Ann Arbor redux.

I have been to Ann Arbor numerous times, but it's Nancy's first time, so we tried to fit in all the highlights of my experience here.  On the way to the center of the campus, we drove by the stadium, an impressive brick building that houses about 110,000 people.   This is the main entrance to the stadium.

Other highlights that I wanted to show her were the bell tower, the Germanic/Slavic language area, the Michigan Union and Bob's fraternity house.  We made it to all

What a beautiful sky formed the background for this famous building.

 We spent some time on the third floor of the Language Department.

Frank's RA during his freshman year

  First, we checked out Frank's RA and current German professor, Hartmut Rastalsky.  As we were reading the postings on his office door, another faculty member passed us and told us to make sure to check out the spam haikus, which were hilarious.  Actually, the postings on Hartmut's door were all pretty funny.

One of Frank's Russian professors

When Frank came to Michigan for the first time, they weren't sure where to place him, so he had to take a test.  Of course, he was beyond Russian 3 to start because of his time at Bryn Mawr.  Dr. Makin was the first professor he met, and he enjoyed knowing this man, who was obsessed with ice hockey. 

And then there was Sigma Chi, Bob's fraternity house.  They were kicked off campus for a while, but they're obviously back.  I won't embarrass my husband with telling some of his frat boy stories, but I'll just say that he's totally matured since then!!

One of the interesting things about this campus is that next to many of the water fountains are places to fill up water bottles!

Nancy was able to check out an exhibit on 19th century murders in the Clements Library while I moved the car so that we wouldn't get ticketed. We had a light lunch at a coffee bar in the Union.

 Our next important stop was Middle Earth, a head shop that my family loved!  I was so disappointed - half the store was gone, and none of the awesome, inappropriate t-shirts were on sale anymore.  Bummer.

By this time, I was exhausted, so we came back to the hotel for a rest. After an hour's break, we went to Kerrytown, an interesting shopping and historical district.  We bought some fresh olive oil and balsamic vinegar there. Then we checked out the restaurants on Main Street and chose the Prickly Pear for our dinner.

Gazpacho and margarita!!

  Dinner was really good, and we then motored onto the North Campus to see the engineering area and to view Maya Lin's wave field (the artist who designed the Vietnam War Memorial). It was still really hard to find, but we persevered!!

Nancy taking an arty shot

We then spent way too much time trying to find Delta Gamma sorority house, but we were successful!!  Another frustrating time was spent trying to get back to our hotel, but in the end all worked out well -- we now know how to get on our way tomorrow!!