Morning all!. Blogmeister David here again. It is Tuesday morning and we are now safely on the train to Naperville to pick up our car and head onto the next portion of our trip. We had a super 4 days in Chicago and as I am a little behind in the blogging I thought I would use the train ride to catch up.
After Saturdays gastronomic extravaganza, Sunday dawned to find a tired David and James peeking out from under the covers of the lovely bed in the Swissotel. Coffee was definitely needed so after a shower we headed off to Buckies in search of breakfast and caffeine. Safely esconced in the corner of a Michigan Avenue Buckies armed with french press of Decaf Sumatra, bagels, and oatmeal, we plotted our assault on the world. That assault involved shopping. Are we not fearless and intrepid, dear readers? I'd like to say that we went shopping just for you so that we could blog about it, but I suspect that you wouldn't believe it. So I'll admit...it was all about us! We spent a fabulous 2 hours wandering the shops, nipping in to Nordstrom, sidling into Saks, browsing in Brooks Brothers, and flitting in to the Four Seasons to buy baseball caps. It was really tiring. In the words of Posh Spice...."Being this fabulous is really hard work"...thanks Victoria! We think that relaxing with your hubby would be a work out too, but moving swiftly on....
It was, of course, getting close to lunch time. We had reservations at the Walnut Room in the old Marshall Fields store on State Street. James has always wanted to eat there and seeing that this vacation is all about James' nostalgia kick, we took the opportunity to do so. The restaurant is very very lovely inside, in a kind of faded glamour Norma Desmond way (can you picture us there now?) The food was good, the view over the street lovely, the Sauvignon Blanc crisp and delightful, and the portrait light by the windows was perfect. I took some shots of James that I'll post later. It was a lovely way to spend lunch and for James to remember all the times he went there in his youth.
While sitting there and looking out the window I noticed Nordstrom Rack across the street. Lunch came to a screeching halt and we gathered ourselves up and swept off to bargain hunt. Nordstrom Rack is such a funny experience: high end clothes and bargain hunters. Still, all those years of shopping at El Cort Ingles in Spain paid off, so with elbows firmly pointed out we joined the throngs. I secured a nice Burma Bibs blue check shirt (coz I need another blue check shirt to go with the other fourth three) and James found nothing. Score for David!
By now it was about 4pm so a retreat to the hotel room for a nap was in order. Dinner was not too far in the distance and we needed to make sure we had enough strength to make it though the evening after such an arduous day.
And so the evening arrived. This was to be a special evening, though one I was a little concerned about. Those of you who know James well will know that he is a creature of habit (as am I to an extent). Nowhere does this manifest itself more than in eating pizza. Being from Chicago James is convinced that they invented the stuff and will happily duke it out with anyone else on the planet over who has the best crust and sauce (yawn...). Accordingly we have always only ever been allowed to eat Pizza at Giordano's on Rush Street when we go to Chicago, a place that meets His Lordship's strict criteria. I, on the other hand, like the pizza at Giordano's but hate the place with a passion. I do, however, know how to put up and shut up (sometimes...) so have meekly acquiesced to eat there for the last ten years. Tonight, though, was to be different. James had decided (with no reason given) that he wanted to try a different pizza joint. Fine by me! So off we went to Lou Malnatis new pizza place on North State street.
To cut a pizza story short, we had a great time. They make great martinis and the pizza was fantastic. For those who wish to know James ordered the Lou Malnati's Chicago classic. He loved it and was so effusive about the experience to our waitress that she went and fetched the owner, Mark Malnati. There then ensued a love fest between James and Mark over the pizza. When James explained that he would only ever eat pizza at Giordano's and I mentioned that I had been frog-marched there for 10 years, his response was "10 years? That's an awful lot of wasted time". Classic. I should also add that the venue is great too and they have much cuter staff. These things are important. Would you eat pizza that has been delivered by someone with face like a slapped ass? No, dear reader, I agree. I know what my reasons for choosing a pizza are
After pizza it was definitely time for a glass of wine. After prying James out of the pizza joint we headed to They Westin for a quick glass of wine. It was on our way back, at 12.30am, that looking down I saw the object in the photograph. I have no idea what it was all about. But I thought that I would share it with you. Thus ended a day of Pizza, Walnuts, Nordstroms, and vaginas.
