Chinatown, Indian Food, Irish Pub = Chicago

Well aloha friends,

It really has been a long time since a blupdate. The trip finished over a month ago, and it's been pointed out to me by more than one person that the blog is not finished, so, with the rather large amount of time I have on my hands right now I thought I should finish it, as much as I can remember anyway.

We left off about to see Messing With A Friend, an improv show hosted by Susan Messing, a very funny comedian. Her guest on the night was Michael Patrick Thornton, a disabled actor and comedian who was ludicrously funny. Before the show started we met someone who works at Second City, the most famous of Chicago's Improv clubs, and he reassured us we were in for a treat, as we weren't really sure what to expect. His name was something ridiculously American, some sort of noun like Van, Pedal or Truck. Can't remember. If you see a comedian in the future that's come through the Second City and he has a preposterous name, that's probably him. The night was incredible, a real treat. Hadn't laughed that hard in a long time.

The next day, Friday 28th October, was our last in Chicago. Our flights were booked for NY for early next morning, so we did some things that were still on our list, namely visit a Chinatown and eat proper Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. We started the day off with the pizza, deciding on "Giordano's" out of the plethora of Italian restaurants claiming to have the "original deep dish". The place was already packed by 11.30 in the morning, but they managed to squeeze us in to a little booth. The pizza is all made to order, and takes about 45 minutes to cook, just enough time for a couple of card games. You can probably guess that the pizza was amazing. We shared a small, and this is how big it was:

More like a pie than anything. We'll never forget that first Deep Dish Pizza... mostly because it filled us to bursting. After a massive lunch like that there's only one thing to do - a very, very long walk. We visited Chinatown, and got rather disturbed by some of the things on sale in the grocery stores. I bought a packet of 'Hello Panda' biscuits, which I would recommend to anyone that likes a biscuit that doesn't taste great, but is in the shape of an animal with a sport printed on its front. Bizarre. We headed back to Downtown and walked all around the Loop, which is the name of the area inside the loop of El trains, the Elevated train system in Chicago. We hadn't actually had a donut by that point, despite being in the States for almost 3 weeks, and it seemed like the proper thing to do, y'know, sample the national dish. So we stumbled into a Dunkin' Donuts, and bought one each. While there we saw 2 women buy A DOZEN DONUTS EACH. Surprised they managed to fit through the door. Still, that didn't put us off playing with our food:

After a long walk around Millennium park, taking pictures of the nighttime Chicago skyline, we headed back to Lauren and Lateef's before heading deep into the North Side with them to a real multi-cultural hotspot. Among the mix of Afghan, Chinese and Bangladeshi restaurants was L&L's favourite Indian, where we shared a delicious (spicy) korma, a number 66, and LOTS of naan bread. After the meal Lauren and Lateef took us to meet their friends back in their neighbourhood and we all had a cracking night out, taking in several clubs and Irish bars. It turned out that one of Lateef's friends had grown up in London, so we had plenty to talk about. As it was Hallowe'en we saw some ridiculous costumes, including something called a Nicky Minaj. Not sure what that is, but it certainly looked like a monster.

The next morning, otherwise known as an hour after we went to bed, Lateef very kindly drove us to O'Hare airport for our flight to New York. We had such a wonderful time staying with the two of them, and they made us feel so welcome, we really can't thank them enough. Needless to say, a return offer of a bed is available to everyone that we stayed with over the course of our trip. We left Chicago in bright sunshine, and were meant to land at JFK in a little under 2 hours. Things didn't go quite to plan...

Buddy Guy, Mojo Daddy, and A Tour Through The Galaxy With Whoopi Goldberg

"Come on! Feel the Illinoise!"

Well, yesterday was rather incredible. One of the main reasons we came to Chicago was to see some proper live blues music, and yesterday we not only fulfilled but surpassed that goal! But more on that later...

