Chicago, Not the Musical

Madame,

I enjoyed greatly your finely spun recounting! :)  And the reflection process as well! 

The travel diary continues:

7/25

Today we changed hotels, so after breakfast we drove to Evanston IL, just north of Chicago, and checked into the European style bed and breakfast there.  Both the boys and girls were tickled at the place, from its door that you open to get to the  sliding cage elevator, to its large drawing room, to its quaint library, to its patio, and the very spacious suite-like rooms. 

Once there, we walked to the subway station and caught a train to Chinatown.  I’d scouted out electronically a popular authentic restaurant, MinHin, that served things Cantonese style, that appeared to augment its basic fare with a few other suitable Asian foods, and was reasonable.  It didn’t disappoint.  While crowded, it was a huge place, and they found us a large round table.  Potted green tea came complimentary, as much as you wanted, which was a big hit with me.  We ordered fifteen dishes, all served in shallow bamboo mini-baskets.  Home made fish balls, dumplings, stuffed lotus leaf with sticky rice, pan fried water chestnut cake (very gelatin like), Malay sponge cake, sweet custard rolls, crab meat and seaweed rolls, pan fried green chive cake, vegetable crepes, lotus seed paste buns, fish paste congee (a type of soup), puffy egg custard tart, mango pudding, and coconut pudding (both in jello type configurations), were some of the more notable dishes. 

My daughter, who is taking Mandarin in high school, loved walking around and going into the stores at Chinatown.  Cash only at a lot of places! Some liked to demonstrate that the fish were fresh:

I did not find the bakeries we sampled very remarkable, but once you’ve been spoiled by German bakeries, perhaps the comparison is unfair!  Two guys got into a picture I was taking of the Chinatown entryway:

The girls were keen to go shopping at the famous areas we’d heard about, so we went to State Street and began the process.  I went into the 9 story Macy’s building (former Marshall Field building, I believe) and took a picture where I was told a lot of movies have filmed parts.  

Of all the famous stores along that area, the girls seemed to like the three story Target store (also located in a historical structure) and The Body Shop the best.  The boys and I had tea and soup outside at some plush hotel and watched the crowds go by.  With the high concentration of single women, the boys had no shortage of eye candy.  The chronicler is silent on whether the older gentleman with them enjoyed things as well. :)

From there, we headed up to the Magnificent Mile of more shops (including the Apple Store and Microsoft stores, both popular with the boys), and the Water Tower Mall, a busy place, with some good architecture along the way:

The boys discussed the merits of living in a big metropolis, with my son espousing all the benefits, from not having a car (he dislikes driving), to all the cultural offerings and excitement, plus all the people.  His friend was a little more torn: he wanted all the culturalities and excitement of the big city, but also liked the feel of a medium-sized town.  They did not resolve the dilemma. :)

After a bite at the gourmet food court at the mall, we then went to Oak Beach, where the girls put their feet in Lake Michigan.  They were a little saddened, however, by how much trash and pollution there was. 

It was well dark by the time the L subway train took us back to Evanston.  Made for a great picture of the bed and breakfast with its hanging flags signifying all its international visitors:

I went to the front desk to get the key to the second room which hadn’t quite been ready that morning.  While I was waiting in line, there was a guy several inches taller than me waiting to see if he and his family could get a room.  It is rare that I run into someone with bigger feet than me, so our feet took a picture together:

My son’s friend was exhausted and went to sleep.  My son and I watched a James Bond documentary which was quite interesting.  Had a lot on Ian Fleming, the actors, the directors, the producers, etc.  One of those things that is so interesting that you stay up watching it when you know you shouldn’t because you have an early day the next day.  A particularly bad habit of mine, squeezing the marrow out of life just a little too often.  We’ll see if I can avoid getting sleepy during the day tomorrow… :)