And, dessert lovers can find Nirvana at More, a downtown cupcake store introduced to us by one of our Hyde Park neighbors who brought over a selection to finish off one of our Sunday brunch parties. One might think that a cupcake store would be unique, but Brett and her boyfriend, Jared, discovered another one, called Sweet Bliss (see photo), hidden under some "L" tracks in the Chicago Loop. Sweet Bliss cupcakes were tasty, but did not hold a candle to the more ornate, more varied, and simply outstanding selection at More (sorry, no photo--the cupcakes were eaten too quickly!).
I cannot say that Chicago has a monopoly on cold, windy, and snowy weather, but we had our first confrontation with the combination in the past few days (see photo taken from our front door). It is one thing to have the cold wind blowing in one's face; adding snow to the mix takes the experience to a new level. On one of those cold, windy, and snowy days, I missed my train stop for the second time during our sabbatical year (see blog entry "From Gottingen and Goslar to Dresden and the DDR"). I caught the express Metra train from downtown Chicago back to Hyde Park and carefully listened to the conductor (or more likely what turned out to be recording) calling out the stations. I heard the announcement for 53rd Street, the station before mine, and got up from my seat when I heard, "Next stop, 55th-56th-57th Streets, University of Chicago." I headed for the platform door, only to watch as the train sped by the station. As I stood there, I listened to more station announcements, as the train continued southbound, without stopping. I thought to myself, "Am I going to end up in Indiana, or perhaps the infamous South Side?" Either way, I was not looking forward to standing on a mostly deserted station platform where my train would finally stop to disgorge passengers and I would then wait in the evening gray for the next northbound train to arrive. My demeanor was not helped by my worry that I was carrying holiday gifts in a large Museum of Contemporary Art shopping bag, which figuratively announced, "Free gifts, right here." The train finally stopped at 115th Street, not all the way to the Indiana state line, but thankfully enough south that I only had to worry about frostbite and becoming a human snow-woman as the quarter-sized snowflakes blew at me in all directions. My trip home took an extra hour, but I felt some consolation in the fact that I was not alone in my plight. At least one other southbound rider was in the same predicament as me. Okay, I should have been more attentive, but I am certain that, if the Metra indeed stopped at my stop, as it was supposed to and most probably did, the station announcement for 53rd Street came after my stop rather than before. All's well that ends well, though I was a bit colder for the experience.
As for other "travels" from Chicago, Henry and I spent a long weekend in Washington DC, just before Thanksgiving (see photo of Henry and me next to the Potomac). Henry attended the semi-annual Washington meetings of JASON, the consulting group to which he belongs and with whom he consults in San Diego during the summer. JASON is a creation of a group of physicists, many of whom participated in the Manhattan Project during World War II. The scientists (no longer just physicists) consult with various federal agencies on both classified and unclassified topics. (If any of you are interested, check out Ann Finkbeiner's book, "The Jasons: The Secret History of Science's Postwar Elite.") Over the weekend, JASON celebrated its 50th anniversary with a gala on Saturday evening. Whatever tensions have existed or exist between JASON and its client agencies over the years were put aside as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and others regaled JASON's assistance on difficult scientific issues, from global warming to ways to detect the presence of nuclear weapons.I came along, not only to join in the festivities, but also to visit with old friends and to be a tourist in my own country's capital. We joined the Haffner clan (long-time friends from our annual ski trips to Taos Ski Valley) in Rockville, MD for a delicious pre-Thanksgiving-Thanksgiving dinner. As it turned out, both of Leni and Bill's daughters (Stephanie and Andrea) were visiting, as well as Andrea's husband, Rob, and their three-year-old son, Walker. Talk about cutie-pies--Walker is a gregarious bundle of energy, with curly blond locks and an impish smile. Of course, our kids are cute too, but sorry, Brett and Sara, you are well beyond the goo-goo stage. I also had lunches with elementary/high school friends, Sara Sonet, Cindy Beline, and Margaret Wiener. As was the case when I visited with elementary school friend, Marcia Hampton, in Garmisch, Germany (see blog entries "Nice and Nice", "Here and There Addendum", and "Flurry to the Finish"), they are such old friends that seeing them after an extended absence was no different than if I had seen them the day before. We could just pick up where we left off.
While in the area, I joined in on a couple of tours planned for JASON spouses/significant others.
