Family Time

People do not need much to be really happy. I need my family and food. In the mornings perhaps in the opposite order. Last week was full of great meals, music, Chicago and most importantly, Mannu and emm. As my sister put it, we were like rich people - taking long walks in parks and the zoo before noon, starting cocktail hours due time and spending nights at concerts. Those were true treats - first Doris got us to the sold out Snow Patrol night, then on Sunday we had one of the greatest Beethoven concerts ever, performed by the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra. We spent Monday night at a Wicker Park piano bar that regularly hosts open mic evenings but as it turned out, we were not only the only foreigners there but also the only outsiders to a group of about 20 people of different age, sexual orientation and vocal range, all differing to extremes. By the end of the night and when our tab was high enough (after all, we were the only ones who could order a beer, the rest were unemployed musical singers), Mannu received a warm applause and an invitation to come back from some of the eccentrics there. We had a wonderful time. 
Here is a photo reportage.

Chicago, Love of My Life Part I

Today we were going through the list of stuff we have so that we can sell it to anyone who takes over our apartment in August. It made me so sad. Chicago is the love of my life, and I love it the way it is. Chicago is not just what you see in postcards or even in this blog here, it is so many more indescribable things that really, you simply must come and live yourself to truly understand them. I am so happy that after three more times sleeping, M and Mannu are coming to do exactly that.

The following pix are the first part of a little tribute to some of the things I love about Chicago.

The arts. I love how Chicago-people can make art just about anywhere. Here a light installation at the Bean.

All the crazy people. Here represented by an old lady activist in the Old Town.

Shops you can buy anything from. Here is a stuffed something-something in Wrigleyville. Special greetings to Clava.

The sunsets. The Bulls. And the Blackhawks. In this photo, all at the same time in front of the United Center in Madison.

Colors of Chicago neighborhoods. And handsome Chicago gentlemen. Here murals of Wicker park.

Places you have to take the El, the elevated rail system that makes a big racket between streets and skies. After at least a half an hour ride to any direction, there is a whole new life waiting.

The skyline. Here pictured from the South, me and my love in Hyde park.

Spring in Chicago

In March, Miku was visiting but on our trip to Canada, Riin diagnosed him with a CRS syndrome*, so instead of his report, I am giving you a short overview of what has been going on.

Miku arrived with a hot summer breeze of +30 degrees in the middle of March that according to all scripts is more than unusual. First of all because it was March and secondly, because it was Chicago. Luckily, when Miku flew back to Europe, he took the weather back with him. I don`t like summer in the middle of winter season, so aitäh.

Together we all flew to Edmonton, Canada (for the money that could have taken all of us to Switzerland, Estonia and back). But it was worth every Canadian dollar. Edmonton that most only know by the ice-hockey team Oilers has been a home for Riin for some time now. Maybe because of her I got a somewhat biased picture but I felt great sympathy towards this vast, gray, industrial working class city. Mainly probably because Riin lives in a very cool historic neighborhood Old Strathcona where the food is simply amazing and where they have more bookstores on one street than in the whole Chicago and its suburbs.

After getting to know Riin`s lovely city and people, we took off for a road trip in the Canadian Rockies. The budget car rent had offered us a free upgrade to a huge family van that comfortably fitted all five of us and our egos.Escaping snow storms that had arrived in Edmonton due time we went from plus 30 in Chicago to minus 20 in Jasper national park. More impressive, however, was the change in landscape on an elevation around 1400 m.

Clerg drove us to Jasper, a small village full of hotels and restaurants, and tourist traps of all sorts but the first Italian (Greek-Slovak-Polish-Spanish?) diner filled our empty stomachs well. The next day Miku and Clerg and I took a tour around and got some other pleasant experiences - the post office there must be the nicest one in the whole North America and people in shops fill you up with all sorts of knowledge, who needs Lonely Planet anyway.

The next day mostly consisted of white mountain tops and many photo stops on the road. As I wrote on many of our postcards home, to the Engadine, the Rockies looked as if they were the grandmother of the Alps. Giant, and very quiet. Of course the latter was also because we were there in the middle of the seasons so that the skiers had left and hikers could not come yet.

After stopping at Lake Louise, sister to Lake St. Moritz, a wonderful dinner at a restaurant that used to be the local railway station we reached Banff, another town in the national park. No one believes me but I really saw a real deer snacking on some bushes in front of the high school there! On the road back to Edmonton we stopped at Calgary. For me, this is Canada - I guess my (very one-sided) picture of the whole country has always been a mixture of the 1988 Olympics and our great aunt Aino`s stories of her family. (As a side remark - in Edmonton we visited the Alberta`s Estonian Heritage exhibition and learnt that hundreds of Estonians settled in the area in the 19th and 20th century)
This trip was only some weeks ago and now it seems like a dream far away. In Chicago it`s spring. This time the real thing - with flowers, blooming trees, fresh smelling air and light, crispy evenings. Like the whole city is your friend.
*CRS - can`t remember shit