Piss Poor Effort

Typical of how I embrace certain technologies and how I let others fall by the wayside. I had forgotten that Scott & I started a blog way back when to document our travels and anything else we wanted to talk about. I think I'll make a concerted effort to revive it.

We just returned from a trip to Amsterdam and Paris which was lovely but I'm definitely happy to be home. It's taking me a some time to get back into the groove of things. Today was my first day back in the office and I spent most of that time sifting through emails. After work, I went to my first Pilates mat class at the gym. I've been doing Pilates for a few years but I've never taken just a mat class. Can't tell if it's mediocre or not...I'll reserve judgement until a few more weeks have passed by.

I did step on the scale in the locker room. It was one of those industrial digital read out scales and I was slightly shocked to see that the lb differential between our scale in our bathroom and this one was about 3 lbs. That explains the tire around my mid-section that I'm going to need to work hard to get rid of. To that end, I promptly hit up Pinkberry after my workout. Yea I know, that's not really going to help but I'm suffering from a sore throat and it did feel a bit better.

Right before I returned to work from vacation, we received an email that stated that someone on our floor had been diagnosed with swine flu. Just what I need flu de porcina. I'm disinfecting and hand sanitizing like crazy.

Alright back to being productive at home...

Off to see the Dodgers

An obvious highlight of the weekend was to go to Wrigley Field and see the mighty Dodgers take on the Cubbies. But before the game, we headed to the Chicago Historical Society museum to catch up on the history of this town. Overall we give the place the thumbs up especially for kids. It gave a good high level overview of the city's history and I was able to play train engineer for a few minutes and was caught in the act by Marian. I wish there was a little bit more on the prohibition era but it seems to be something that the city would rather forget...Before I forget, if possible go on Mondays, admission is free.



We then headed up through Lincoln Park and walked through the zoo
(also free admission). It was fine but I constantly find myself wondering why the polar bears have to stay outside in 85+ degree weather while the penguins always get the cushy inside locale. Kind of bothers me.

We then started to walk up Clark towards Wrigley. Got hot dogs at Clark Street Dogs, nothing to write home about. Chicago dogs are nothing more than any other hot dog with onions, a pickle spear, tomatoes, hot peppers, mustard, relish and some celery salt.

We finally made it to Wrigley, here is the classic backdrop from the stadium.



The game itself was fantastic, is there anything better than to be surrounded by opposing fans when their team is getting crushed? Final score was 11-3 Dodgers over the Cubs. Here is a photo from our seats, pretty good for getting them on Ebay. Lots of jeering over our Dodgers hats but we stuck it to the Cubs fans.

Catching Up

I'm sure that all of you loyal readers have been anxiously awaiting our next entry and we are truly sorry for keeping you waiting so long. We don't have a reason other than we are lazy and our internet is spotty at best. Let's try to catch you up.

We went to a wedding on Saturday night, good times had by all. The service was at the Rockefeller Chapel on the campus of the University of Chicago. Here is a picture outside of the chapel as the bride and groom were making their way to their limo.



On Sunday we went to a local breakfast place called Flo. Food was good for a neighborhood restaurant but if we lived in Chicago we wouldn't travel far to get here. Here is a picture of my breakfast enchilada which was good but a bit of a struggle on my stomach given the prior night's festivities.



The afternoon was spent at the Chicago Art Institute which was amazing. Hopper's painting was on loan so we didn't see that but the Institute as a great collection of French Impressionist paintings. Surprisingly, a highlight of the excursion was the Miniature Room Exhibit. The attention to detail in each of the rooms is incredible. After our museum tour, we took a walk out towards Shedd Aquarium/Soldier Field area. Here is a photo of Marian looking back towards the city.



We capped the day off with Dinner at Merlo with Tina and her sister Stephanie. Food was decent but another somewhat disappointing dining experience in a town for which we had such high hopes. As of now, the dodgy Mexican place is still our number one recommendation. After dinner, Marian and I went to see a show at Second City. It was fantastic and we would highly recommend it to anyone heading to town. I would recommend making a reservation a few days in advance just to ensure you get a spot. We are not normally the comedy show types but Second City's slightly scripted improv style is extremely engaging and kept us laughing for the entire two hours.

Video upload, let's see if this works

This post is a bit delayed because of our horrible internet access at our hotel in chicago. This was taken on Sunday afternoon in front of the Chicago Aquarium facing north. Fantastic skyline and this is a spot to get a great perspective.

Lets talk about food

In preparing for our trip to Chicago the aspect we seemed to focus the most on was food. As you can see in our google map by far the most represented icon is the fork and knife. So let me get you up to date on where we are in our food explorations. Our first stop was the local taco joint which is right around the corner from our hotel (we use that term very loosely), La Pasadita. This place is simply amazing. The menu consists of either tacos or burritos with the following options (i) carne asada (ii) barbacoa or (iii) lengua. On our first day we went twice, for lunch and then late night (open until 2 am) after getting back from the bars. I highly recommend it and we'll probably go back either later on tonight or tomorrow at which point we'll get some photos of the inside and food.















For lunch today we hit up Lou Malnati's. The place seems to be a Chicago institution for deep dish pizza. We really wanted to like it but honestly were not overly impressed. The hostess quoted a 45 minute wait time when there were clearly open tables (apparently they always quote 45 minutes regardless of how crowded it is). Seems to us to be an odd policy but does not seem to keep the crowd away. Instead of trying to reason with an unreasonable person, we sat at the bar. Pizza was fine but nothing to write home about.

Chicago Architecture Cruise

This afternoon we took the Chicago Architecture Cruise which is organized by the Chicago Architecture Foundation . We had a fantastic time and it is a great way to see the city and appreciate Chicago's history through design. It probably did not hurt that we had another picture perfect day (sunny, high of 76). I would recommend sunscreen and taking a bottle of water. Here are a couple of pictures from the trip






























I'm not a huge fan of this apartment building but fans of Wilco will recognize this from the cover of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

Hancock Tower

I am feeling the need to sing the praises of the Signature Room at the top of the Hancock tower (mentioned in our prior post). The fact that it is a free way to get to the top appeals to my more economic side (read cheap) and all things considered the drinks are a bargain when they come with views like this...






























The only odd thing is the fact that there are live spiders living 96 floors up and given the fullness of their webs seem to have a pretty good thing going.

Friday - First Day

The theme for the weekend is Marian from behind. The first is in Millennium park (new Gehry amphitheater) and the fountain from Married with Children.
















The signature room at the top of the Hancock tower is a fantastic place to watch the sunset. Only advice is the take it easy on the Tower Teas, I think the alcohol hits you a little faster at this altitude...

Getting into town

We are about to land and Marian is super psyched. Looks like it is going to be a perfect day...

Chicago: Getting ready

On Friday, Marian and I are heading to Chicago for our friend's wedding. We have not done much traveling of late and are excited to get out of town and play tourist for a couple of days. As of right now our only firm plans are a wedding on Saturday night and to see our Dodgers take on the Cubs on Monday afternoon.

We have been researching restaurants, museums, parks and other points of interest and have been adding to our Chicago Google map. We know we will not be able to make it to all of these places but hope to see as much as possible.

We are staying at the Ruby Room B&B located in the Wicker Park neighborhood. We hope this will be a good home-base in which to see the city.

We'll do our best to make daily postings keeping everybody up to date with all of the highlights of the weekend


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