Unique Places in Chicago

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This was one of the highlights of my visit downtown. I throughly enjoy farmers' markets, they are a wonderful way to get great stuff in the city. We didn't realize this market happens here in Daley Plaza, but it was a nice coquencidence! My favorite tents were the fresh flowers (the redest flowers, i have ever seen), the amish baked goods, and the michigan apples! They had a organic bread tent, simply amazing, you have to get some of the pumkin bread!!!

I'm including a link that has all of the markets listed, through out the season with times and days!

The Daley Plaza one is especially nice because it is next to the fountain and there are places to sit and enjoy some of your delicious goods!

Ernest Hemingway was one of America's greatest novelists. He traveled the world and turned his experiences into compelling fiction. While people focus on his years in Paris and Cuba, Hemingway spent his early years in Oak Park. While it is now just a suburb of Chicago, Oak Park was an independent city when Hemingway was born in the late 19th century. Visit the home where he was born and raised.

The house and lighthouse guard the entrance to the Chicago Harbor [named so because the Chicago River connects with the lake at this point on the shoreline]
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The lighthouse was first lit in 1893 and was automated in 1979. It still serves an important navigational function, using it's original lense.

After having dinner at a Lebanese Restaurant across the street, Sue and I carefully crossed Kedzie Avenue and headed toward Nazareth Sweets.

Although I've only included a picture of the outside. You can check out their website for all the wonderful little delights they have inside complete with pictures and descriptions.

We opted for 3 little sweets which were probably about .60 cents each because our total bill was $2.00. Our dessert that night was:

Walnut Mamoul - a rose water flavored cookie stuffed with almonds
Date Mamoul - same as above but stuffed with dates
Fatayer - phyllo dough with creme inside, glazed with syrup and topped with pistachios.

Another little unplanned for delight.

Next ride July 10th, 2010, start time changed to midnight and the route changed to include a portion of Chinatown and some west side neighborhoods

Held on the 2nd Saturday of July (Saturday night/Sunday morning), thousands of bicyclists gather for the L.A.T.E. ride, a 25 mile ride through Chicago's neighborhoods and lakefront. Most riders finish right about the time the sun is coming up. If you're visiting from out of town, they do have a program for bike rentals. They've been doing this ride since 1989, in the earlier years in was called the Insomnia Cycle, now it's the L.A.T.E ride (long after twilight ends). In past years, the ride has started at 1:30am, in 2010 they moved it to midnight which actually was better for me sleepwise although the traffic was heavier.

We've been doing this ride annually since 1996, every year I whine and moan as my husband is shaking me awake at midnight but once you start riding and get the adrenaline going, it's a lot of fun, especially when you ride through the still heavily populated Greektown section of Chicago with all the drunks cheering you on. I thought it was kind of funny this year when my husband, after completing the ride, said "That wasn't so bad" instead of "Wasn't that fun?" Just another sign that we are getting old!!!! But not so old that I still can't zip past some of those 20 something year olds, just call me Speed Racer!!!

The snacks used to be better in the earlier years, slices of pizza, ice cream and Ann Sather's cinnamon rolls have been replaced by bananas and water that tasted like toothpaste. We decided to skip the included breakfast which someone said was a beverage and apple slices. My complaint lodged with the Friends of the Park has obviously been ignored as it seems to get worse every year.

I don't think it has ever rained on us, every year they announce that they selected the date because it was the least rainy Saturday night. The entrance fee goes to support the Friends of the Park.

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This is the suburb to be included for stature and wealth. Most homes are $1 million to $5 million range, and all in the 1920-50 style. Little has been torn down for "newness". It is just west of Oak Park along Harlem Ave and North Ave. and a close by Hwy 55

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OK, maybe things in Chicago aren't really off the beaten path, but in August, 2008 I decided to take the long route to Wrigley Field from downtown Chicago by actually walking in the general direction toward the park. From Union Station it is about a 4 mile walk, but along the way I saw some interesting sites and walked through areas of the city I had never been before.

This might be good advice for anybody from any major city. My main motivation for doing this was to break in my walking shoes for my September - October, 2008 European trip.

Picture #1 - A view of the Willis (formerly Sears) tower from the side of the north branch of the Chicago River. This crane was unloading sand from a barge outside a brick manufacturer.

Picture #2 - In the upper part of the picture is the Kennedy Expressway as it enters downtown Chicago. Obviously people on the road aren't going to be able to see this city garden.

Picture #3- An interesting Ivy covered fence. On the other side was a great looking Italian restaurant. I'll have to try that sometime and send out the tip.

Picture #4 - Chicago Culinary School. All those great Chicago chefs have to start somewhere.

Picture #5 - A very nice part of Chicago near Wrigley Field called Lakeview. Many older buildings and then as you can see from this picture some nice new construction.

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One of the most famous drives in the city of Chicago is Lake Shore Drive. LSD which runs along Lake Michigan from the south side of the city to the North is full of memorable sites as it twists and turns its ways past a number of Chicago venues. Once you get beyond the downtown area it is a 6 lane highway with the Lake on your right and magnificent high rise apartments and condos on your left as you head northward. If you continue to take Lake Shore Drive going north toward Evanston it will abruptly end at Hollywood Drive where it will turn into Sheridan Boulevard.

It is at the terminus to Lake Shore Drive that we headed to on a beautiful July evening to attend a small Greek Festival held at an Orthodox Greek Church at the corner of Hollywood and Sheridan. Although the Festival was small as Chicago Festivals go we had some dinner, listened to a DJ play some Greek music and looked at some arts and crafts. It is upon leaving that we began our mini exploration of the Bryn Mawr area.

On Bryn Mawr Avenue just west of Sheridan we came across the building shown in the first picture. The turret type facade on the one corner is what caught my attention and resulted in the shot. The 2nd picture in this sequence shows the interior courtyard of the same building, while the 3rd and last picture in this sequence shows the buildings own personal water fountain.

Walking a little further on going west toward the "L" tracks you can see more of Bryn Mawr Avenue with the aforementioned "L" in the background along with a 1930's era streetlight in the left foreground. The final picture of this grouping is Bryn Mawr on the west side of the "L" tracks. The vehicles range from the large GMC to the small Mini Cooper waiting at the stoplight. The building in the background is another example of Chicago architecture.