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Day #2: Chicago

Aug 12th, 2012 by

We awoke to a beautiful morning on Saturday. While I was awake well before sunrise, Libby slept in until 7:30 (which, I suppose, is sleeping in by our family standards). After getting dressed, we headed out to get coffee and to explore the city.

We walked along the river to Michigan Ave. and visited the University of Chicago’s bookstore. We then window shopped our way up the Magnificent Mile taking in sights along the way. Although it’s theoretically an impressive shopping thoroughfare, Dubai has really spoiled us — nothing else (that we’ve seen anyway) compares.

At 10:30, we headed to grab brunch at Frontera. Yeah, yeah… I know. We just ate there the night before. But, we already had reservations, and brunch is different than dinner. Indeed, by having dinner the night before, we were now free to try actual brunch/breakfast food. That’s my story anyway…

Frontera did not disappoint. I had a chocolate cappuccino, and Libby drank fresh squeezed orange juice. We started with a melon and mint guacamole, which was refreshing and excellent. My meal consisted of Iroquois corn hotcakes, chili glazed bacon, and scrambled eggs. Libby ate a chorizo and jack cheese queso fundido with fresh corn tortillas. All was excellent!

After brunch, we headed over to Millennium Park and on to the Art Institute of Chicago. In addition to the permanent collection, the Institute was holding a major retrospective of Lichtenstein’s iconic Pop art work:

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Excellent show!

I also greatly enjoyed seeing Ellsworth Kelly’s Chicago Panels and other works on display.

The permanent collection of this encyclopedic museum is very impressive. Highlights included a number of famous (and less well known) works, such as Grant Wood’s American Gothic. In all, we spent about four hours at the museum.

After looking at art, we grabbed some coffee at Intelligentsia (the Chicago equivalent to London’s Monmouth Coffee Co.). Fantabulous… :-)

Next, we spent some time exploring State Street.

For dinner, we’d intended to visit the Purple Pig for tapas — too long of a wait. So, we went to Emelio’s for tapas instead. This seemed like a popular choice with a mostly local crowd. The food was very good, especially Emelio’s famous potato salad (garlicky goodness from the aioli… total yum!).

After dinner, we walked around town a bit, and I went out to take some night photographs of the Windy City. I think they turned out well. I’ll have to post them soon.

Tomorrow morning, we fly home to Tampa.

All in all, we’ve had an excellent time during our mini-break in Chicago!

Posted in Illinois | 1 Comment »

Day #1: Chicago

Aug 11th, 2012 by

To celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary, we decided to head to Chicago for a couple of days. So, we woke up this morning and boarded our 6:30 flight to the Windy City via Atlanta. After landing in Chicago, we headed to Hertz to pick up a rental car. Today’s mission: drive to the states of Wisconsin and Indiana (both nearby) in order to check them off the list too!

Crazy, I know. But, we need to make progress in visiting states!

We started with Indiana, the state line being just south and east of Chicago, where we visited a recreation area on the shores of Lake Michigan. We then drove back through the city and continued north to Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, which indeed seemed both pleasant and prairie-like. It’s also home to an outlet mall.

We returned to the airport, dropped off the car, and were in downtown Chicago by 4:00. We’re staying at the Renaissance Downtown Chicago and have a fantastic room overlooking the river:

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As we were hungry and somewhat tired, we opted for an early dinner. Lucky for us, Frontera Grill was nearby and just getting ready to open! So, we headed over there, stood briefly in line, and managed to quickly get a table. We started with the guacamole (very good, but no more so then mine), then soups (tortilla for me; poblano gazpacho for Libby), and two different sampler trios:

Street Food — potosinas (fresh cheese, avocado, crema, Tamazula), sweet potato garnachas (pork chilorio, grilled orange, red beans), sopes (shredded beef, roasted tomato, green chile)

Old School Frontera Trio — smoked chicken taquitos (sour cream, guacamole), Mexico City-style corn masa quesadillas (artisan cheese, epazote), ceviche fronterizo tostadas

Libby loved the garnachas (sweet and savory) and sopes (earthy and beefy). My favorites were the Frontera ceviche (bright and citrusy) and potosinas (spicy and smoky). Here’s what it all looked like:

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For desert, I had a corn and blueberry torta with sour cream ice cream, and Libby enjoyed a mint chocolate tres leche cake with berry sorbet. Both were amazing–Libby declaring it perhaps her favorite desert ever!

I should mention that I washed all of this down with a local Goose Island draft beer brewed especially for Frontera, called Marisol (a Beligian style wheat ale brewed with citrus & green coriander). Libby had the excellent, homemade limeade.

We walked around a bit after dinner and then returned to our hotel looking forward to tomorrow’s further adventures.

Today’s box score: +3 states (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin)

Posted in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin | No Comments »

Summer 2012: Final Thoughts

Jul 7th, 2012 by

All in all, this was a very successful trip. While the pace was a bit hurried (I think we could have easily used an extra day in every hotel location, save St.Gallen), we did very well in terms of improving our country count, managed to visit mostly new places, and never felt as though we were engaged in relentless marathon drives. Given more time, I would have loved to have returned to Prague and Munich too. Moreover, despite the fact that we’ve taken a number of vacations approaching this duration (such as last summer’s), the itinerary/driving really made this one feel like we were gone for an extended period of time. We did, in fact, “get away”…

I do think cruising with small children is an easier form of travel. The logistics are just more straightforward: your accommodations and consistently toddler-friendly dining travel with you. On balance, this is both good and bad. On the one hand, it saves time and effort spent on ‘everyday life’ activities. On the other hand, caring for a toddler forces you to live more like the locals (in terms of engaging in kid-friendly activities and the chores of daily life). That said, I wouldn’t hesitate to drive again.

