Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011--Chicago
It was windy with a threat of rain, but I wanted to get out and enjoy at least part of the day. I took the train down to China Town. Many people where there. Apparently, it is traditional for families to go to the restaurants there on Sundays. I stopped at a Vietnamese place and had a traditional Vietnamese sandwich for lunch.
From there I walked to Prairie Avenue. It and surrounding streets once made up a neighborhood similar to the King William District in San Antonio. The richest people in the city built their homes there. But unlike King William, the Prairie Avenue neighborhood redeveloped with factories, warehouses, etc., in the early 1900s so that only about 5 of the old mansions still remain. How sad. Today, the factories and warehouses are being replaced by new condo developments. They are nice, but they cannot compare to the old mansions that used to be there.
I explored one more neighborhood before calling it quits for the day. Just north of where I am staying is the Bryn Mawr neighborhood. It has some very nice buildings from the 1930s with art deco features. It's a hub for nice restaurants which were filled with people having afternoon brunch today.
Because of the rain forecast, I knew I would have to return home. Clouds covers were developing, and the winds were getting stronger. I went to a nearby supermarket and bought a slice of quiche and a bottle of white wine to take home with me. As I neared the apartment around 4 p.m., sprinkles began to fall. I spent the rest of the evening inside on the computer and watching Masterpiece Theater on PBS.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Infrequent Bus Service on Saturdays
Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011--Chicago
I bought a weekly pass to use on the CTA, the buses and trains of the city. When Andre brought me home yesterday morning, I commented about how easy it seemed to be to move around town in a car. His comment was that weekends seem worse--that people seem to use public transport to go to/from work and then use their cars on weekends. Now I can see why.
I got to nearby Lawrence this morning, and a bus was coming. But when I stopped at Damon Street to transfer, I waited and waited. I heard a man say that Saturday buses were sometimes up to 50 minutes apart. After 35 minutes no bus had come going north, but a southbound one (toward town) was arriving, so I quickly decided to take it. (North would have taken me to Andre's apartment where I had volunteered to help him put up some blinds if I could get there. Southbound would take me directly to a Costco I had scoped out on the Internet.)
I'm very glad that our Costco at home is not as successful as the one here on Clybourn. It was jam packed. People couldn't easily move their carts. The employees handing out snacks hardly ever had anything to offer, because if they put out a tray, everything on it disappeared immediately. My only reason for stopping, however, was just to see if they had anything interesting for sale that is not at my local store. I found a few chocolate items, a box of glass Christmas ornaments with a set of glass beads, Hanukkah wrapping paper, heavy wool winter coats for men, special cheeses from Chihuahua, etc. While there, I ate a hot dog for lunch. Then I found the ONE THING I WISH THEY HAD IN SAN ANTONIO--a Kirland Homemade Gelato Bar from which they sold 3-dip servings in waffle cones for $1.50 or hand-packed quarts to go for a little less than $5. I bought a cone. They had only 3 flavors available by the time I was there and bought it. All three were fantastic--a berry flavor, a flavor that had chocolate chunks in it, and a nutty flavor.
The Costco was near Lincoln Heights, one of the well-known neighborhoods of Chicago, so I started walking through it. It's commercial district goes for blocks with all kinds of stores. I passed an Aldi and noticed a sign that said that seasonal items were in. Every Christmas, Arne and I used to buy their German stollen stuffed with marzipan. I went inside, and they had it. I bought one to have as a snack during my final days here in Chicago.
From Lincoln Heights, I crossed the river and an expressway to take me to Wicker Heights. This area is supposedly the one that has most recently been redeveloping after years of hard times. I saw the local Flatiron Building (an early skyscraper using steel framing that is triangular in shape), two Polish Churches (including one with a wedding party standing outside), two Ukrainian churches (including one with everyone leaving a Saturday mass that had ended), a street party for local children in their Halloween costumes, etc.
I thought there might be adults heading out to parties in Halloween costumes this evening. Last year, they were all over New York. And I figured the best bet for finding this would be Boystown, an area along Halsted St. Sure enough, there were a few people in costumes, but nothing like what I expected. My guess is that they were going out later or that the parties will all be on Monday night. Boystown is a nice part of town, anyway. It's to the east of Wrigley Field and, like most gay neighborhood, has lots of nice restaurants and trendy shops.
