Today's entry from the 'Those wacky Taiwanese" file...Taiwan police breathalyze 5-year old for crashing bicycle into Tesla. Not much of an article with the funniest bit being the headline, but the last paragraph is a good one to describe local attitudes towards conflict.
The owner of the car said he reached an agreement with the boy’s parents, who live next door, about repairs to the car. Some netizens slammed the police for breathalyzing a child, while others said it would serve as an example to children that they should pay attention, even while riding a bicycle.
One, that the two parties reached an agreement outside of using the courts. And two, that disputes are not black and white who is at fault and that there is always some measure of blame in both parties.
OK...it is odd when I go on a trip with Betty and not have a single photo of the experience. She and I spent 5 days in Chicago last summer and have had recapping that on my to do list since then, but when I went to pull up the photos this week, they were only a couple I took (mostly of food) in the archive and she has since deleted them from her phone. What follows is things we liked and did to serve as a reference point for future travellers.
We were able to spend these five days without kids having arranged for B-doll to stay with friends. After 20 years with kids in tow for all trips, we are working on our empty nest footing. We set off from LA one day and I'm sitting in my assigned seat on the plane and a lady comes on board and says I'm in her spot. We have a few minute back and forth, ultimately enlisting the help of the flight attendant and she realizes that she was in the wrong spot. As she moves along she says, "must have been all the cannabis I had this morning." I hear ya lady.
First thing to talk about in Chicago is the food. Betty is a throwback carnivore and so arranging to hit some of the legendary Windy City abattoirs was the first thing on my to-do planning agenda. We sampled two...The Gage and Gibsons. The Gage is a new and trendy meat shack while Gibsons is the old school with professional waiters that have been there 30 years type of joint. While yours truly gets other things, the review from my Lion King was that both were superb with a nod going to Gibsons. The slab of meat she got there was obscene in size, but they got the extra points for ambiance and the live piano player was on fire playing a surf medley of deep cuts that had me saying 'wow...nice pull'.
Another staple of that town is having some deep dish. I should say that this was not my first time in ORD having been there for work and fun a handful of times before (even seeing my beloved Yo La Tengo on April 21st, 2005.)
Should be apparent that I was not expecting a transcendent experience, but that is exactly what we had. Perfect in every way and changed my mind towards their brand of pie. Lou's is not the Pizzaria Uno/Giordanos level of corporate place, but they have a few locations and are not a mom/pop operation either. It'd take years to sample enough to places to tell you my best, but we were both moved by Lou Malanti's enough so as to try another one the day we were leaving town.
Giordanos had a location near our hotel and we had time to kill. It was downright awful. While Lou's pie was delicate and subtle in texture and flavor, Giordanos was a lump in our guts that would stay with us for the next 48 hours. The batting average for deep dish is pretty low, but when it connects...they are the Dave Kingman of pizzas.
Decided we needed to have Italian food and that it needed to be in an old school South Side joint. We went to Bruna's Ristorante and had a mediocre old school Italian meal. Place was dark and the decor hadn't changed in a couple generations. The sparse crowd of other patrons felt like a mix of old longshoremen and wiseguys in just the right way. Thumb-up on the experience.
Lastly on food, any trip to Chicago needs to have some time walking around the Lincoln Park neighborhood. I have ended up there every time previous and this time was no exception. Great walking hood with the shops and amazing people watching at the park. What is the draw for me, and my absolute must do in town is a trip to Annette's Italian Ice. Located under the El, hand's down the greatest Italian Ice you will ever have. I can never understand how this dessert has not spanned the globe but do acknowledge that most ices you get are just glorified snow cones. The lemon ice there is the most refreshing thing I have ever had. I am serious.
The other activity that I think is a must do is to admire the architecture. When we told folks we were going to Chicago in July, every person was aghast as it was going to be miserably hot. Our weather luck is impeccable however and it was damn near perfect the whole week with clear skies and 70-80 degree weather. The absolute best architecture thing to do is the 2 hour river cruise. You go on these giant boats with gobs of people, but it is still serene and the guides weave tales of the buildings and city history as the scenery unfolds around you. I can see where it'd be hard on a crappy day, but if you get it on a good one...as good a two hours as you can spend anywhere.
Have to warn you thought that there is a building in a prominent spot that makes you want to wretch. An ugly ass highrise right on the river that has Trump in giant gold letters across it. I pray that I live long enough for him and his mob to get what's coming to them.