The trip had far more highlights than lowlights. Indeed, I think every place we went is now firmly affixed to the “return” list, especially Bavaria and Poland. And, while we were lukewarm on Berlin initially, it has a lot of cultural venues that are worth exploring. Thus, while it’s not the prettiest city, it’s certainly worthy of another in-depth visit. Realistically, it will likely take us another 3 years or so to finish the 157×50 (err 39? 40?) goal. So, if we’re not back in Central Europe before then, I suspect we will most assuredly return soon thereafter.

Finally, this trip reminded me just how much we like experiencing new places. I think that’s been one of the great advantages of the 157×50 project’s goals. By definition, you’re forced to expand your horizons and travel more widely. Fortunately (or unfortunately), once you’re on that path the thrill of exploring becomes addictive and you find yourself thinking: “why not drive from Budapest to Turkey?” or “maybe we should island hop through Indonesia?” Of course, we’re not hostel-dwelling, backpacking vagabonds. We’re far more (and unapologetically) bourgeois by this point in our lives both by choice (why inconvenience yourself when you needn’t have to?) and necessity (traveling with a toddler, while I’m sure it’s technically possible w/ backpacks and in hostels, I think you’d have to be stark raving mad to do it). But, I digress…

Final score: +6 countries and +1 state for us; +13 countries and +1 state for Emerson!

Up next: the Caribbean over Thanksgiving.

Posted in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, England, Europe, France, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Wales | 3 Comments »

Day #19: London, England – To Home

Jul 7th, 2012 by

This morning we awoke early, got ready, checked out of the hotel, and preceded to Delta’s terminal at Heathrow. SkyTeam has a really nice setup there… it makes travel a breeze (especially for those with status and/or lounge access). We went to the dedicated check-in area (no queues), buzzed through security, picked up some supplies for the flight, and then had breakfast in the SkyClub. We then headed down to our gate (a bit of a hike—as is the custom at Heathrow) and boarded the plane almost immediately upon arrival.

As usual, the Economy Comfort seats were pleasant… with Libby and Mom sitting in front of Emerson and me. Delta’s ‘kid’s meal’ was !$#&@% crazy: why even offer it if you’re going to give the kid an omelet that tastes like !$#&@% and is covered in !$#&@% mushrooms? But, I digress. Emerson was a good little travel partner (again), watching videos and taking a nap. We’re debating going to Asia and/or Australia next year with her. I’m still not sure of those ultra-long haul flights for her, but it’s clear that Europe isn’t a problem.

We arrived in Detroit, went through customs, grabbed a bite to eat, boarded our onward flight, and arrived in Tampa 20 minutes early.

Posted in Delta Airlines, England, London, United Kingdom | No Comments »

Day #18: Berlin, Germany — To London

Jul 4th, 2012 by

Quick update: I’m writing this at London Heathrow on Day #19. After spending the morning yesterday in a drizzly Berlin (looking at art and having lunch), we flew to London Heathrow. We’re all set for our onward flight home — just didn’t have a chance to write more yesterday. Will provide full updates on Day #18 & 19 later.

We awoke to a drizzly Berlin morning. As our flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until around 6pm, we’d planned on exploring the city more. However, the weather necessitated that we try to do things indoors (which can be a bit suboptimal with the little one). To ease things more, we opted to check-out of the hotel and take the rental car with us, thereby enabling us (in theory) to park at our destination to avoid getting soaked.

We settled on the Kulturforum as a destination due to its variety of offerings. In particular, we wanted to get at least a taste of the Gemaldegalerie, arguably Germany’s finest collection of Old Masters. Once again, Emerson did pretty well in a museum spending an hour or more looking at paintings with us. Highlights included works by Botticelli, Caravaggio, Canaletto (awesome ‘souvenirs’ of the Grand Tour), Rembrandt (though I prefer Hals, who’s work I didn’t see), and Vermeer. Libby also liked Gainsborough’s and Reynolds’s, though neither generally do much for me.
After the museum, we ate lunch at the Sony Center (this time having a much better meal at a place called Josty). Following lunch, we returned to the car, drove out of the city center, stopped for gas, and then returned to the car to Hertz at the airport. Mission accomplished! I managed to drive successfully for 2931km (a little over 1800 miles) through eleven (11!) European countries.

We flew out of Tegel airport (for the first and likely last time, as it’s scheduled to close once the new Berlin Brandenburg opens in a few months). The Lufthansa airport lounge was very nice… they served (among other things) wurst, potato salad, and fresh pretzels!

We departed on time and arrived in London a little early. The flight was uneventful, aside from Libby forgetting her Kindle on the airplane. Trying to retrieve it quickly (if at all) seemed highly problematic. So, I just provided my contact details to Lufthansa/BMI, deregistered it from the hotel, and will call about it from home. If it’s found and they can ship it: great! If not, she can have my Kindle Touch for the time being (which I bought on a bit of a lark anyway for only $79) while we wait for the next generation of tablets and e-readers to come out.

We stayed at the Radisson Edwardian Heathrow, a short ride from the terminals via taxi. The hotel is sort of decorated in the “faux fancy” style… it’s not really great, but it’s fine for its purpose. We ate “Scottish food” for dinner (McDonald’s—right next door) to save time and money (which is always popular with our McNugget anyway), and we then quickly went to bed since our flight was fairly early in the morning.

Posted in Airplane, England, Germany, London, Rental Car, United Kingdom | No Comments »

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