Chicago and Chinatown
I haven't posted because I had to recover from the stress of traveling and then the stress of getting back to work and THEN prep to have one guest over (with his dogs) and another surprise guest this week. It's been INSANE.
So I've been kind of busy lately.
Chi-town
Chicago was amazing and I would totally go back there for another vacation. We stayed in some beautiful places at very reduced rates thanks to Priceline. Like the Hyatt Regency in the middle of downtown Chicago right off the magnificent mile, for $60 a night WITH a free bump up to have an amazing free breaky in the morning, and a suite at the Fairmont for $180 a night that we split with friends. (The week before our trip, the lowest successful bid on the same kind of room, if not slightly not as good, was $295. Insane!)
We loved the Art Institute and might have spent juuuust a little too much time there because we only had about an hour and a half at the Museum of Science and Industry (former site of the 1893 Columbian Exposition Fine Art Pavilion, one of the only buildings that didn't burn to the ground in 1895, 1938, or 1940-something). We walked the shopping district; took the L a couple of times; had awesome (AWESOME) dining experiences; spent a nice couple of days in Champaign-Urbana and got a private tour of the Krannert Theater, one of the most acoustically perfect spaces in the world; had fun running around Millennium/Grant park, and had an all-round fun and exciting time. But Ohhhhh the pain. My feet are STILL trying to recover from all the walking and blisters and continuing metatarsal something-itis. But it was worth it.
TRAVEL
Getting back home wasn't so great though. It was our third trip in a row that caused us great stress and involved massive delays. First Hawaii when we got delayed 3.5 hours and then missed our connecting flight by less than 5 minutes; then Florida to Detroit to White Plains, which ended up being Florida to Detroit for 9.5 hours, and then to Bradley/Hartford; and now Chicago with a delay from 5am to 1pm, arriving home at 4pm. Not a good time had by either of us, and we were lucky ones on our flight. We also got two $250 vouchers for future travel, but we have to use it within the year. So where should we go?
THIS WEEKEND
A friend stayed over after calling Thursday night to say he wanted to come over. It was okay though because he's actually a really good house guest, unlike certain other people who have stayed over recently. We had a great meal with friends on Friday night, had more friends (and family) over for lunch on Saturday (and it was delicious!) and even got to hang out in the park and play backgammon and frisbee and shoot the sh!t with the kids.
Yesterday we went into NYC for the Egg Rolls and Egg Creams street festival on the Lower East Side. There were all kinds of goings-on like challah braiding, face painting, music, mah jongg, tours of the Eldrige St. Synagogue, crafts for sale, etc. It was an amazingly beautiful day and we were hanging out with friends we haven't seen in a long while, so it was really nice. After a quick conversation with the SIL, we set off on a LES shopping spree. We went to Guss' pickles (sourkraut and a quart of mixed new and 1/2 sours), the Pickle Guys (Greek olives and pepperoncini), an amazing candy store (a $7 ancho chile and jalapeño dark chocolate bar from Vosges), Kossar's Bialys, and a 99cent store where we acquired 4 noodle soup bowls, reusable chop sticks, and a cute little dish towel with anime bunnies.
After we were shopped out we went to dinner at Buddha Bodai, an amazing vegan kosher Chinese restaurant way down at the southern-most end of Mott Street, and got a parking space right in front of the restaurant. We got 2 HUGE bowls of BBQ "beef" noodle soup with collards that were shared between couples, Pad Thai, sweet and sour riblets, steamed dumplings and fried taro duck, all for a grand total (before tip) of $52. It really doesn't get much better than that.
So that's my fantabulous weekend. Now I'm back at work and writing this made me remember that the fancy chocolate is still in my purse. Heehehee.
So I've been kind of busy lately.
Chi-town
Chicago was amazing and I would totally go back there for another vacation. We stayed in some beautiful places at very reduced rates thanks to Priceline. Like the Hyatt Regency in the middle of downtown Chicago right off the magnificent mile, for $60 a night WITH a free bump up to have an amazing free breaky in the morning, and a suite at the Fairmont for $180 a night that we split with friends. (The week before our trip, the lowest successful bid on the same kind of room, if not slightly not as good, was $295. Insane!)
We loved the Art Institute and might have spent juuuust a little too much time there because we only had about an hour and a half at the Museum of Science and Industry (former site of the 1893 Columbian Exposition Fine Art Pavilion, one of the only buildings that didn't burn to the ground in 1895, 1938, or 1940-something). We walked the shopping district; took the L a couple of times; had awesome (AWESOME) dining experiences; spent a nice couple of days in Champaign-Urbana and got a private tour of the Krannert Theater, one of the most acoustically perfect spaces in the world; had fun running around Millennium/Grant park, and had an all-round fun and exciting time. But Ohhhhh the pain. My feet are STILL trying to recover from all the walking and blisters and continuing metatarsal something-itis. But it was worth it.
TRAVEL
Getting back home wasn't so great though. It was our third trip in a row that caused us great stress and involved massive delays. First Hawaii when we got delayed 3.5 hours and then missed our connecting flight by less than 5 minutes; then Florida to Detroit to White Plains, which ended up being Florida to Detroit for 9.5 hours, and then to Bradley/Hartford; and now Chicago with a delay from 5am to 1pm, arriving home at 4pm. Not a good time had by either of us, and we were lucky ones on our flight. We also got two $250 vouchers for future travel, but we have to use it within the year. So where should we go?
THIS WEEKEND
A friend stayed over after calling Thursday night to say he wanted to come over. It was okay though because he's actually a really good house guest, unlike certain other people who have stayed over recently. We had a great meal with friends on Friday night, had more friends (and family) over for lunch on Saturday (and it was delicious!) and even got to hang out in the park and play backgammon and frisbee and shoot the sh!t with the kids.
Yesterday we went into NYC for the Egg Rolls and Egg Creams street festival on the Lower East Side. There were all kinds of goings-on like challah braiding, face painting, music, mah jongg, tours of the Eldrige St. Synagogue, crafts for sale, etc. It was an amazingly beautiful day and we were hanging out with friends we haven't seen in a long while, so it was really nice. After a quick conversation with the SIL, we set off on a LES shopping spree. We went to Guss' pickles (sourkraut and a quart of mixed new and 1/2 sours), the Pickle Guys (Greek olives and pepperoncini), an amazing candy store (a $7 ancho chile and jalapeño dark chocolate bar from Vosges), Kossar's Bialys, and a 99cent store where we acquired 4 noodle soup bowls, reusable chop sticks, and a cute little dish towel with anime bunnies.
After we were shopped out we went to dinner at Buddha Bodai, an amazing vegan kosher Chinese restaurant way down at the southern-most end of Mott Street, and got a parking space right in front of the restaurant. We got 2 HUGE bowls of BBQ "beef" noodle soup with collards that were shared between couples, Pad Thai, sweet and sour riblets, steamed dumplings and fried taro duck, all for a grand total (before tip) of $52. It really doesn't get much better than that.
So that's my fantabulous weekend. Now I'm back at work and writing this made me remember that the fancy chocolate is still in my purse. Heehehee.