ah, man. i am too exhausted to be starting these trip recaps but if i don't do them now they will never be finished so JOIN ME IN MY JET LAG/SINUS INFECTION MISERY why don't you? i don't even know what day it is. :/
i LOVE chicago. i always have, i always will. in fact, i am hoping to move there this year. (*fingers crossed* that it can be accomplished by summer.) still, i had not been there for almost twenty years D: and a lot of things had changed! one example being midway. HOLY SHIT THEY HAVE REVAMPED THAT PLACE no longer is there a baggage cage area. the hallways are wider. i was expecting pokey, old, lovely midway and i got slick, image conscious midway. but then the line for cabs in 3 degree weather reminded me that things were basically the same. (perhaps you have heard that it was a tad chilly in chicago this winter? HAHAH WE WALKED AROUND IN THAT)
hey, at least we had a good location in river north at the acme.
(can recommend with these caveats: it can be a bit noisy if you are near the parking garage. there are not really any places to put luggage, hang up towels, unpack etc if there happens to be more than one of you.(there were 3 of us.) BUT staff is exceptional, knowledgeable. rooms are very clean. and, likesay, it's a great location.)
seriously. location plus: the nutella bar
have you heard about this? it is located inside of eataly and nutella is available on pretty much any bready thing you can imagine. (i do wish they'd add nutella hot chocolate to the menu.)
one constant about chicago is how beautiful the place is.
even in the bone breaking deep freeze it is intensely gorgeous.
plus, all of the cold was keeping the tourists away. the bean wasn't crowded.
no one was in the cultural center. is anyone really ever at the cultural center? probably. it is just so huge that you don't notice. huge AND BEAUTIFUL kittens? i have been crushing on this building for decades.
how can you not love the largest tiffany dome in THE WORLD?!
there's always some wonderful exhibit here. i once saw an ace henry darger retrospective at the cultural center. this time, i was blown away by the slide curtains.
here is a detail with a butt.
and this time we found the SECOND dome i mean, jaw drop, amirite??
leff and i were still on our own at this point (the always lovely crystal was meeting up with us later in the day.) so we decided to get our deep dish craving out of the way. this is bacino's and it was AMAZING
there was some older midwestern lady hanging out with her friends at a table near ours. prime quotable material: "WHO'S tumbling?" see also: "i'm thinkin' about gettin' a draawpbox."
as nice as it was that the cold was keeping the downtown area relatively empty, it was also causing travel chaos on the trains. poor crystl was delayed by FOUR HOURS D: D: D: here is a picture of us getting coffee, checking train updates and feeling terrible for her. POOR CRYSTAL
we killed some time while waiting at the dwr across the street from acme. goddamn, it is located in a fantastic building. but, really, this picture is just for the FREAKING ICICLES LOOK AT THEM THEY ARE ICE DAGGERS
but, in all honesty, the best part of the day was when crystl was finally off the train. we walked around downtown a bit trying to find some coffee. this is not coffee, this is a light installation that plays, erm, irish jigs????? idk, really. i just remember leff dancing next to it.
now THIS is coffee!
and i was able to purchase it AFTER SIX O'CLOCK because HAHAHH CHICAGO IS A REAL CITY THAT DOES NOT ROLL UP ITS SIDEWALKS AT GERIATRIC HOURS like, oh, i dunno...let's see, SEATTLE DOES YES I AM DISSING SEATTLE AGAIN DEAL WITH IT SUNGLASSES DROP ON MY FACE
dinner was at lyfe kitchen. i was feeling barfy (intense cold does that) so i had some lyfe drink. idk, it was green and tasted good. cukes? mint? ginger? probably.
from what i have seen, the lyfe kitchen menu is very good. my dining companions did not complain. but the place is a little.....um....culty? idk, everyone was smiling too much and way too crazy upbeat. EVEN FOR THE STATES THIS WAS OVER THE TOP IS WHAT I AM SAYING OK
we had tickets for the leslie hall show at the empty bottle that night but we were all too exhausted and it was just TOO COLD to deal with two buses and then l. next time, leslie. NEXT TIME WE WILL SEE YOUR YOUR GEM SWEATERS AND GOLD PANTS IN PERSON
TOMORROW: more chicago! we go back to the cultural center. UKRAINIAN VILLAGE, HANDMADE MARKET a long but VERY worthwhile trek to CHICAGO DINER IN LOGAN SQUARE FIST BUMPING HIGH FIVING FRESHLY SQUEEZING VEGETABLES PLUS one of the greatest bars i have been to in a LOOOONG time. (but you have to promise to keep it a secret.) CHECK BACK CHECK BACK WOOO COUGH COUGH
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