Unfortunately, one of my neighbors had a party last night. It was someone in back. There is a sidewalk that walks around the side of the building (past my bedroom) to another entrance to a back portion of the building. The people who attended got drunk and loud and moved the party into the outdoor walkway and courtyard. They kept waking me up throughout much of the night. It must have lasted until 3 or 4 a.m.!
I bought a weekly pass to use on the CTA, the buses and trains of the city. When Andre brought me home yesterday morning, I commented about how easy it seemed to be to move around town in a car. His comment was that weekends seem worse--that people seem to use public transport to go to/from work and then use their cars on weekends. Now I can see why.
I got to nearby Lawrence this morning, and a bus was coming. But when I stopped at Damon Street to transfer, I waited and waited. I heard a man say that Saturday buses were sometimes up to 50 minutes apart. After 35 minutes no bus had come going north, but a southbound one (toward town) was arriving, so I quickly decided to take it. (North would have taken me to Andre's apartment where I had volunteered to help him put up some blinds if I could get there. Southbound would take me directly to a Costco I had scoped out on the Internet.)
I'm very glad that our Costco at home is not as successful as the one here on Clybourn. It was jam packed. People couldn't easily move their carts. The employees handing out snacks hardly ever had anything to offer, because if they put out a tray, everything on it disappeared immediately. My only reason for stopping, however, was just to see if they had anything interesting for sale that is not at my local store. I found a few chocolate items, a box of glass Christmas ornaments with a set of glass beads, Hanukkah wrapping paper, heavy wool winter coats for men, special cheeses from Chihuahua, etc. While there, I ate a hot dog for lunch. Then I found the ONE THING I WISH THEY HAD IN SAN ANTONIO--a Kirland Homemade Gelato Bar from which they sold 3-dip servings in waffle cones for $1.50 or hand-packed quarts to go for a little less than $5. I bought a cone. They had only 3 flavors available by the time I was there and bought it. All three were fantastic--a berry flavor, a flavor that had chocolate chunks in it, and a nutty flavor.
The Costco was near Lincoln Heights, one of the well-known neighborhoods of Chicago, so I started walking through it. It's commercial district goes for blocks with all kinds of stores. I passed an Aldi and noticed a sign that said that seasonal items were in. Every Christmas, Arne and I used to buy their German stollen stuffed with marzipan. I went inside, and they had it. I bought one to have as a snack during my final days here in Chicago.
From Lincoln Heights, I crossed the river and an expressway to take me to Wicker Heights. This area is supposedly the one that has most recently been redeveloping after years of hard times. I saw the local Flatiron Building (an early skyscraper using steel framing that is triangular in shape), two Polish Churches (including one with a wedding party standing outside), two Ukrainian churches (including one with everyone leaving a Saturday mass that had ended), a street party for local children in their Halloween costumes, etc.
I thought there might be adults heading out to parties in Halloween costumes this evening. Last year, they were all over New York. And I figured the best bet for finding this would be Boystown, an area along Halsted St. Sure enough, there were a few people in costumes, but nothing like what I expected. My guess is that they were going out later or that the parties will all be on Monday night. Boystown is a nice part of town, anyway. It's to the east of Wrigley Field and, like most gay neighborhood, has lots of nice restaurants and trendy shops.
Unfortunately, one of my neighbors had a party last night. It was someone in back. There is a sidewalk that walks around the side of the building (past my bedroom) to another entrance to a back portion of the building. The people who attended got drunk and loud and moved the party into the outdoor walkway and courtyard. They kept waking me up throughout much of the night. It must have lasted until 3 or 4 a.m.!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Sun, Friends, and Universities
Thursday and Friday, Oct. 28 & 29, 2011--Chicago and Suburbs
The sun came out just before noon on Thursday. I stayed inside doing things until then. The sun makes such a big difference. Although the temperature was still in the low 50s, it felt comfortable. The lack of wind helped there, too.
I took the train to Evanston. I wandered looking for a place to eat. I couldn't find anything interesting that was local and family-owned, so I stopped at Five Guys Burgers which I have heard so many people rave about. They serve a burger with all items free. It comes with patties that look hand-pressed, but I have toured a meat packing plant in Corpus Christi where they had "free-form" metal outlines for making "hand-pressed" patties for Dairy Queen!! The burger was good, and it was a decent price for it--two patties, grilled onions, tomato, pickle, grilled mushrooms, lettuce, jalepenos, mayonnaise, and mustard--at $5.49. Where they get you is their drinks which are all priced at $2.09 and are smaller than a "medium" would be in Texas. Fries adds even more onto the price, but I didn't need the calories and, therefore, saved that additional money.