We did another walking tour a couple of days later and that was exceptional too. I am not here to tell you I am a student of architecture...can not for the life of me tell the difference between Ionic or Doric columns and always guess wrong between Gothic or Romanesque churches, but when a building hits your sweet spot, it is art. And there are a ton in Chicago that do that. Wish I had that photo roll to give as an example, but I took a couple of the building with my phone that I loved the most...the Carbide and Carbon Building.
Art Deco with great green and black stone that is most unusual. It is nicknamed the champagne building as it has a gold foil at the top. It's exhilarating whenever a piece of art grabs you by the boo-boo.
Chicago is a perfect walking city too. We were at a hotel that was a block off of Michigan Ave on the river and was a 20-30 minute walk from everything. I like my AM strolls and they've built a sweet pedestrian path along the river that is perfect for all kinds of people watching scenery. Was also close to Grant Park that has the iconic Bean sculpture (great public art everywhere) and The Art Institute. That museum has superb pieces from a ton of genres, but not too many where you feel overwhelmed. For me, a great selection of Monet's and other Impressionists that I love and also my favorite painting of all time...Georges Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte. I've sat in front of that thing many times and it never gets old. No picture to share except for the magnet we bought.
Since it was Betty's first time, made sure we hit all the spots that needed to be seen and did the things she wanted (like eating huge piles of flesh), but I had to get in something for me and that was a baseball game. Have been to Wrigley and while I woulda liked to have shown her that, they were on the road. I hadn't been to see the White Sox and so off we went to the iconically named Guaranteed Rate Field.
As with a lot of the new stadiums, it was very nice inside but cookie cutter. All the amenities but nothing that made you say wow. In a parking lot off the freeway, average concessions, poor city views...makes you wonder how it is possible to spend so much money for something so blah.
As with all parks, they have a race with local cultural icons i.e. The Dead Presidents in DC, Hydros in Seattle, and colored dots in Oakland (?). In Chicago, they had three Italian Beefs racing...Cheesy won.
Side note...Italian Beefs are a quintessential Chicago thing, but they are all disgusting as they're made of refuse meat simmered in week old water. Same with the "legendary Chicago hot dog. You have to eat those abominations with mustard and all sorts of nasty pickled vegetables and God help you if you want ketchup or eat it any other way but theirs. Screw you Hot Dog absolutists.
The game was against Minnesota, who were having a great season, and on the Twins was ex-Mariner favorite Nelson Cruz, so we were cheering for him. He hits three monster home runs in his first three at bats, and hitting 4 home runs in a game is one of the most rare of baseball feats. It has been done only 17 times and by comparison, there have been 23 perfect games. In this type of environment, and as a lifelong Dodger fan who's DNA says to leave early to beat the traffic, I normally would have checked out around the 7th inning stretch, but with a chance on Nellie getting up at least two more times, we had to stick around. We project he is gonna get one more shot at it in the 9th inning and move to a seat close to the exit to wait for it. While the Sox are getting blown out, am still stunned at watching half the crowd file towards the exit in the 7th and 8th innings. All I ever hear out of Chicago apologists is how knowledgeable the fans are there, but seeing them walk out with a chance to see history, I know the real truth.
In the 9th, Nellie hits a towering shot that is caught on the warning track, so we missed out, but still an electric feeling.
One more thing to share...the first night when we got in we had reservations for a late dinner at The Gage mentioned above. As we are there, we see a bunch of folks come in all dressed up for a late supper. Curious as to what's up, the waitress tells us Hamilton is playing around the corner and Betty is determined that we go. We do the Seatgeek thing and while I can't remember the price, it was $200 and something each. The venue was named the CIBC Theatre and was originally The Majestic built in 1906 and was cool. Musicals aren't my thing but Hamilton kinda transcends the genre and is a cultural touchstone so am glad I was able to scratch that off. As I'm not an aficionado cannot comment on if it was great, but I enjoyed it and am pretty sure Betty did too. It was a nice surprise activity for sure. It certainly was upbeat and funny in spots with my favorite being the interaction between the guys that played Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. They were portrayed as being most flamboyant and thought them to be a direct ripoff of Morris Day and Jerome from The Time. Made that analogy many times since but no one agreed or even got it, so may be alone there.
Chicago truly is a toddlin' town.
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