Galena Trip

Tuesday morning (April 28) we left for our 3 day getaway to Galena. The drive is a little less than 3 hours from here; Galena is only a few miles from the Mississippi River.  By the time we got there we were hungry so decided to go right into town for some lunch. Our B&B, Bernadine’s Stillman Inn was on the way so we drove by.  It looked really nice.

We parked right at the beginning of the main street and walked a little bit to decide where to have lunch.  We discovered that a lot of the restaurants were only open for dinner.  We ended up eating at the the Green Street Tavern at the Desoto House.  This amazing old hotel was built in 1855.  Abraham Lincoln spoke from the balcony in 1856.  It was originally a 5 story hotel but at some point the top two stories were removed.  We had lunch at the Green Street Tavern in the corner.  Neat place a must see in Galena.

We had walked by the trolley place so decided to go back there and see if they had any more tours.  We ended up taking the 2:30 one hour tour.  It was a good tour that took us all around downtown and the other side of the river.

Our trolley	Belevedere Inn, wasnt’ open yet	Annie Wiggins House
Elihu B. Washburne House  constructed in 1843 in the popular Greek Revival style. Elihu Washburne, congressman, advisor to Presidents Lincoln and Grant and then Ambassador to France lived in the house until 1882.	1858 Post Office said to be the second longest running PO in the US	House where Grant lived before the Civil War while he worked in a Galena leather shop.
Former Galena High School, 167 steps above the main street. Now luxury lofts.

 

We had noticed as we walked around that all of the shops closed at 5:00 so we decided to walk around town until 5 and then check into the inn.  By this time it was pretty obvious that mid-week in April was a pretty slow time for Galena.  We didn’t see very many people and the shops certainly weren’t busy.  At 5 we headed to the Stillman Inn and were greeted warmly by Dave Anderson, the Innkeeper. He was very friendly and outgoing and gave us a complete “briefing” on our stay.  Our room was quite the place.  Our living room was the original parlor and our bedroom was the original dining room. We had our own porch

We had some wine on the porch and then headed back to town for dinner at 111 Main Street.  It happened that there were no other people eating there that night.  That was strange but the restaurant was excellent. They served a sweet chilli yam soup that was very good.  Jill had a stuffed pork loin with gorgonzola and Door County cherries.  I had a “farm to table” pork tenderloin.  Both were excellent.

Wednesday morning we had breakfast with the only other couple staying at the inn.  They were from a nearby small town in Wisconsin – celebrating their anniversary.  Dave sat at the table with us and “facilitated” conversation :-). Breakfast was an omelet and two slices of French toast.

It was a cold, gray morning.  Looked like rain but they said it should be dry all day.  We walked across the street to the Ulysses S. Grant home and went on the tour. The house was built in 1860 but the owner had gone away and never lived in it.  A group of Galena citizens purchased the house and gave it to Grant in 1865 appreciation for his Civil War leadership. Shortly thereafter he was elected president and moved to Washington so the family did not live in the house very much.  They would stay in it for short periods while he was president and they did live in it for a short time after he left the presidency.  The house is well preserved and filled with items from the period.

We went back to the main street and hit a few shops we had missed the day before and then toured the Dowling House, Galena’s oldest, built in 1926.  The tour was actually very good; we were the only ones on it and the woman told us a lot of history and showed us many items in the downstairs “store”.

We had seen some interesting appetizers on the 111 Main Street menu the night before but didn’t order any.  So we went back there for lunch and had more soup, pork sliders and a wonderful smoked trout spread.  There were quite a few tables filled this time.

After we hit a few more shops we decided to drive over to Dubuque, Iowa on the Mississippi River.  We had a map from Dave that showed a river walk.  The trip was pretty much a bust.  The river walk was just that, a sidewalk along the river, no stores, coffee shops, etc.  It was till cold and gray so no good pictures and too windy to walk along the river.  We headed back to our inn and relaxed until it was time for dinner.

We had 6:30 reservations at the Perry Street Brasserie.  Dave had highly recommended this place, describing it as the best restaurant in Galena.  He had made a reservation for us, saying that the place only seats 30 people.  We were amazed to once again be the only people in the restaurant.  It was a marvelous place and we had a great dinner.  Chatted extensively with our waiter who turned out to be the chef’s son.  After a while the chef came out and talked to us for a long while and even showed us how he makes part of one of the desserts.  We had crab cakes, a veal wild mushroom soup and for the main dish, veal with crab stuffed scallops and garlic mashed potato croquettes.  It was all very very good.  We declined dessert but then after some coffee and a description of the desserts I caved in and order the chocolate cup for us.

A bowl of solid Swiss chocolate, filled with creamy dark and milk chocolate ganaches.
Topped with fresh whipped cream and drizzled with more chocolate. He makes the cup by dipping a balloon in warm chocolate, letting it cool in the refrigerator, popping the balloon.  The whole evening was a wonderful and unique experience.  The moment we left they put up the Closed sign on the front door.

Rain was supposed to start Wednesday night and go all day Thursday.  It rained quite a bit overnight but by morning it had stopped and turned into a pretty nice day.  Cloudy but warmer than the first two days.  We had breakfast with a different couple just traveling through on their way home to Kansas City.  We had quiche and a couple of pancakes which Dave calls love cakes as they are heart shaped.  After breakfast I showed Dave a little bit about smugmug.com; he had asked me to the day before.  Then we packed up our stuff and headed back to town for a last look.  We had lunch at Fritz and Fritz another place recommended by Dave.  Nice place, great reviews on Trip Advisor.  Once again we were the only customers in the place.  Our waiter kept telling us that they were expecting at party of 12 at 1:00.  By 1:20 when we left he was still hoping they would show.  After lunch we headed for home.