I went to the Mather Pavilion, a nursing home, first after eating to visit Jean Petty. I know her because of being a friend of the family. Her son Wes is one of my best friends. I am also a friend with her other son Andre and have met two of her daughters. I know Jean from visits to Texas and from a visit I made to their home in Chattanooga. She was sleeping when I arrived and was quite unsure of everything at first. I told her I was Randy from Texas and that Wes and I were good friends. I tried to remind her that we had met in Texas and in Tennessee. Because I mentioned Wes' name several times while telling her all of this, I think she may have trought I was Wes. I wrote him later telling him that he probably got a "freebie" with her thinking he had come to visit her. I took her a box of chocolates which she enjoyed. That was part of what helped perk her up. By the time I left 20 minutes later, her eyes were wide open and she seemed happy. Her caregiver had arrived and was facilitating the conversation.
From the nursing home I walked a few blocks to Northwestern University which I had never visited before. It is a beautiful lakeside campus. There are lots of limestone buildings, a few modern ones, and, unfortunately, a few concrete bunker style ones from the 1960s with designs that make me think of Communist architecture. It's a huge and impressive campus. There are many church buildings on campus.
After that, I explored more of Evanston. I kept thinking about the fact that there was little there that would be low-cost. That made me wonder how much of student loans is wasted on living the good life while being a student. Restaurants where it is common to spend $20 per person or more were filled with students. And there were lots of $4 drinks being consumed by students at Starbucks. I don't guess there are many American students anymore who cook their own meals, live 2-to-a-bedroom in apartments, etc., (other than Indians and other foreign students).
One nice thing I discovered in Evanston was a news stand. They hardly exist anymore. My favorite store in Commerce when I was growing up was the news stand. I loved to see the newspapers from various cities and the magazines covering all kinds of topics. Even today I remain a news junkie with about 10 websites for newspapers posted on my instant tab bar of my computer.
I was supposed to meet Andre, Jean's son, at 6:00 p.m., so I just slowly walked back toward Chicago exploring along the way down Chicago Avenue and Ashland St. It started sprinkling just a block before I got to the Heartland Cafe where we were to meet, and I was still an hour early. Rather than walk further or go inside and wait so long, I just got on the train and took a 30 minute ride, then got on a return train. As I walked up to the door of the restaurant, a man with an umbrella was standing there to close it before entering. It was Andre. Rather than go inside, we just got in his car and left.
We drove to Wilmette which is further north from Evanston. On the way, we passed by the Baha'i Temple, a well-known landmark of suburban northern Chicago which is a beautiful, large structure. Andre runs a community service for the elderly, and he is presently staying with one of his volunteers who has had foot surgery and needs assistance cleaning and re-bandaging the wound daily. Jim is elderly himself and used to be a professional photographer for TWA Airlines. He had lots of stories to tell about his photography and his life. And Andre and I who had not seen each other for about 5 years had lots of stories to tell in catching up on our friendship. The three of us had dinner there at the house. And because of the late hour and the distance back into town, I just stayed out there for the evening.
_______
Friday morning, Andre drove me back to my apartment before heading to his office. I cleaned up and went out for a day in Chicago. I headed downtown to the Fourth Presbyterian Church for an organ concert I had seen advertised on a poster outside the church as I was walking on Wednesday. I didn't realize at the time that this church is rather famous for its concerts and has been recognized in print and on TV for them. It was the church organist playing, and he had planned a concert of ghoulish music to go with the Halloween weekend. He started with the piece that was used as the theme song for The Phantom of the Opera. Of course, it sounded much better on the big church organ and inside the big church than it does on that YouTube link! It was an hour-long concert with an encore of The Addams Family theme song in which we were asked to do the finger snapping.
From there I headed to Millenium Park. It has opened since the last time I was in Chicago, and there have been rave reviews of it. I can see why. The park is a wonder to see. A small park, they have taken advantage of design plans such as amusement parks use to avoid wasting space. And the features they have all have a wow-factor that makes a visitor feel he has seen something special.
Next stop was the Union Station area to wander around. Immediately, I saw a restaurant with a sign showing a luncheon special of an Italian Beef Sandwich including cola and chips for $6.00. Since that is one of Chicago's specialties that I had been told to try, I had it. UMMM. It was a big bun first filled with lots of grated mozzarella cheese, then layered with steaming, thinly sliced beef, and finally topped with pickled jalepenos. It was great. The steaming beef melted the cheese and all the flavors mixed nicely.
