2019 Road Trip, Part 2 - The Second City
Jul. 19th, 2019 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jamesqWe arrived late in Chicago and after some minor difficulties managed to check in to our Bed and Breakfast. The B&B was run by a Benedictine monastery, which was odd. I'm not really down with supporting the Roman Catholic church, but I didn't book our rooms. That said, it was a very nice space.
Father Flanagan (I'm making that name up, just FYI) gave us a brief tour. He kinda shocked our expectations because we thought we were going to get Richard Attenborough, but we actually got a fairly young man - apparently there are Millennial priests! Flanagan was dressed in neat monk's robes, had a slight frame, gentle features, impeccable grooming, was soft spoken, and was so very deep in the closet.
Anyway, we weren't staying in the monastery, per se, we were in the main floor of a neighbouring house that the monastery owned. It was nice and I had a tiny room all to myself. That was our home for the next four nights.
Over the next few days, I explored Bridgeport. It's near where the White Sox play and is solidly working class. On my last morning there, I went for a run as part of my #DicksAcrossAmerica project.
Day one, we decided to go take an architectural tour of the Chicago river. Apparently it's the second best rated tour in the world (#1 is the Vatican). We took the L downtown and then I managed to steer us wrong by failing to take into account three dimensions. Did you know that there is an Upper and Lower Wacker drive? The latter is completely under the former, and is a charming area inundated with trolls and homeless people. That was also when I found out a friend was claustrophobic, and they learned that I have a completely different travelling philosophy from them. Not my finest moment. Anyway, I'm sure the only permanent damage the 11-year old suffered was psychological. And we did make our tour in the nick of time.
The tour started at the same time as the rain. Since it was over 30C outside, it was surprisingly not bad. The tour included some of the old:
And some of the new:
The above building is an example of contextualism in architecture. Namely the side of the building is a map of the Chicago River and the local streets, with the building itself highlighted on the map!
Another example of contextualism, the above building has the grooves level with the tiers of the adjacent buildings, acknowledging its neighbours. I though it was pretty cool.
Gotta have a picture of the Sears/Willis tower.
During the tour, our guide told some history, including the Great Chicago Fire. This included the myths and the facts. Afterwards, he pointed out the Chicago is called the Second City. This (he claimed) is because the city we were seeing was the second one to sit on this sight - the first one having burnt down. He added that if we'd heard that it was actually a New York thing disparaging Chicago (i.e. Chicago is second to NYC) to discount that. And you know what, I think I'd have bought his story if he hadn't added that last part. Adding it made the former part seem like an after-the-fact justification/retcon. In discussion with assorted Illinois natives of my acquaintance (Mel and Allison), they completely discounted the tour guide's story as bullshit.
I have no idea who the guy above was, but I'm assured that he's "mighty-mighty". Also, they could only show him from the waist up since he had a habit of "letting it all hang out".
After the tour, we made our way to Millennium park because Wendy wanted to see The Bean. That's not it's actual name, but I've heard the artist is a dick, so screw him. It is a great piece of public art though.
We also hung out at the Crown Fountain for awhile to cool off the 11-year old. Had I wanted to get damper, I'd have joined her.
I fucked up a second time by ordering a Lyft to take us all back home. Normally I have good experiences with Lyft, but this time we got a fairly stern driver and the car was at max capacity with the driver and four passengers. I thought this would be good because everyone was clearly done, and we still had an hour of transit and walking to get back to our B&B. This would have alleviated all that!
Our driver was OK as a driver, but was fairly tightlipped. That said, so were we, so there was probably a negative feedback loop going on. Anyway, some dumb-ass almost cut us off and that broke the transit it in the vehicle enough for everyone to start talking again. Except that when he found out he was dropping us off in Bridgeport, he told us it was unsafe to walk around in. At night? No - any time. This did not jibe with our own experience and we figured he was giving a bunch of clearly from out-of-town tourists what he felt was good advice for "the South Side". Or possibly it really was a bad neighbourhood for a black guy like him. Mel told me some hair raising stories about the level of racist violence in the city when she was growing up. That said, Mel grew up in Bridgeport and told us it wasn't unsafe when she lived there as a kid, and it's much better now. In terms of Calgary, I'd say it was equivalent to Dover or the nicer parts of Bowness. For Vancouver, think Mount Pleasant.
Now the problem with travelling with friends who have kids is that they don't have as much disposable income as I do, and they generally keep earlier hours. So after my twin travelling fuck ups, I decided to go take care of my own supper. I opted for Band of Bohemia which is the only Michelin star brewery in America. It came highly recommended (Bruce and Allison basically told me that this was the one must-see food/drink venue), and I'm glad for that. I had a five course tasting dinner with a free beer pairing (best beer: Bruja). Their beer was all delicious, as was the food. It was also clear on the other side of Chicago, so getting there and back was a minor adventure.
