Spending ten days in San Diego in September was nothing near a homecoming--although we could go into our Del Mar house, we could not stay there, as it continues to be rented. Despite the wonderful and kind hospitality of our friends, Linda Zangwill, Marc Siegel, and Deborah Brenner, and our get-togethers with some of our Del Mar/San Diego friends, we were visitors in our own town. We cannot rightly complain too much about living out of our suitcases. After all, Sara had to do it the entire summer! Also, having our house rented for the year is a good thing, and our renter is very low maintenance (knock on wood); we had our two cars to drive (well, most of the time--when Henry, Sara, and I each needed a car, we were able to borrow Linda and Marc's van); we could visit our hometown physicians; and we could eat at some of our favorite local restaurants. I even got to the Rancho Penasquitos weekly tennis clinic (before my knee injury from skiing in January 2008, I was going pretty regularly) for the first time in well over a year. In addition, we were able to enjoy a few more days of summer before heading off to Chicago.
Hoping to keep the amount of luggage we would schlep to Chicago to a minimum, I culled through the clothes (and other sundry items) I brought to Europe, and left a bunch of stuff in Del Mar. Unfortunately, I concentrated too much on Southern California and Las Vegas (our first stop--to visit with our elder daughter, Brett) weather, and not enough on the rest of the journey!
(See photo of Sara and Brett. Rather than drive the rest of the way to Chicago with us, Sara flew from Las Vegas because, as she put it, she still wanted to like her parents when we arrived at our final destination. She figured she would not survive four days of bad jokes.) Except for the drive to Las Vegas (a "cool" 90 degrees) and for a small bit of the drive into Utah, it did not matter that our car's air conditioning was broken. Our first full day in Chicago (9/26) was a short-sleeve shirt day, and that was the last of such days! The short-sleeve shirts, the SPF convertible cargo pants, and my neck cooler (it worked phenomenally well between San Diego and Las Vegas) were quickly relegated to storage for the remainder of our stay in Chicago.While the cool weather in Chicago wasn't too much of a surprise, we were overwhelmed by what hit us in Green River, Utah and points east through Denver.
The cool wind was whipping up a storm when we stopped for the night in Green (not really) River, and as we progressed through the Rockies, snow was falling and sticking on the ski slopes of Vail, Copper Mountain, and to the east of the Eisenhower Tunnel toward Denver (see photo)! Once again lacking a winterized car, we had visions of a repeat of our slip-sliding experience on our first night in Zurich, New Year's Eve, 2008 (see blog entry "We've Arrived!"). 
When we stopped overnight in St. Louis, to see our niece, Lindsey, a freshman at Washington University, she reported that the day we arrived was the first yucky day of the fall season. Lucky us! (See photo, taken at Remy's Kitchen and Wine Bar, a deliciously good restaurant in Clayton, close to the school).
So, here we are in Chicago, in an old Hyde Park house (see photo) that has far more room than we need, but is wonderfully convenient to the University of Chicago (see campus photos)
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Henry walks to his office in the Anatomy Department (he's working in a "Birdsong" research group (they study how song birds learn their song (a more simple version of the learning process in humans)), and I walk the few blocks to the building where I am volunteering (in the University's career services ("CAPS") office), to the nightly movie (the theater is in the same building as CAPS), to the market, or to the bus or Metra to downtown Chicago. It's nice having a car for when we need it or for the convenience, but much of the time, it's easier to leave it parked on the street in front of our house. Parking in downtown Chicago is like parking in New York City--expensive! Also, as I discovered when I dropped Sara off at a downtown Chicago interview and sat in the car in a two-hour pay and post space on the street in front of the Art Institute of Chicago, the city really means it when the sign says no parking between 4PM and 6PM. Needing the extra lane for rush hour traffic, the city had its contracted tow truck parked in between my car and another parked car at 3:53PM. I decided it was wiser to move immediately than risk a ticket and tow!I imagine that if we did not have the car, we would "make do", just as Sara has over the past three years, and as we managed quite well enough in Zurich and Munich. Nevertheless, it is so hard to make that break from personal transport when the public transportation system lacks the extensive coverage found in Europe. I am convinced, that because everything in the U.S. is on such a larger physical scale than in Europe (e.g., the area of Illinois is just under four times the area of Switzerland, and Illinois is only 25th in size among the 50 United States), the U.S. will never obtain the quality of public transportation coverage found in Europe. However, the big U.S. cities can certainly improve their local transportation systems. For example, there has to be a better way of getting from Hyde Park to O'Hare Airport (northwest of downtown) than taking a two-hour shuttle ride via Midway Airport (southwest of downtown), as I did when flying to New York in October. Let's hope that despite Chicago's failure to garner the site for the 2016 Olympics, it will still proceed with its transportation improvement plans.