I decided to spend the rest of the day exploring the University of Chicago and the area around it. It and Northwestern are the two great universities of this area. UC has an ivy-covered campus for the most part. There weren't many students around because it was late Friday afternoon, but I walked the campus enjoying the atmosphere.
From there, I wandered the neighborhood seeing the nice Hyde Park neighborhood houses. Built in the 1920s and 1930s, they are impressive homes. I was able to see the Obama home which can be viewed from the end of the block which is closed by the Secret Service. Two Frank Lloyd Wright homes were among the buildings I saw on and off the campus in that area.
It was 5:30 and starting to get dark by the time I caught the bus to return to town. I sat beside a young man who was maybe 16. He turned to me and asked, "Are you afraid?" That's because the university is in a section of town populated mostly by Blacks and the bus had only a couple of Chinese students and me with the rest being Black. My response was, "No, why?" He didn't reply. I just think he thought it unusual and funny for a white guy to be on a bus in that part of town at that time of day.
I was exhausted by then. I just returned home by train after getting off the bus downtown. My feet were sore and tired, and my body felt like it needed sleep. I spent time on the computer and went to bed around 9:00 and slept for 12 hours!!
The sun came out just before noon on Thursday. I stayed inside doing things until then. The sun makes such a big difference. Although the temperature was still in the low 50s, it felt comfortable. The lack of wind helped there, too.
I took the train to Evanston. I wandered looking for a place to eat. I couldn't find anything interesting that was local and family-owned, so I stopped at Five Guys Burgers which I have heard so many people rave about. They serve a burger with all items free. It comes with patties that look hand-pressed, but I have toured a meat packing plant in Corpus Christi where they had "free-form" metal outlines for making "hand-pressed" patties for Dairy Queen!! The burger was good, and it was a decent price for it--two patties, grilled onions, tomato, pickle, grilled mushrooms, lettuce, jalepenos, mayonnaise, and mustard--at $5.49. Where they get you is their drinks which are all priced at $2.09 and are smaller than a "medium" would be in Texas. Fries adds even more onto the price, but I didn't need the calories and, therefore, saved that additional money.
I went to the Mather Pavilion, a nursing home, first after eating to visit Jean Petty. I know her because of being a friend of the family. Her son Wes is one of my best friends. I am also a friend with her other son Andre and have met two of her daughters. I know Jean from visits to Texas and from a visit I made to their home in Chattanooga. She was sleeping when I arrived and was quite unsure of everything at first. I told her I was Randy from Texas and that Wes and I were good friends. I tried to remind her that we had met in Texas and in Tennessee. Because I mentioned Wes' name several times while telling her all of this, I think she may have trought I was Wes. I wrote him later telling him that he probably got a "freebie" with her thinking he had come to visit her. I took her a box of chocolates which she enjoyed. That was part of what helped perk her up. By the time I left 20 minutes later, her eyes were wide open and she seemed happy. Her caregiver had arrived and was facilitating the conversation.
From the nursing home I walked a few blocks to Northwestern University which I had never visited before. It is a beautiful lakeside campus. There are lots of limestone buildings, a few modern ones, and, unfortunately, a few concrete bunker style ones from the 1960s with designs that make me think of Communist architecture. It's a huge and impressive campus. There are many church buildings on campus.
After that, I explored more of Evanston. I kept thinking about the fact that there was little there that would be low-cost. That made me wonder how much of student loans is wasted on living the good life while being a student. Restaurants where it is common to spend $20 per person or more were filled with students. And there were lots of $4 drinks being consumed by students at Starbucks. I don't guess there are many American students anymore who cook their own meals, live 2-to-a-bedroom in apartments, etc., (other than Indians and other foreign students).
One nice thing I discovered in Evanston was a news stand. They hardly exist anymore. My favorite store in Commerce when I was growing up was the news stand. I loved to see the newspapers from various cities and the magazines covering all kinds of topics. Even today I remain a news junkie with about 10 websites for newspapers posted on my instant tab bar of my computer.
I was supposed to meet Andre, Jean's son, at 6:00 p.m., so I just slowly walked back toward Chicago exploring along the way down Chicago Avenue and Ashland St. It started sprinkling just a block before I got to the Heartland Cafe where we were to meet, and I was still an hour early. Rather than walk further or go inside and wait so long, I just got on the train and took a 30 minute ride, then got on a return train. As I walked up to the door of the restaurant, a man with an umbrella was standing there to close it before entering. It was Andre. Rather than go inside, we just got in his car and left.