Second day there we all drove out of town to go to the Premium Outlet Mall. I was later teased that this was a very Canadian thing to do. I don't care, I got some great clothing at a discount - score!
Repeating yesterday's philosophy, I took a walk, defying the advice of that first Lyft driver, to a pair of local breweries - ALULU and Lo Rez.
ALULU had a very nice Civic Tavern vibe to it, and a great selection of beers. The staff and the locals were all friendly. The only problem was I was the oldest person in the building. How I wasted my youth! Best beer from Alulu was the Rolo Deep, but they also had guest taps and I loved Moody Tongue's barrel aged lemon saison. Yum!
Next was Lo Rez. Unfortunately, I miscalculated and got there about a half hour before it closed. My server (who reminded me of no one so much as Susie Myerson, but in a good way) immediately informed me it was last call and they didn't do flights. I had a Blackberry Shortcut, and bought a bomber of a rye barrel aged quad. I haven't had that yet (it's currently taking the long way back to Cowtown), but I'm looking forward to it.
Day three was when I learned to stop backseat driving. Better to be thirty minutes late than to get my friends pissed off at me. 'nuff said.
By this time I'd decided to try lots of Michelin star restaurants, so for lunch I went to The Gage. Afterward I wandered Millennium park some more, wandered up to Buckingham Fountain and Lake Michigan on the way to the Field Museum.
The Field Museum is one of those world-class museums, and nothing like the rinky-dink museum we have in Calgary. You could spend days exploring it. I managed to see about a third of it, and that's being generous given how much of what I did see was rushed. Some highlights:
Lots of natural history, with extensive dioramas.
There was a temporary exhibit about beer in Chicago (mostly this was dominated by about three big breweries in the early "White City" era).
I literally rushed into the palaeontology wing as the joint was closing to get a picture of Sue, the Field Museum's T-Rex mascot. I may have gotten the stink-eye from the staff.
But the real standout for me was the Hoffman Bronzes. The original purpose of the bronzes may have been the result of wrong-headed racist science of the early 20th century, but you can't deny that Malvina Hoffman imbued all her sculptures with the humanity that was their due. Beautiful and worth the visit to the museum all by themselves.
My last evening in Chicago was visiting with Mel and Steve. They're hospitality was a highlight of the trip. Good company, good food, good beer. And it whetted my appetite to see more of the north side of Chicago.
We left Chicago on our fourth morning, making excellent time.
Father Flanagan (I'm making that name up, just FYI) gave us a brief tour. He kinda shocked our expectations because we thought we were going to get Richard Attenborough, but we actually got a fairly young man - apparently there are Millennial priests! Flanagan was dressed in neat monk's robes, had a slight frame, gentle features, impeccable grooming, was soft spoken, and was so very deep in the closet.
Anyway, we weren't staying in the monastery, per se, we were in the main floor of a neighbouring house that the monastery owned. It was nice and I had a tiny room all to myself. That was our home for the next four nights.
Over the next few days, I explored Bridgeport. It's near where the White Sox play and is solidly working class. On my last morning there, I went for a run as part of my #DicksAcrossAmerica project.
Day one, we decided to go take an architectural tour of the Chicago river. Apparently it's the second best rated tour in the world (#1 is the Vatican). We took the L downtown and then I managed to steer us wrong by failing to take into account three dimensions. Did you know that there is an Upper and Lower Wacker drive? The latter is completely under the former, and is a charming area inundated with trolls and homeless people. That was also when I found out a friend was claustrophobic, and they learned that I have a completely different travelling philosophy from them. Not my finest moment. Anyway, I'm sure the only permanent damage the 11-year old suffered was psychological. And we did make our tour in the nick of time.
The tour started at the same time as the rain. Since it was over 30C outside, it was surprisingly not bad. The tour included some of the old:
And some of the new:
The above building is an example of contextualism in architecture. Namely the side of the building is a map of the Chicago River and the local streets, with the building itself highlighted on the map!
Another example of contextualism, the above building has the grooves level with the tiers of the adjacent buildings, acknowledging its neighbours. I though it was pretty cool.
Gotta have a picture of the Sears/Willis tower.
During the tour, our guide told some history, including the Great Chicago Fire. This included the myths and the facts. Afterwards, he pointed out the Chicago is called the Second City. This (he claimed) is because the city we were seeing was the second one to sit on this sight - the first one having burnt down. He added that if we'd heard that it was actually a New York thing disparaging Chicago (i.e. Chicago is second to NYC) to discount that. And you know what, I think I'd have bought his story if he hadn't added that last part. Adding it made the former part seem like an after-the-fact justification/retcon. In discussion with assorted Illinois natives of my acquaintance (Mel and Allison), they completely discounted the tour guide's story as bullshit.
