Living On the Edge In Chicago

This morning we went on an adventure. We took Teresita along, a co-student of Clergs who lives ten stories above us, and drove outside the safety zone. It was time for suburbs - Ikea, Wal Mart and of a sorts. Now I know where Tallinn got it for its roads (halloo - Tartu maantee!), or supermarkets (Prisma). Only that Tallinn with its 400 000 inhabitants is a hobbit next to Chicago`s two and a half million and respectively, the Wal Mart is a size of an average Estonian town. I am really proud of Clerg for mastering the way on our little plastic carsharing-Toyota and keeping us safe from all those huge cars and trucks passing at unbelievable speed and in unpredictable ways. Then again, Clerg does have a considerable experience from driving in Tallinn.

After returning to the city overloaded with cute Ikea stuff (pictures on the way) and food items (got the yeast, Ruth gäu - Züpfe tomorrow), we walked to the Navy Pier, a long architectural and commercial street of a sorts on the shore of lake Michigan just next to our neighborhood.

The view to the city from there is spectacular.

To the lake, too.

The white dots in the photo above are birds - all kinds, gathering for the night.

As Clerg put it, the wind and the stripes, the arriving storm made quite a dramatic scene.

It all made us hungry, we bought ourselves a sandwich and Clerg got me a small Budweiser in a street restaurant, straight from the waiter, no questions asked, for five bucks under table.

We left Navy Pier when it was already dark. A sign at the exit warned us it was strictly prohibited to take alcoholic beverages out of the area. I put my beer inside Clerg`s Pepsi cup and drank it through the straw. Living on the edge.

PS. A funny story - the other day I was paying for groceries and the lady suddenly asked for my ID. I showed it to her but could not figure out why she would want to see it. She pointed at the small bottle of white wine and I was very pleased. It does not happen to one very often that one is doubted to be twelve years younger. When I showed off with that later at our dinner party, I disappointingly had to learn that here, it happens to everyone every time.