We drove to Wilmette which is further north from Evanston. On the way, we passed by the Baha'i Temple, a well-known landmark of suburban northern Chicago which is a beautiful, large structure. Andre runs a community service for the elderly, and he is presently staying with one of his volunteers who has had foot surgery and needs assistance cleaning and re-bandaging the wound daily. Jim is elderly himself and used to be a professional photographer for TWA Airlines. He had lots of stories to tell about his photography and his life. And Andre and I who had not seen each other for about 5 years had lots of stories to tell in catching up on our friendship. The three of us had dinner there at the house. And because of the late hour and the distance back into town, I just stayed out there for the evening.
_______
Friday morning, Andre drove me back to my apartment before heading to his office. I cleaned up and went out for a day in Chicago. I headed downtown to the Fourth Presbyterian Church for an organ concert I had seen advertised on a poster outside the church as I was walking on Wednesday. I didn't realize at the time that this church is rather famous for its concerts and has been recognized in print and on TV for them. It was the church organist playing, and he had planned a concert of ghoulish music to go with the Halloween weekend. He started with the piece that was used as the theme song for The Phantom of the Opera. Of course, it sounded much better on the big church organ and inside the big church than it does on that YouTube link! It was an hour-long concert with an encore of The Addams Family theme song in which we were asked to do the finger snapping.
From there I headed to Millenium Park. It has opened since the last time I was in Chicago, and there have been rave reviews of it. I can see why. The park is a wonder to see. A small park, they have taken advantage of design plans such as amusement parks use to avoid wasting space. And the features they have all have a wow-factor that makes a visitor feel he has seen something special.
Next stop was the Union Station area to wander around. Immediately, I saw a restaurant with a sign showing a luncheon special of an Italian Beef Sandwich including cola and chips for $6.00. Since that is one of Chicago's specialties that I had been told to try, I had it. UMMM. It was a big bun first filled with lots of grated mozzarella cheese, then layered with steaming, thinly sliced beef, and finally topped with pickled jalepenos. It was great. The steaming beef melted the cheese and all the flavors mixed nicely.
I decided to spend the rest of the day exploring the University of Chicago and the area around it. It and Northwestern are the two great universities of this area. UC has an ivy-covered campus for the most part. There weren't many students around because it was late Friday afternoon, but I walked the campus enjoying the atmosphere.
From there, I wandered the neighborhood seeing the nice Hyde Park neighborhood houses. Built in the 1920s and 1930s, they are impressive homes. I was able to see the Obama home which can be viewed from the end of the block which is closed by the Secret Service. Two Frank Lloyd Wright homes were among the buildings I saw on and off the campus in that area.
It was 5:30 and starting to get dark by the time I caught the bus to return to town. I sat beside a young man who was maybe 16. He turned to me and asked, "Are you afraid?" That's because the university is in a section of town populated mostly by Blacks and the bus had only a couple of Chinese students and me with the rest being Black. My response was, "No, why?" He didn't reply. I just think he thought it unusual and funny for a white guy to be on a bus in that part of town at that time of day.
I was exhausted by then. I just returned home by train after getting off the bus downtown. My feet were sore and tired, and my body felt like it needed sleep. I spent time on the computer and went to bed around 9:00 and slept for 12 hours!!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
COLD Chicago!
Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011--San Antonio to Chicago
The trip went fine today. The guy sitting next to me was of the giant economy size, but we managed okay. The flight actually arrived about 20 minutes early. I managed to get my luggage, buy my train/bus pass, take the train and bus, and arrive here at the apartment before the owner! Fortunately, I didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes for her, but that is one of the problems with using airbnb.com. Last year in New York, the woman who was to let me inside the apartment arrived about 40 minutes late.
One interesting thing about O'Hare Airport is that they have Go Shuttle, the same company that the airport in San Antonio has. I knew that the old Airport Express company was behind on their payments to SAT. I just figured they declared bankruptcy and changed their name. I may be right about the bankruptcy and the change of names, because the sign here in Chicago says, "Go Airport Express." Using both the old name used in San Antonio and the new one. Maybe it was a national company all along like Super Shuttle. Anyway, I'm glad to know it isn't just a small-time local contractor in San Antonio.