The leaves changed colors (see photos of trees across from Museum of Science and Industry, in Hyde Park), and as we rolled through November, they have fallen at an increasingly rapid pace. 
As I walk around Hyde Park and along the shore of Lake Michigan (see photos), I am reminded of how much I enjoyed the Fall when growing up in New York. As long as we make it back to southern California before the winter weather for which the Windy City is famous hits Hyde Park (generally not until January and February), I can agree that "Chicago, Chicago, it's a beautiful town!" (This has the makings of a good song!) It rains a lot here (certainly compared to southern California), but in truth, I enjoy listening to the rain's pitter-patter on the roof of our rented house. And, as long as I am not going too far and am suitably equipped with water resistant shoes, a warm jacket, and a trusty umbrella (i.e., one that doesn't invert every time the wind picks up), I enjoy walking in the rain. I admit, however, that the rain is far more tolerable when I do not have to dress up and head off to work on a rainy day! As a retiree, I do not have to worry about such details.Hmmm, the temperature is now dipping into the 30's and 20's. We shall see how much I like the rain when it hits the ground as almost snow and switches back and forth between ice and slush! I do have shoes I wear on my skiing trips, but I do not have "wellies", fancy rubber boots that are far more stylish than what we used to wear while walking to and from school in second grade. Sara's wellies, thanks to L.L. Bean, are red with reindeer all over them. Others have bright plaids, polka-dots, or stripes. I'm counting on being able to forego a purchase for myself. I am also counting on being able to forego a pair of old-fashioned rubbers.
But wait, we suddenly had sunny skies and balmy temperatures in the 60's! It was glorious.
Henry and I took the opportunity to head to downtown Chicago, walk along the Magnificent Mile (Chicago's mostly ritzy shopping street along Michigan Avenue, just north of the Chicago River), and take the Chicago Architecture Foundation's (CAF) architectural boat tour along the river (see photos). CAF's tour, which is longer and more expensive than other architectural boat tours along the Chicago River, was well worth it. The docent, a semi-retired professor of architecture, barely had time to catch her breath while talking virtually non-stop during the 90-minute tour.
Aside from the wealth of information the docent provided about the numerous noteworthy buildings (e.g., Willis (formerly Sears) Tower (still the tallest building in North America--the "Spire", currently a Chicago hole in the ground, will take the Willis Tower's place, if it ever gets completed), Wrigley Building, Marina Towers) (see photos), I was especially fascinated by Chicago's early solution to the pollution of its Lake Michigan drinking water. In the decade prior to 1900, the flow of the Chicago River was reversed, so that it now flows westward, away from the lake.
My favorite building is a residential high-rise (designed by a female architect) on which the outdoor terraces ebb and flow around the building (see photo). With differently sized terraces, everyone's views and lighting apparently are improved.Having studiously researched the admission policies of a number of Chicago's museums and landmarks, I have managed to schedule most of my visits on free general admission days. Somehow, a 15 euro admission charge to a German museum seemed like less than a $22 admission charge in the United States. With the current exchange rate at almost $1.50 to 1 euro, the costs are equivalent. The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) graciously offered ten straight weekdays of free admission in October. Just a ten-minute walk from our house in Hyde Park, MSI welcomed me on three of those days, and I still didn't get through all of the exhibits.