I do not recall ever having visited the Library of Congress, which definitely has enough indoor adornment to rival the ornamentation of some of the many edifices we encountered in Europe. The building is little more than 100 years old, but this Italian Renaissance style structure offers a lot of flair, without being too overly garish (see photos). And, although I missed the Gutenberg Bible in Gottingen (see blog entry "From Gottingen and Goslar to Dresden and the DDR"), the Library of Congress' copy was on view. Even as the world becomes more and more "cyberfied", the Library of Congress is the repository of 142,000,000 items, including books, recordings, photographs, films, maps, sheet music, and other printed and written material. Nevertheless, it has also digitized much of its collection.
In the afternoon, we toured the U.S. Capitol. I am sure I had been there when I was a kid, but it's important to visit our nation's Capitol at least once every 50 years or so (see photos)! During this tour, I learned an interesting tidbit. Each state may contribute two statues of its favorite sons/daughters it wishes to have displayed in the Capitol's halls and corridors. In his bronze glory, Jefferson Davis represents Mississippi, despite his presidency of the Confederate States of America! Following our tour, a few of us garnered passes to the Senate gallery. This was a first for me. Although I was disappointed that only five or six senators were present, I still got to see a momentous event--the motion for cloture to bring the health care reform bill to the Senate floor for debate. The bill sat on a desk in full view--all 2,000+ pages of it. Query how many senators not only personally read through the entire bill, but also understand it all! I imagine chambers review starts with aides of aides of aides culling through the morass, and culminates with a multi-layered editorialized summary eventually making it to the senator's desk. One more note--although gallery passes are easily available (and free), I have never been through so many cycles of security as were required before entering the gallery.Columbus, Ohio does not have the same allure as the nation's capital, but being able to visit with Judi and Bernie, especially with a $25 each way plane fare on Southwest, was reason enough to drop in for a couple of days less than a week before the completion of our sabbatical adventure.
Oops, I almost forgot that I also got to meet Morgan, their lovable black Labrador (see photos). Morgan doesn't jump up off of "all fours", as her predecessor, Sasha, did. Rather, she shows her friendliness by standing on her hind legs and getting her front paws on my chest, climbing on top of me when I sit in her favorite chair (all chairs are Morgan's favorite), and nuzzling her nose in my lap. And, that's just to say hello! Despite Morgan's jealousy over my presence in her household (she unquestionably rules the roost in the Levine-Bornstein home), having a home-cooked meal at my sister and brother-in-law's house felt more like home than our rented house in Hyde Park.
Earlier in the fall, before the weather turned frigid, Henry and I drove down to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (see photos), a spot I had never heard of before our stint in Chicago. Apparently, a number of Chicagoans have weekend and/or vacation homes along the frontage that Indiana (minus Gary, Indiana) has along the southern edge of Lake Michigan, between Illinois and Michigan. Our November visit was well out of season, so Henry and I had much of the beach area and hiking trails to ourselves. The steel mills of Gary tarnish the view of the lake, but walking in the opposite direction proved to be a simple remedy at least half of the time!
Thanksgiving was a homecoming of sorts, with Brett and Jared (see photo), visiting from Las Vegas and Judi and Bernie (see photo) visiting from Columbus. Our time together could have been more perfect only if my sister, Linda, and her family could have joined us.Brett and Jared stayed long enough to sightsee a bit and to see some of their Chicago friends.
Sara and I also had a chance to join them for a taste of German Christmas cheer in Chicago. The day before Thanksgiving, Daley Plaza turned into Christkindlmarkt, with booth upon booth of Christmas ornaments, stocking stuffers, cuckoo clocks, and beer steins for sale (see photos). The food and drink booths offered solid (e.g., brezen (German soft pretzels), wurst, schnitzel, and gingerbread cookies) and liquid (e.g., gluhwein (hot mulled wine (see blog entry "Back to Blogging")) and German beer) refreshments. We sampled the gluhwein, pretzels, and cookies--the pretzels were the winners by a wide margin, fresh and soft through every ring and with just enough salt for added flavor. The rainy (and cold) weather might have deterred the live musicians, but did not dampen the festive atmosphere.We have a family tradition that Thanksgiving is Henry's holiday. Henry prepares the turkey and stuffing and bakes pies from scratch.
He is the only person I know who perennially succeeds in baking a juicy turkey, and he outdid himself in that category this year. 
