparently. The terrace is a big gathering area for students, music, and cultural events on campus. You can see the back end of the Red Gym in the right of the photo.

6. Library Mall, located at the base of Bascom Hill, and the focal point of campus. In the background you can see the north side of the Wisconsin Historical Society (left) and the front of the Memorial Union (back center). Just to the east of the Mall is an open area that supports various food carts (all of which are tasty) as well as crazy people blabbing about various political and eastern religious things.