5385. Take a Doors Open Milwaukee Tour in Milwaukee

As part of Doors Open, you can do a guided tour. Some of these tours are $10 and others are free. You have to register ahead of time. Some of them are really popular things like the Allen Bradley Clock Tower and others such as a Art Walk might not be so popular. Due to the popularity of these tours, members of the historical society can sign up for a tour a week before the general public. By the time the general public sign up, all the good tours were booked and the website won't tell you which ones were booked until you clicked on them. Needless to say it made signing up for a tour difficult. Stacy was able to snag the Central Library Rotunda Tour as one of the kids always wanted to do it.

The Milwaukee Central Library Rotunda Tour is not what I thought it would be. I thought we would stand around and learn the history of the Library. Well we did that but there was a whole another part that either I missed in the description or they failed to mention.

You actually got to go into the Rotunda. This sounded very cool until they mentioned the narrow, winding staircase you had to climb to get inside the Rotunda. Even as a little kid, I hated open staircases, the kind that had spaces between the steps. Now add that I'm like 3 or 4 floors up and in enclosed space. I discovered that I am still not a fan of open staircases and heights or maybe it was the fear of falling. I survived the climb and the history lesson but I did not stick around to wander around the rotunda. The whole fear of falling kind of got to me. 

I have to admit that even though I was scared and didn't want to be up there, it was a rather impressive to be standing inside a dome. The history of the rotunda and how they clean and ventilate it was interesting to learn about especially back when the building was built. 

It also did not look like I thought it would inside. I do not what I was expecting but a giant mound shaped structure in the middle was not it. I would have loved to walk around it but I was too paralyzed with fear to do much than make it back down the stairs. 

It was also darker than I would have imagine. I guess with only the light from the top of the rotunda it would be kind of dark in it. 

Am I glad I did it? Yes. Would I do it again? Maybe. At least I know what is expected and I could prepare myself. The hubby would have never made it. 

I would suggest trying to snag a Doors Open Guided Tour if you ever do Doors Open. They are amazing and you get to see some really cool places that are not normally open to the public.