I was visiting someone at Froedtert Hospital last week, a week ago today, actually, and had to park on the very top of the parking structure. Like, the very farthest corner away from the buildings on the very top floor. Got my 10,000 steps in that day, for sure.

But on the plus side, or should I say further plus side, since I also got some additional walking time in, when returning to my car after the visit, I was greeted with this rather arresting view as I got off the elevator.

Because I was parked in the farthest southeast corner of the roof (only a little “motorcycle parking” square space between my car and the wall), I had an unfettered view when I reached my vehicle.

Although it was overcast, the sun was breaking through and illuminating several of the downtown buildings.

See the light brown building topped with the red and white sign in the left third of the photo? That’s Miller Brewing, which is over 25-45 city blocks away from those tall downtown buildings (25+ from the nearest at around 10th Street and 45-ish from the tall buildings on the right side of downtown proper, which is about 18 blocks east of 10th and about 7 blocks south.)

I’m not sure what the building at the far right of the photo above is. It’s possible  that it’s Bay View Terrace, a lonely high-rise apartment building (now condos, actually) just south across the Hoan Bridge (crossing the Milwaukee Harbor and associated land) from downtown. But it looks more like the Potawatomi Hotel Casino, which is located less far south of downtown and is also in the 1700 block west (on Canal Street, in the Menomonee Valley, once aka the “Industrial Valley,” although its industrial heyday is long past and efforts are underway to restore the natural marshland environment.

These photos really demonstrate the way a telephoto lens compresses distance. I was standing at approximately 87th Street. Miller Brewing is around 37th or so. Downtown runs from about 10th Street on the west, then 10 blocks to the Milwaukee River, which is the dividing line between east and west, and then about 9 or 10 additional blocks east from the river to Lake Michigan. The U. S. Bank building (tallest building in the photo, white, with its name in blue and red across the top, and also the tallest building in Wisconsin) is at 777 E. Wisconsin, and the buidling to its right is the Couture (tallest apartment building in the state, according to Wikipedia), located at 909 E. Michigan.

So my photos cover about 107 city blocks. Not bad for snapshots taken with my iPhone 16!

One last photo, not of downtown but of Miller Park, newly named (as of 2020) American Family Field. Apparently it’s the only ballpark with a fan-shaped retractable roof, according to Wikipedia anyway. That feature is clearly distinct in the photo, and you can see that the roof was closed that day. Miller Park (as I still think of it) is due west of Potawatomi, around 44th Street, so approximately 45-40 blocks southeast from where I was standing.

It was fun seeing the sights from this unusual perspective. Although I groaned with each level I was forced to ascend in the parking structure (busy day at Froedtert, I guess), it was a real treat in the end that my far-flung, last available parking space on the roof turned out to be the best seat in the house!