In any event, the best one is the "new" (four years old) U-505 exhibit (see photo), which features the World War II German submarine captured by American forces near the coast of Africa and secretly towed across the Atlantic Ocean to Bermuda, without the Nazis discovering that the Americans retrieved two German enigma machines and multiple codebooks from the sub. This feat enabled the Allies to decode German military communications and resulted in a huge decrease in the number of Allied merchant and supply ships destroyed while trying to cross the ocean. For a number of years, the sub was on display outside the MSI building. In mid-2005, an underground wing of the museum was completed after the weathered submarine was restored, then literally towed and hoisted into its new home. Once the submarine was in place, the ceiling and new entrance to the museum was built around it. I highly recommend the five-minute video of the sub's move into its current indoor home at http://www.msichicago.org/online-science/videos/video-detail/activities/moving-the-u-505-submarine/.
The University of Chicago's Oriental Institute Museum (excellent collection of antiquities from the Middle East (see photo)),
Shedd Aquarium (fun collection of fish, water mammals,amphibians, and colorful anemones (see photo); I skipped the shows directed toward younger visitors),Adler Planetarium (decent telescope exhibit, an exhibit covering changing views of the cosmos, and an exhibit featuring a collection of former astronaut Jim Lovell memorabilia),
Museum of Contemporary Art (interesting exhibit of Italian art from 1968-2008, and some nice Alexander Calder (a personal favorite from my visits to NY's Guggenheim Museum) mobiles (see photo)),
and Field (as in Marshall Field, rather than as in Flora) Museum of Natural History (home to Sue, the world's largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil (see photo), as well as an excellent special exhibit (extra cost) on the nature of diamonds) also welcomed me on no general admission charge days.Entrance fees to some of Chicago's museum and landmark highlights either cannot be avoided or it is not worth it to avoid. The Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) (a Chicago dyslexic's version of the CIA; the Art Institute's defense-contracting branch is SAIC (School of the Art Institute of Chicago)) has so much to offer (as does the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City) and such a small window of free admission hours (just three hours on one evening each week), that I paid for a one-year membership.
I've already been four times and still have not completed a single run-through of the entire museum. On my most recent visit, I took advantage of the free one-hour highlights tour offered daily. The volunteer docent did a wonderful job of choosing a few standout pieces to discuss in further detail. The AIC features a number of paintings straight out of Art Appreciation 101. Just as the Louvre showcases Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and the Metropolitan Museum of Art displays Emanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware and Gilbert Stuart's famous portrait of George Washington, the AIC offers Grant Wood's American Gothic, George Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, and Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, to name a few (see photos). In two weeks, I managed to leave many dollars at the AIC--not only did I visit a special, members-only showing of a special exhibit of Arts and Crafts Movement (mostly decorative arts) pieces; I also purchased a number of gifts at the extremely well-stocked Museum Store (how could I pass up 20% off for AIC members?!). 
On one of my strolls through the AIC, I came across a statue of a female figure (see photo) which, had it been displayed among the works of modern sculptors (e.g., Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), known mostly for his stick-like figures of women) and had the legs not been missing, I could have believed it to be a contemporary work. This piece fits right into the minimalism characteristic of much of today's art. In fact, however, this marble statue is Greek and was carved without metal tools during the Early Bronze Age, between 2600 and 2400 BCE. No wonder it is minimalist! Take your pick of comments--what goes around, comes around; the more things change, the more things stay the same; retro always returns; or, I still have trouble appreciating much of contemporary art.
When I took a tour of the Frederick Robie House (a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and famous for its classic Prairie style (horizontal lines, large overhangs, art glass windows) design) (see photo), I bought a year's membership to the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust. The Robie House is conveniently located on the University of Chicago campus, just a few blocks away from our Hyde Park home. 
The Trust oversees the Robie House and the Wright Home and Studio in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park (where Wright lived and worked for 20 years before leaving his wife and six children and traveling to Europe with the wife of a client). 
It also operates tours of the Oak Park neighborhood where a number of Wright designed homes can be viewed (see photos).As I expected, my membership covered all of the Frank Lloyd Wright tours. I received an unexpected surprise, however, when I was in New York for a week in October (for my 40-year (!!!) high school reunion the first weekend and the unveiling of my mother's footstone the following weekend).
