Category Archives: Chicago

December 16, 2013 · 1:11 am

Hubbard street dance, Andy’s Thai kitchen, eataly, Chicago

We are unexpectedly encountering snow on our return home from Chicago but it didn’t start until we were west of Davenport and so far it hasn’t been as bad as our outbound trip Friday night. Right now, at 6:43 pm about 10 miles east of Iowa city the flurries have stopped. But we don’t know what lies ahead.

Before this I was going to write that our Chicago trip had been worth the sometimes harrowing drive. Easy for me to say since I am not the driver. Still, we had a really good albeit brief visit to Chicago. Hubbard street’s Saturday night performance of “One thousand pieces” was among the best I have seen during decades as a Hubbard street fan. The dancing, choreography, staging was superb and there were some “firsts” for this dance fan, notably the dancers performing on the equivalent of a giant slip n’ slide, with the water adding all kinds of interesting effects, from the sound of the water splashing to the sight of the water on the darkish stage with white clouds of drifting white smoke/dry ice, to the added challenge for the dancers of executing challenging moves on a slippery surface. The second act of the piece began with a solemn line of 20 some dancers staring out into the dark theater, then executing one twitchy move after another in unison. that gave us in the audience a lot to watch and ponder. I was also pleasantly surprised be the Phillip Glass score which was less monotonously repetitive and more stirringly melodic than expected. I do think they could have turned the lights on just a little – I’m not the only viewer who got a bit sleepy…

      Earlier in the day we had yet another excellent meal at Andy’s Thai kitchen in Lakeview. The crispy basil pork belly, yum. We tried a few different dishes and they were well done. The panang had excellent quality chicken and eggplant well cooked and a not too heavy, well seasoned sauce.

Before the ballet, we braved the crowds at the new Eataly that just opened on Ohio Street just west of Michigan Avenue (next to Room and Board, one of my favorite furniture stores. Eataly Chicago seemed brighter and less chaotic than its cousin in New York City. It was a perfect place to get a light bite before the ballet. We decided on a plate of well picked Italian cheeses served with some
Candied fruit, figs in balsamic, honey and olive oil. We were swiftly served and our plucky Midwestern server made sure we were on our way when need be to make our show on tome.

Now back to now-snowy interstate 80. (postscript: we made it home safely – and slowly…)

20131215-210253.jpg

Leave a comment

Filed under Chicago, dance, DINING

Tagged as , , , ,

November 17, 2013 · 7:58 pm

Tips on flying Southwest out of Des Moines

Southwest Airlines Logo.png
IATA
WN		 ICAO
SWA		 Callsign
SOUTHWEST
Founded March 16, 1967

As word comes from today’s DMRegister that there’ s talk of trying to expand the selection of direct Southwest flights out of Des Moines (Orlando and St. Louis but no promises and would happen, at the earliest next summer), I’ve been thinking about advice I’d give to people flying Southwest out of DSM right now – based on my first trial run earlier this month. And here it is:

– Although Southwest offers no fee to check your luggage (how refreshing), I am glad I didn’t check mine because if I had I wouldn’t have been able to switch flights in Las Vegas at the last minute after my LAX flight was delayed and I hopped aboard a Burbank flight. Or so I gather. The first question the counter agent asked me after I inquired about switching was whether I’d checked my luggage. I hadn’t and miraculously I was en route to Burbank minutes later. When I got to Burbank, I received another update on my original LAX flight. It still hadn’t left Vegas, delayed over 2 hours and counting…

– Paying the extra $12 or so to get priority boarding was definitely worth it!! Otherwise it is essential to check in as close as possible to exactly 24 hours before flight time so you get a good position in line, preferably A group or failing that B group but NOT C group. Those folks get the middle seats and there’s less likelihood, if the plane is booked, of getting an overhead spot to stow their luggage. The one flight I didn’t take and pay the extra $12 I got an A44 number in line – not bad. And I ended up with a good aisle seat close to the front of the plane (so I could exit quickly and make my connection).

– Speaking of connections, in Las Vegas my flight arrived in the C terminal and I had to haul a** to make my connecting flight in the B terminal, which seemed like miles away (with only a few moveable walkways). The slot machines strewed in the corridors didn’t help as I had knots of people to get around while dragging my suitcase. I don’t know if this is always the case on the DSM-Vegas-LA flight. (The one I took was at noon on a Friday out of DSM.)

– My connection at Chicago’s Midway was much much better – the Seattle-Midway flight landed in a gate only three gates away from the Midway-Des Moines flight. Yippee!! (This was on the 2:30 Wednesday flight from Seattle to Midway and the 9:30 pm flight from midway to dsm.)

Leave a comment

Filed under airfare, Chicago, Des Moines, Los Angeles, Nevada, Seattle

Tagged as , , , ,

October 23, 2013 · 3:57 am

Tips for if my flight gets screwed up at thanksgiving…FlightStats.com!