We started the day late, which is becoming a bit of a feature, and headed towards Museum Park, the home of the Field Museum, Soldier Field, Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium. We only had time to see one attraction, so we went to the Planetarium, which was certainly the right choice. With entry you got to choose which films you wanted to see, and we opted for a 'Journey Through The Stars' with Whoopi Goldberg, which was incredible; a fascinating trip around the cosmos looking at the creationg of stars. Very interesting. We also took a trip inside the Atwood Sphere, which was a metal planetarium built in 1913, used by the public until the 30s, and then acquired by the US Navy to teach officers how to navigate by the stars during World War II.

We saw some other exhibits, including a display on the Apollo Missions that had a lot of items donated by Jim Lovell, the astronaut who flew on Apollo 8 and Apollo 13. Having been fascinated by the Apollo Missions for as long as I can remember, it was something special seeing so many important artefacts. Another cool thing that we both loved was that the Planetarium played "space music", or "music that would not be out of place in a Star Trek film". That was fun.

After a delicious pasta dinner cooked by Charlie we headed out to Buddy Guy's Legends Blues Bar. If ever there was a Mecca for blues, it's here. The place is owned and run by Buddy Guy, one of the pioneers of the Chicago Blues Sound. The whole bar is covered in guitars owned by famous musicians: Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Muddy Waters to name a few. Buddy himself wasn't playing last night (he tends to take over the stage for the whole of January), but he was greeting people at the door. The band that we saw were called Mojo Daddy, a truly superb 4-piece that must have played for 3 or 4 hours over the course of the evening. While they were finishing their set Charlie befriended a Brazilian road construction engineer called Kiko, who quickly introduced us to the rest of his group, made up of more Brazilians (there was a conference), a German lady, and a home-grown Chicagoan. We chatted with the band for a bit before the bar closed, then headed next door to another bar, before a very late return to Lateef and Lauren's! Definitely worth the late night though, so much fun!

Today has been slightly more sedate, although we're heading to a comedy night later. We've spent most of the day walking, and made our way down to the University of Chicago, which has a beautiful campus and plenty of history. We stood on top of the site where the first controlled, sustained nuclear chain reaction took place, which was rather interesting. After our walk around the campus we headed back up to Downtown and out to Navy Pier, where you can see the best views of the city. It was even better tonight as there was a huge storm to the north, out over Lake Michigan. Remarkable sight.

Tonight we're heading to the Annoyance Theatre to see Messing With A Friend, a highly rated improv show that's not too far from here. Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow, but I'm sure we'll have plenty to write about!

Ciao ciao,

Chris and Charlie

Lumberjack Sundays, Chi-Town, and Isn't it Odd How Michael Jackson Lives In An Alleyway In Ann Arbor and Nobody Has Noticed?

"The town that Billy Sunday couldn't shut down..."

We're in Chicago, the final city on our trek across the States. Last night we had a fairly unremarkable night at the 500-bed H.I. Hostel Chicago, so I shan't remark on it much further, but today we've had a day of sightseeing, beach walking and ice-hockey watching. Before we get on to talking about the Windy City, though, we should pick up where we left off...

Ann Arbor is a beautiful university town. The whole place is designed around the 40-000 strong student population of the University of Michigan, which explains the large number of coffee shops, grills, and bars that fill up Downtown. Our host, Ted Lorts (son of Katie and Dan, who we stayed with on the Cranbrook/Troy leg of our trip) showed us around town on Sunday, which included lunch at 'Jerusalem Garden' (falafel all round!). On one of the main boulevards running through town is an alleyway that plays host to a Michael Jackson impersonator who does nothing but dance to MJ songs all day. Seriously. Nothing else but that. We decided that the one American experience we hadn't yet, erm, experienced, was a trip to a Mall, so Ted took us to a large shopping centre just outside of town where, in American Eagle Outfitters we all bought the same shirt. Even Charlie. Turns out that we just all look good in 'Blue Lumberjack'.

Having all bought the same shirt, it seemed necessary that we all go out wearing them. On Sunday night Ted took us to a Mexican restaurant where we ate the kind of fajitas that Old Orleans can only dream of producing. After a couple of enquiries as to the reason behind the matching shirts from men outside the restaurant, we headed to Ann Arbor's premier draft beer pub, where they offered dozens of draft beers, and even more bottled beers and ciders. Incredible selection. They also had a jukebox that no one was adding songs on. Anyone that knows me knows what happened next.