With some time to explore during the week, I visited Kykuit (the John D. Rockefeller (of Standard Oil and University of Chicago (founder) fame) and family (including Nelson Rockefeller) estate overlooking the Hudson River (see photos)) and other landmarks in and around Sleepy Hollow (in Westchester County, near the Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River). 
It wasn't until after I ordered my on-line ticket for a tour of Kykuit that I discovered my Trust membership entitled me to a large discount on my ticket, as well as a free tour of the nearby Lyndhurst mansion (originally the home of former New York City mayor William Paulding, and later home to Jay Gould, railroad magnate) (see photos). As another extra (but no free ride), I visited the Union Church of Pocantico Hills, which the Rockefellers helped found. Its claims to fame are the nine lovely Marc Chagall stained glass windows along the nave and Henri Matisse rose window over the altar--all commissioned by members of the Rockefeller family. Considering there are just a few Chagall stained glass windows in the United States (the others are at the United Nations Secretariat in NYC and The Art Institute of Chicago (unfortunately, I haven't been able to view the AIC windows because they are currently being restored)), I felt like I hit the jackpot that day! It was also probably the closest I will get to replicating a European day in the U.S.--a New York version of Bavarian castles!
Now that I've taken this tangent away from the Midwest toward New York, I'll continue with the rest of my week-long visit to that Mid-Atlantic state. My 40-year high school reunion turned out to be a big success. The reunion committee managed to bring a large crowd together for a "meet and greet" on Friday night, and sold out the dinner/dance event on Saturday night. I was surprised at how many people I did not recognize, generally because of graying or lost hair and/or because of added weight. Unfortunately, the names on the name tags were in smaller print than I could read from an acceptable distance. I had a choice of either admitting a lack of recognition or staring at people's chests. Either choice was embarrassing, but with some folks, I was able to get friends to identify who was who. Once I had the name, recognition generally followed. Of course, there were some people who looked the same as the day they graduated from high school--well, maybe they had a few more wrinkles, or should I say "laugh lines". In any event, I enjoyed reconnecting with people I had not seen in 20 (I did get to the 20-year reunion) or 40 years.
Henry was a wonderful sport and joined me for the dinner/dance (see photo). He also joined the group that met in New York City for lunch on Sunday. In some ways, the get-together in NYC was the highlight of the weekend. 
Eight of us--five alums (Chris Zahniser, Suni Takeda, Cindy Beline, Miriam Lang, and me) and three husbands (Henry, Hitoshi, and Howie (the three H's))-- met at Perry Street Restaurant in the West Village (see photo). Part of the draw for Henry (okay, and me too) was that the restaurant was a Michelin One Star. Not only did the food live up to its star billing; it was also especially nice to be able to talk to each other without having to yell over the din of dance music and/or 250 people talking in a confined space at the same time.
The weather could not have been better for a fall day in "the City". After lunch, we walked in Hudson River Park (see photo) and then strolled along the High Line, a new park along the former elevated train tracks along Manhattan's Lower West Side (see photos). Both parks showed New York City at its best--people were strolling, jogging, riding bikes, picnicking, and just hanging out and enjoying themselves.
The High Line boasts a number of spots where people can see and be seen as they stretch out on built-in lounge chairs overlooking the Hudson (see photo). We finally ended up at a gallery on or near 26th Street where some of Hitoshi's art work was being displayed (see photos). It was extremely helpful to have 
Hitoshi on hand to explain the significance of various shapes in his pieces (see photo). In true gallery fashion, he offered us bottled water and prosecco! As Henry and I were riding the train back to Westchester, we both agreed that we had one of the best days we have ever spent in New York City. We felt welcome and a part of what is good about the City. Indeed, as we tried to hail a taxi to take us to Grand Central Station, an off-duty cabbie stopped to ask us our intended destination. Since Grand Central was on his way up town to get to his wife who he had just learned was in labor, he took the fare and dropped us a block away. We had a quick, but very pleasant conversation, and wished him well as we rushed off in our respective directions.The following weekend brought us altogether for the unveiling of my mother's footstone, a traditional Jewish ceremony that often takes place after the 11-month mourning period for a parent. Henry, Brett, and Sara joined Linda, Eric, and me, as well as Judi and Bernie, from Columbus, and a few other friends and relatives. Linda suggested that before the noon unveiling, we participate in the October 18, 2009 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at nearby Manhattanville College. Even though Mom battled a different type of cancer, it was a fitting tribute to her memory. Despite the rain and cold weather (I dare say, it was more brutal than Chicago!), 5,000 people walked the 4.4-mile route, including Linda, Judi, Brett, Sonia (the wonderful woman who lived with and took care of Mom during the last year of her life), and me.