Okay, so I am not convinced my flights will go well at thanksgiving because, well, it’s thanksgiving. I have tried to reduce possible snafus by flying direct (a rare treat from Des Moines although it does require a 6 am flight to Newark on thanksgiving day for close to $500′ insane I know) and avoiding the wed and sun surrounding thanksgiving. Still I am holding onto some good tips from the November Conde Nast traveler on dealing with winter flight issues :
– best time to fly on …Presidents’ Day weekend, which is also valentines day. Book in early december.
– other cheap tome to fly to warm weather places? Dec 3 to 16 (you are close dad!) and mid jan.
– try alternate airports. Tampa or Fort Lauderdale rather than Miami or Orlando
– nope problems in the bud. Fly early am (I knew that one) and avoid landing between 7 and 10 in say, ohare(we learned that the hard way on our way home from Boston last month when we almost got stuck overnight in Chicago,.
– if you have to do a connecting flight (yes, alas. We do) stay away from ohare (knew that too but hard to avoid). Opt instead for Dallas or Houston (really?)
– if you can’t get a seat when you book your tix online, call the airline to get from a phone agent. Apparently it IS true that you are more likely to get bumped if you show up,at the gate without a seat.
– checking in early also decreases your chance of getting bumped.
– if bad weather on the horizon, find out if your flt is cancelled by checking airline website or twitter feed for updates. Soone r u know the better chances of getting rebooked. (I learned that last fall en route to New Orleans from Kansas City)
– Have a plan b. I was just telling this to my daughter. Know what flights are leaving after your scheduled connecting flight, in case you miss it. Although you may not find a seat. Before your flight check FlightStats.com, open “:delays” and then “global trends” which will show which airports and airlines are having the most cancelations and delays and which aren’t. Ask to be rerouted to a city that isn’t having problems. You can also sign up for A flight status alert with FlightStats.com
– cancelled flight? Fly thru Vegas if if not necessarily on your way…it has lots of flights and cheap hotels (I am flying southwest thru Vegas to LA next month!) so for example on stead of waiting for a Boston Seatte
flight, try thru Vegas. (I am flying next month to Seattle to midway to Des Moines…was acttually shorter flight time then thru Vegas.)
– know whet alternative flight you want when you can to rebook (been there, done that) use FlightStats.com again. Sign up for an account, click on flights, then flight availability, then advanced search, so you can specify airlines and city and seats.
– if airline phone is jammed, call the overseas reservation desk. Really???
You can get the phone number on your airlines web site and use Skype to call free. Wow (although I have had trouble finding airline numbers on the website)

1 Comment

Filed under airfare, airline fees, Chicago

Tagged as

October 4, 2013 · 2:23 pm

Bumpy flight flying between storms out of Des Moines today

much as I want to get to Boston for a family wedding this weekend, I almost wished our flight out of dsm at 7:15 am wasnt leaving on time when we boarded it a few hours ago. The weather was scary. And i tried NOt to think about that recent horrific flight on the silver screen with denzel Washington as the drunk pilot.

We waited for one storm to subside, sort of, then hustled to get off the runway before the next storm, fast approaching arrived…Flying in a small metal canister of a plane through dark clouds with lightening off in the distance wasn’t fun. Very bumpy for the first 15 minutes or so until we climbed out of the dramatic clouds into a refreshingly blue patch of sky. I bumped into the pilot in the bathroom at O’Hare and she acknowledged that the early moments of the flight were rough. But she said she respects the weather and wouldn’t have flown if it wasn’t safe. I thanked her for her service.

Leave a comment

Filed under air security, Chicago

Tagged as , , ,

July 30, 2013 · 5:03 pm

Chicago’s High Line: The Bloomingdale Trail

view of Bloomingdale Trail, looking west at Milwaukee Avenue

CDOT, along with numerous community partners, is building the Bloomingdale Trail and Park– a multi-use linear park that will be the first of its kind in Chicago.

As  a big fan of New York City’s remarkable High Line park, I was pleased to read in the recent Rails to Trails magazine about a similar park under development in Chicago – roughly scheduled  to be useable by fall 2014. Like the High Line, the  2.7 mile Bloomingdale Trail – now under construction – will transform an elevated rail into a recreational trail/park. But there are differences – the Bloomingdale Trail will permit biking (it’s designed to be multi-use); it’s twice the length of the High Line and it runs through four still-bustling urban neighborhoods in northwest Chicago – Wicker Park, Bucktown, Humboldt Park and Logan Square (the High Line does this in spots, as I recall.) For more details, visit  the “Reframing Ruin” photo exhibit at the Center for Neighborhood Technology (1741 N. Western Avenue) about the Bloomingdale rail – pre-transformation (presumably what the photo above portrays) into a trail. for more details see:  http://bloomingdaletrail.org

Leave a comment

Filed under bike trails, biking, Chicago, New York City

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

July 18, 2013 · 3:19 am

Steamy Chicago: eating Cuban and afghani food

Back to the USA and steamy weather – it reminded me just how lucky we were with our weather in Europe, which was warm but not muggy or humid. (When I changed planes in London Monday, it had become beastly hot.)