The apartment is much bigger than I expected. It's actually two floors. The kitchen, living room, dining room and a half-bath are upstairs. Downstairs is the bedroom, another half bath, and a huge bathroom with tub. It looks just like it does at the website: http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/220566
The bad news is the weather. It is cold and windy here. It feels especially bad when near the water. Since my apartment is only half a block off Marine Dr. (Lake Michigan), the weather feels severe in this neighborhood. The temperature was 51 when we landed. Every sign I saw for the rest of the day showed that temperature or lower. It's going to stay about the same through the time I am here. There will be some sunshine some days, but there is a chance of showers 3 of the days.
Due to the weather, I am re-thinking my plans. I had thought I would take the architecture boat tour which I have never done here and everyone says is so great. But I don't want to do it in weather like this. I need to search for indoor activities. I'm going to check what is showing at the cinemas, what plays are in town, what exhibits are at the museums, etc. It's going to have to be an indoor vacation.
Today, I explored the neighborhood. The block I am in and the ones nearby are really quite nice. In fact, the street just next to this one is in the National Historic Register. But go westward a couple of blocks or southward, and the neighborhood is decaying. Westward, however, it is being revived by an influx of Asians, mostly Vietnamese.
I searched for a place to have a Vietnamese sandwich for a late lunch. Most of the restaurants looked like full-service places rather than sandwich places, and they had no customers at that time of the day. I ended up buying a sandwich at a Subway two blocks away and bringing it back to the apartment.
After eating, I took the train to the northern part of downtown and walked around. I mainly explored the northern part of Michigan Avenue which is known for its fancy shops and department stores. Then I walked along Rush Street which feels quaint and has lots of restaurants and bars. Finally, I was so tired from getting up early, that I returned to the apartment for the evening.
The trip went fine today. The guy sitting next to me was of the giant economy size, but we managed okay. The flight actually arrived about 20 minutes early. I managed to get my luggage, buy my train/bus pass, take the train and bus, and arrive here at the apartment before the owner! Fortunately, I didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes for her, but that is one of the problems with using airbnb.com. Last year in New York, the woman who was to let me inside the apartment arrived about 40 minutes late.
One interesting thing about O'Hare Airport is that they have Go Shuttle, the same company that the airport in San Antonio has. I knew that the old Airport Express company was behind on their payments to SAT. I just figured they declared bankruptcy and changed their name. I may be right about the bankruptcy and the change of names, because the sign here in Chicago says, "Go Airport Express." Using both the old name used in San Antonio and the new one. Maybe it was a national company all along like Super Shuttle. Anyway, I'm glad to know it isn't just a small-time local contractor in San Antonio.
The apartment is much bigger than I expected. It's actually two floors. The kitchen, living room, dining room and a half-bath are upstairs. Downstairs is the bedroom, another half bath, and a huge bathroom with tub. It looks just like it does at the website: http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/220566
The bad news is the weather. It is cold and windy here. It feels especially bad when near the water. Since my apartment is only half a block off Marine Dr. (Lake Michigan), the weather feels severe in this neighborhood. The temperature was 51 when we landed. Every sign I saw for the rest of the day showed that temperature or lower. It's going to stay about the same through the time I am here. There will be some sunshine some days, but there is a chance of showers 3 of the days.
Due to the weather, I am re-thinking my plans. I had thought I would take the architecture boat tour which I have never done here and everyone says is so great. But I don't want to do it in weather like this. I need to search for indoor activities. I'm going to check what is showing at the cinemas, what plays are in town, what exhibits are at the museums, etc. It's going to have to be an indoor vacation.
Today, I explored the neighborhood. The block I am in and the ones nearby are really quite nice. In fact, the street just next to this one is in the National Historic Register. But go westward a couple of blocks or southward, and the neighborhood is decaying. Westward, however, it is being revived by an influx of Asians, mostly Vietnamese.
I searched for a place to have a Vietnamese sandwich for a late lunch. Most of the restaurants looked like full-service places rather than sandwich places, and they had no customers at that time of the day. I ended up buying a sandwich at a Subway two blocks away and bringing it back to the apartment.
After eating, I took the train to the northern part of downtown and walked around. I mainly explored the northern part of Michigan Avenue which is known for its fancy shops and department stores. Then I walked along Rush Street which feels quaint and has lots of restaurants and bars. Finally, I was so tired from getting up early, that I returned to the apartment for the evening.
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