I have no idea who the guy above was, but I'm assured that he's "mighty-mighty". Also, they could only show him from the waist up since he had a habit of "letting it all hang out".
After the tour, we made our way to Millennium park because Wendy wanted to see The Bean. That's not it's actual name, but I've heard the artist is a dick, so screw him. It is a great piece of public art though.
We also hung out at the Crown Fountain for awhile to cool off the 11-year old. Had I wanted to get damper, I'd have joined her.
I fucked up a second time by ordering a Lyft to take us all back home. Normally I have good experiences with Lyft, but this time we got a fairly stern driver and the car was at max capacity with the driver and four passengers. I thought this would be good because everyone was clearly done, and we still had an hour of transit and walking to get back to our B&B. This would have alleviated all that!
Our driver was OK as a driver, but was fairly tightlipped. That said, so were we, so there was probably a negative feedback loop going on. Anyway, some dumb-ass almost cut us off and that broke the transit it in the vehicle enough for everyone to start talking again. Except that when he found out he was dropping us off in Bridgeport, he told us it was unsafe to walk around in. At night? No - any time. This did not jibe with our own experience and we figured he was giving a bunch of clearly from out-of-town tourists what he felt was good advice for "the South Side". Or possibly it really was a bad neighbourhood for a black guy like him. Mel told me some hair raising stories about the level of racist violence in the city when she was growing up. That said, Mel grew up in Bridgeport and told us it wasn't unsafe when she lived there as a kid, and it's much better now. In terms of Calgary, I'd say it was equivalent to Dover or the nicer parts of Bowness. For Vancouver, think Mount Pleasant.
Now the problem with travelling with friends who have kids is that they don't have as much disposable income as I do, and they generally keep earlier hours. So after my twin travelling fuck ups, I decided to go take care of my own supper. I opted for Band of Bohemia which is the only Michelin star brewery in America. It came highly recommended (Bruce and Allison basically told me that this was the one must-see food/drink venue), and I'm glad for that. I had a five course tasting dinner with a free beer pairing (best beer: Bruja). Their beer was all delicious, as was the food. It was also clear on the other side of Chicago, so getting there and back was a minor adventure.
Second day there we all drove out of town to go to the Premium Outlet Mall. I was later teased that this was a very Canadian thing to do. I don't care, I got some great clothing at a discount - score!
Repeating yesterday's philosophy, I took a walk, defying the advice of that first Lyft driver, to a pair of local breweries - ALULU and Lo Rez.
ALULU had a very nice Civic Tavern vibe to it, and a great selection of beers. The staff and the locals were all friendly. The only problem was I was the oldest person in the building. How I wasted my youth! Best beer from Alulu was the Rolo Deep, but they also had guest taps and I loved Moody Tongue's barrel aged lemon saison. Yum!
Next was Lo Rez. Unfortunately, I miscalculated and got there about a half hour before it closed. My server (who reminded me of no one so much as Susie Myerson, but in a good way) immediately informed me it was last call and they didn't do flights. I had a Blackberry Shortcut, and bought a bomber of a rye barrel aged quad. I haven't had that yet (it's currently taking the long way back to Cowtown), but I'm looking forward to it.
Day three was when I learned to stop backseat driving. Better to be thirty minutes late than to get my friends pissed off at me. 'nuff said.
By this time I'd decided to try lots of Michelin star restaurants, so for lunch I went to The Gage. Afterward I wandered Millennium park some more, wandered up to Buckingham Fountain and Lake Michigan on the way to the Field Museum.
The Field Museum is one of those world-class museums, and nothing like the rinky-dink museum we have in Calgary. You could spend days exploring it. I managed to see about a third of it, and that's being generous given how much of what I did see was rushed. Some highlights:
Lots of natural history, with extensive dioramas.
There was a temporary exhibit about beer in Chicago (mostly this was dominated by about three big breweries in the early "White City" era).
I literally rushed into the palaeontology wing as the joint was closing to get a picture of Sue, the Field Museum's T-Rex mascot. I may have gotten the stink-eye from the staff.
But the real standout for me was the Hoffman Bronzes. The original purpose of the bronzes may have been the result of wrong-headed racist science of the early 20th century, but you can't deny that Malvina Hoffman imbued all her sculptures with the humanity that was their due. Beautiful and worth the visit to the museum all by themselves.
My last evening in Chicago was visiting with Mel and Steve. They're hospitality was a highlight of the trip. Good company, good food, good beer. And it whetted my appetite to see more of the north side of Chicago.
We left Chicago on our fourth morning, making excellent time.