My praise of the turkey is certainly not meant to denigrate the pies--the two apple and one pecan pies hit the spot both with and without an ice cream topping (see photos). Henry, Sara, and I were also able to show off a bit of Hyde Park culture to our guests, by taking in a play at the Court Theatre on the U of C campus. The theater has the intimacy of Solana Beach, California's North Coast Repertory Theatre and the professional quality of the LaJolla Playhouse on the UC San Diego campus.Our company wasn't around long enough to partake in other campus offerings, but over our close to three-month stay, I was able to enjoy many of the films shown nightly at a campus auditorium just three blocks from our house. Since we had no television hooked up in the house, the classics (weekly Frank Capra's black and white, almost always happily ending films, Francois Truffaut films, and Michael Mann films), as well as newer releases on the weekends, drew me out on a number of chillly evenings. I also took advantage of performances at the Rockefeller Chapel (e.g., Motet Choir, Hunchback of Notre Dame), invited speaker events (e.g., Natan Sharansky), and a performance of one of the final pieces of music completed at the Terezin Concentration Camp in 1944 (with an accompanying talk by the performers, who also interpreted the notes hastily written by the piece's composer, Viktor Ullmann, before he was sent to the gas chambers of Auschwitz). I was content to miss former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's visit to the U of C bookstore to sign copies of his new book, "The Governor", just as I would have been content to miss a book signing by Sarah Palin!
I'm very glad I did not miss my favorite event--the 63rd Annual Latke-Hamantash Debate. Each year, the University of Chicago invites a group of highly respected U of C professors and scholars to debate which is the worthier food, the Latke (potato pancake eaten during Hanukkah) or the Hamatash (a three cornered filled pastry eaten on Purim). In recognition of the publication of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" 150 years ago, this year's debaters considered whether Darwin's theory of evolution could shed light on the Latke-Hamantash controversy. Over 1000 people crammed into the auditorium to witness erudite humor from professors of neurobiology, linguistics, public policy, history of science, and philosophy. The "debate" was hilarious, and as apparently is the case most years, the Latke won. (If you are interested, check out "The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate," edited by Ruth Fredman Cernea.)
Gearing up to leave Chicago, I made first and/or final visits to Millennium Park (home to a huge outdoor theater and some imaginative outdoor art (see photos)); the Museum of Chicago History (acknowledging aspects of the city for which it is famous (e.g., its architecture, its importance as a transportation hub and as a stage for jazz and blues greats), as well as events for which the city is infamous (e.g., St. Valentine's Day massacre, handling of protesters during the 1968 Democratic National Convention)); The Museum of Contemporary Art; and the Art Institute of Chicago. 
On my final visit to the Art Institute, I completed my cycle through those parts of the museum I missed on earlier visits (e.g., pre-1900 American art (I especially enjoyed works by Frederic Remington and Winslow Homer (see photos)), and returned to a few favorites (see blog entry "Musings on Middle America"). And, of course, we could not leave Chicago without seeing a comedy revue at The Second City, the springboard for many of Saturday Night Live's performers (e.g., John Belushi, Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Gilda Ratner, Mike Myers, Tina Fey), as well as for other actors, such as Alan Alda, Alan Arkin, Peter Boyle, and Fred Willard. The set pieces were funnier than the improv, but that did not matter; it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.Although the city got its name from the Miami and Illinois Indian word for wild leeks (Checagou), Chicago is no onion.
As in London, one gets to "Watch [rather than Mind] the Gap" on the Metra (see photo) (also see blog entry "Playing for the Ashes"), and as in Nice, one gets to "Kiss and Fly" at O'Hare Airport (see blog entry "Nice and Nice"), so it is obviously a cosmopolitan place. Even though the International Olympic Committee declined to bestow upon Chicago the honor of spending billions of dollars to host the 2016 Olympics, Chicago has much of which to be proud. I'll miss the skyline, the museums, the culture, and the Hyde Park neighborhood. I will especially miss meeting Sara for lunch before she skips off to class. But, Sara has already left for vacation.So, Dorothy, is there really no place like home? Although this sabbatical year has been a fantastic experience, I am looking forward to going home. Sorry, folks, we won't be slip-sliding our way back across the heartland of America--our car is being transported by truck, while Henry and I, in traditional Levine-Abarbanel fashion, fly back to San Diego on different planes and on different days. Henry, who will probably never retire, is flying home via San Francisco, where he will give one more talk before the end of the year. But next week, Henry and I will be back on Crest Road with both Sara and Brett at home with us. Yes, there is no place like home, especially when the whole family is there together!
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