I am sure our parents were "kvelling" (for those of you who do not know this Yiddish word, it means beaming with pleasure and pride). I expect they would also have been proud of their three daughters amicably working out a distribution among us of the many pieces of art, porcelain, silver, and other statuary they collected over their lifetimes. Now, we have to figure out how to get these fragile items shipped! When we return to Del Mar at the end of the year, I already have my next project on tap--to design built-in shelves to display the many heirlooms.Enough of my digression away from Chicago.... One of our favorite days in Hyde Park, besides Sara's 21st birthday, was Halloween. After years and years of greeting two, one, and sometimes no groups of trick-or-treaters at our Del Mar home, we discovered that our rented house lies in the middle of Hyde Park trick-or-treat central! Fortunately, I had the foresight to ask one of our neighbors how much candy I should have available. The neighbor was not joking when she replied 10 to 15 bags! Although the age range of trick-or-treaters was about 2 to 32, the cutest of them were between 2 and 5. It was the younger ones whom we had to coax to take more than one piece of candy. Some of their older siblings were not at all shy about taking a handful. After a steady flow of wonderfully diverse characters that began at about 4:30PM, we finally ran out of candy at about 8:45PM, having to send away empty-handed the last ghosts and goblins.
We get to see Sara a couple of times a week, which is not a lot, but it is certainly more than we would otherwise see her.
And, we were with her to celebrate her 21st birthday on November 11th (see photo--yes, there are 21 candles on the cake which Sara extinguished with a single breath), not to mention several days of her "birthday week". A number of years ago, Sara "invented" (along with most other kids) birthday weeks--we multiply our celebrating even if we don't commensurately multiply the number of gifts. Having spent the fall 2008 and winter 2009 quarters being "legal" while drinking in Europe, Sara had to wait another seven and a half months to be "legal" here. Congratulations, Sara, and with your youthful looks, enjoy being "carded"! As for me, in the space of 24 hours, I was carded at the local liquor store (when buying champagne for Sara's birthday celebration) (so what if they card everyone!), and was asked if I was a senior (age 65 and over) when I inquired about entry prices at one of the local museums. Thanks, but no thanks; I can wait a while longer for the senior discount!Unlike in Zurich and Munich, we have been able to socialize with and get to know some of our neighbors. It helped that our landlords left the names and phone numbers of our neighbors on each side of us and that one of the couples had us and our other next-door neighbors over for dessert shortly after we arrived. The small world syndrome also worked its magic--it turns out that Henry knows a neighbor across the street from about 30 years ago, when Henry worked at Fermi Lab, and another friend of the renters who delivered some needed supplies turned out to be a fellow University of Rochester graduate with whom I had a number of good friends in common. We have since socialized with both of these couples. I still go off to museums and the movies on my own, but it's also nice to feel comfortable calling up a neighbor to borrow an iron or an electric mixer (among a number of items absent from our rental house).
Foodies that we are, I cannot close without mentioning several fine restaurants we have been to in Chicago. Everest, where we took Sara and her boyfriend, Jonathan, for her birthday (see photo), was by far the most elegant (and also the most expensive), but was delightful for our very special occasion. The Gage, Trattoria 10, Wildfire, Rooster Wine Bar and Cafe are excellent as well, and blessedly are on a lower price plane than Everest. Two Hyde Park favorites are The Sit Down, across the street from Sara's apartment, and Medici (affectionately known by the locals as The Med), two blocks away from our house. Both are informal, with solid offerings. The Med is an old Obama haunt, and the wait staff proudly wear their work tee-shirts with "Obama Eats Here" printed on the back.I promise this is not the end of my sabbatical blog, but I am definitely getting close....
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