The Windy City Part II

Here comes the second part:

On Friday afternoon Ariane and Lo picked Nat up at the hotel. Nat and Ariane had a coffee at a nice place in Wicker Park. They met Oba Maja, who is a street poet. He sold Ariane two of his poems and he somehow looked wise - the only word that comes to my mind. He is pretty famous in Wicker Park, and there is even a mural with his potrait. We didn't take this picture, but here's the mural anyway. (Image copyright Deirdre Harrison)



Later we picked up Jim up at the hotel and drove by B-I-Double-Nizzy to buy some beers. We all then went to Ariane and Lo's house. They have a wonderful place! We love all the textures: brick, wooden floor, glass, tin ceiling, and plastered walls.



We gave Nanuq a big bone, which he inhaled right away. He's such a cute dog with one blue eye and one brown eye, one side with black whiskers and one side with white whiskers. Ariane and Lo were also having fun unpacking some goodies.





We had a great evening with super yummie food and lot's of yummie beers!

The next day - after the best breakfast in town! - we hopped into Ariane and Lo's awesome gangsta car. It’s a 71 oldsmobile n tha greatest ride I have ever seen. Chillin' around in it is tha hit. Bootilicious.







We went shopping, and then afterwards we went to Lake Michigan and walked around!









What a beautiful city. After the walk Lo, Jim and Nat went to the Goose Island Brewpub, Clybourn and had some samplers of beer and soup.

After a nice dinner we went to the The Map Room and awesome beer bar (actually rated as the #26 best beer bar in the USA for 2006 by RateBeer). It's only a stone's throw away from Ariane and Lo's place. Fun evening.



On Sunday we met Bev - Jim's cousin - for breakfast. It was a really great place called Riverside Cafe which had a eclectic buffet including Western style scrambled eggs, fresh biscuits, tacos BLTs, mini PB&Js, pancakes, bagels and...get this...TWINKIES (Nat will never understand that one!). It was wonderful to see Bev and to talk to her. She used to live on the same street as Ariane and Lo, just a two blocks away. She showed us around and told us how it looked like when she lived there in the 90s. Here is "her" house:



Too bad we hadn't had more time together.

After Bev dropped us off we walked around with Ariane and Lo, ran some errands, Jim played the Librarian, we saw the holy Mary under the highway bridge, and went to the "Kiss 'n Fly" entrance at the airport. We kissed and flew!







It was soooo sad to say good bye. It was awesome with you guys - thanks a lot for everything - we had a wonderful time and we miss you already!!!