I met my son and stepdaughter, who both work downtown, for lunch at a good Cuban restaurant, Cafecito at 26 E. Congress Pkway (good pressed sandwiches, salads, soup, coffee and loved that it is next door to Chicago’s youth hostel); later visited the farmers market next to the federal building at Jackson and Dearborn where my son’s working (summer internship with a U.S. senator), buying some cherries, raspberries and peaches from vendors with farms in my home state of Michigan.

At night, when I took a wrong train and ended up in Skokie rather than Evanston, my son and I ended up at an excellent Afghani restaurant in Skokie – Kabul House. I had a delicious dish – lamb stew served over sautéed spinach that reminded me a bit of saag paneer.

The Sunday before I left for London (that seems like a long time ago) my aunt took us to several places she’d discovered and we’d never seen before including:

– Prairie Avenue, which has some of Chicago’s oldest homes, and a nice café.

– A hidden new neighborhood just north of the Harris Theater in Millennium Park.

2 Comments

Filed under Chicago, DINING

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

June 20, 2013 · 10:35 pm

Great patio, good food – Red Door in Chicago’s Bucktown

It may be a generational thing because the 20-somethings in our party liked the food a bit more than the 50-somethings at the Red Door, a small casual restaurant in Chicago’s Bucktown that seems to attract a young attractive crowd. One thing our four-some definitely agreed upon is that Red Door has an awesome outdoor patio (see photo above) – and it was a great place to dine al fresco last Saturday night, until it started raining (by which time, we had, fortunately, just gotten in our car.) The patio was spacious and surrounded by walls that blocked the street noise. It has long  wooden tables, some with chairs, some with benches (which was handy for my son who was in a thigh-to-ankle brace after ACL repair surgery. Our server was pleasant and the service timely. We had several small plates – all of which were fine but didn’t bowl me over. (braised bok choi in hoisen sauce, “chestnut fried calamari with tarragon aoili” “mushroom quinoa with prunes, crispy kale, harissa”, creamy burrata cheese with bits of strawberry and pancetta, I think) and an entree of German-style mussels served with sauerkraut and a soft salty pretzel (sort of odd but the  Beer-mustard broth was tasty.)

Leave a comment

Filed under Chicago, DINING

Tagged as ,

June 19, 2013 · 11:04 pm

Paying to reserve a seat on an international British Airways flight. Really???

So now I understand why my return flight from Prague to London on British Airways doesn’t include a seat assignment. Apparently I can only get a “free” seat assignment (for a very costly flight, I might add) 24 hours in advance. If I want one before that, I have to pay – and the fee isn’t listed up front.  (I finally found it after searching for too long.  It costs about $12, talk about nickle and dime-ing. For details see: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/paid-seating-terms/public/en_us-  OR http://www.britishairways.com/travel/ba6.jsp/paid-seatingprime/public/en_us

That is really irritating!! I booked this flight via American Airlines – which I’m flying outbound from Chicago to London and on the return leg from London to Chicago (after I sit in a lousy seat I was assigned “for free” 24 hours in advance) apparently.  American kindly granted me reserved seats – who knew this is now a perk???

Leave a comment

Filed under airfare, airline fees, Chicago, London

Tagged as ,

June 14, 2013 · 2:18 pm

Hubbard Street Dance at CHicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art

MCA Chicago 060930.jpgA treat to attend a performance of Hubbard Street Dance and in a new venue for me – the theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art (the MCA Stage, see photo), which is much smaller than the Harris Theater further south in Millennium Park. The production continues through June 16.

The price was very reasonable ($35) and the outing had a more casual feel. The dancing was superb, as always – I am amazed by the athleticism and grace of Hubbard’s young dancers. The choreography was more of a mixed bag and I guess that’s the point of the “danc(e)volve: New Works Festival.” The first half before the intermission was my favorite! Some of the new works were a little too odd and avant-garde for me – I especially prefer when dancers do NOT talk and when they dance to music that is NOT primarily noise, which a few selections were (in one case, the discordant sound was so loud I discretely plugged one of my ears, like New Yorkers do in the subway when a train is screeching by). It was fun though to watch a film by Hubbard Street dancers that shared highlights from their US State Department sponsored trip as cultural ambassadors to Morocco, Spain and Algeria.

Leave a comment

Filed under Chicago, dance

Tagged as , ,

June 13, 2013 · 3:06 am

Lunch in the chic Pump Room at the Public Hotel in Chicago

Leave a comment

Filed under Chicago, DINING

Tagged as , , , , ,