"Homos on the road" is proving to be constantly amazing....and with regard to vaginas, educational too.
Big love to all,
D&J
After Saturdays gastronomic extravaganza, Sunday dawned to find a tired David and James peeking out from under the covers of the lovely bed in the Swissotel. Coffee was definitely needed so after a shower we headed off to Buckies in search of breakfast and caffeine. Safely esconced in the corner of a Michigan Avenue Buckies armed with french press of Decaf Sumatra, bagels, and oatmeal, we plotted our assault on the world. That assault involved shopping. Are we not fearless and intrepid, dear readers? I'd like to say that we went shopping just for you so that we could blog about it, but I suspect that you wouldn't believe it. So I'll admit...it was all about us! We spent a fabulous 2 hours wandering the shops, nipping in to Nordstrom, sidling into Saks, browsing in Brooks Brothers, and flitting in to the Four Seasons to buy baseball caps. It was really tiring. In the words of Posh Spice...."Being this fabulous is really hard work"...thanks Victoria! We think that relaxing with your hubby would be a work out too, but moving swiftly on....
It was, of course, getting close to lunch time. We had reservations at the Walnut Room in the old Marshall Fields store on State Street. James has always wanted to eat there and seeing that this vacation is all about James' nostalgia kick, we took the opportunity to do so. The restaurant is very very lovely inside, in a kind of faded glamour Norma Desmond way (can you picture us there now?) The food was good, the view over the street lovely, the Sauvignon Blanc crisp and delightful, and the portrait light by the windows was perfect. I took some shots of James that I'll post later. It was a lovely way to spend lunch and for James to remember all the times he went there in his youth.
While sitting there and looking out the window I noticed Nordstrom Rack across the street. Lunch came to a screeching halt and we gathered ourselves up and swept off to bargain hunt. Nordstrom Rack is such a funny experience: high end clothes and bargain hunters. Still, all those years of shopping at El Cort Ingles in Spain paid off, so with elbows firmly pointed out we joined the throngs. I secured a nice Burma Bibs blue check shirt (coz I need another blue check shirt to go with the other fourth three) and James found nothing. Score for David!
By now it was about 4pm so a retreat to the hotel room for a nap was in order. Dinner was not too far in the distance and we needed to make sure we had enough strength to make it though the evening after such an arduous day.
And so the evening arrived. This was to be a special evening, though one I was a little concerned about. Those of you who know James well will know that he is a creature of habit (as am I to an extent). Nowhere does this manifest itself more than in eating pizza. Being from Chicago James is convinced that they invented the stuff and will happily duke it out with anyone else on the planet over who has the best crust and sauce (yawn...). Accordingly we have always only ever been allowed to eat Pizza at Giordano's on Rush Street when we go to Chicago, a place that meets His Lordship's strict criteria. I, on the other hand, like the pizza at Giordano's but hate the place with a passion. I do, however, know how to put up and shut up (sometimes...) so have meekly acquiesced to eat there for the last ten years. Tonight, though, was to be different. James had decided (with no reason given) that he wanted to try a different pizza joint. Fine by me! So off we went to Lou Malnatis new pizza place on North State street.
To cut a pizza story short, we had a great time. They make great martinis and the pizza was fantastic. For those who wish to know James ordered the Lou Malnati's Chicago classic. He loved it and was so effusive about the experience to our waitress that she went and fetched the owner, Mark Malnati. There then ensued a love fest between James and Mark over the pizza. When James explained that he would only ever eat pizza at Giordano's and I mentioned that I had been frog-marched there for 10 years, his response was "10 years? That's an awful lot of wasted time". Classic. I should also add that the venue is great too and they have much cuter staff. These things are important. Would you eat pizza that has been delivered by someone with face like a slapped ass? No, dear reader, I agree. I know what my reasons for choosing a pizza are
After pizza it was definitely time for a glass of wine. After prying James out of the pizza joint we headed to They Westin for a quick glass of wine. It was on our way back, at 12.30am, that looking down I saw the object in the photograph. I have no idea what it was all about. But I thought that I would share it with you. Thus ended a day of Pizza, Walnuts, Nordstroms, and vaginas.
"Homos on the road" is proving to be constantly amazing....and with regard to vaginas, educational too.
Big love to all,
D&J
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