After we returned from the pub, Charlie and I introduced Ted to the delights of Green Wing which, for those that don't know, is one of the funniest, most bizarre comedies to have come out of Britain since Monty Python. This kind of important cross-cultural pollination of ideas is one of the reasons we came out to the States: to introduce people to Dr Alan Statham playing his sopranino in his underpants.

Anyway, we spent Monday exploring Ann Arbor further while Ted was in class, and had lunch in a French-style bistro. Delicious Croque Madame. After a quick spot of belt-shopping (don't ask), and a long time spent in the best comic book store this side of Springfield (the fictional one), we bade farewell to Ted and boarded the Megabus for Chicago... I've already mentioned that not much happened Monday night after we arrived in Chicago, except for a cracking game of Settlers of Catan, so lets move on to today (Tuesday)!

They say that one of the best ways to see a city is from the top of a tall building. I'm not sure who 'they' are, but the statement certainly holds to be true when the building in question is the tallest in the United States of America. The Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) is the fourth tallest building in the world, and from the 103rd floor you can see Wisconsin, Indiana, all of Chicago, and a significant distance across Lake Michigan. After our trip to the top of the 'SkyDeck' we spent a while getting our bearings around the city. Chicago seems to be a friendly city, more open than New York despite the skyscrapers. We're currently couchsurfing with Lateef and Lauren in the Old Town part of the city, and for dinner ventured north to Wrigleyville, home of Wrigley Field where the Chicago Cubs baseball team play. In the 97 years that the Cubs have been playing at Wrigley Field they have never won the World Series, which is a statistic that should bring some small comfort to Arsenal fans.

Dinner tonight at "The Stretch Grill" (famous for its love of yoga pants) consisted of the largest salad known to man for Charlie, and a cheese-embalmed burger topped with a parmesan-poached egg for me. I know everyone is waiting to hear about the deep dish pizza, but we just haven't got around to it yet. We will though. We're also hoping to see a show at The Second City improv comedy theatre, visit the renowned Shedd Aquarium, and maybe tour a couple of art museums as well. At the moment we're just chilling in front of an ice hockey game (ANA 2-2 CHI heading towards overtime, in case you're interested), waiting for Lateef and Lauren to get home. We'll have more to talk about in a couple of days!

Arrivederci,

Chris & Charlie

Buffaloaf, Ann Arbor, and A Tale of Two Cranbrooks

Wow, it's been a while since we've done a blupdate (blog update). I don't think we've written since we arrived in Troy, MI, so it's time to rectify that. So much has happened!

We got to Katie and Dan Lorts' house on Thursday morning after an overnight bus from Buffalo, via Cleveland. From there we headed up to meet Katie at Cranbrook School, which is linked to Cranbrook, Kent, where my Dad is Head of Music. I had stayed with Katie and Dan before when the English Cranbrook toured to the American Cranbrook, but Charlie hadn't met them before. Cranbrook, MI is one of the largest private schools in the States in terms of sheer size, sitting as it does on 350 acres of land, and the whole area has been beautifully landscaped. Within the grounds sits the high school, split between two campuses (originally the boys school and the girls school before they merged in the 80s), designed by visionary Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen. It really doesn't feel like a school when you're there! The boys school was designed to look like an Oxford college, and the girls school is very art deco, with a large copper roof and incredible open spaces everywhere. Also at the school is an Art Institute and Museum, which also offers post-graduate degrees, and a Science Museum, which is where we spent our Thursday afternoon. It's a special place, Cranbrook.

After we visited the Science Museum we headed to the Franklin Cider Mill, where they've been brewing (non-alcoholic) cider since 1832, and they make a range of apple pies and maple syrup too. You know that you're getting near when you can smell the cinnamon! We grabbed an apple crumble pie for pudding, and then met Katie back at her house for a nice, chilled evening in. Dan was at work until stupid o'clock, so we only got to see him briefly. Friday we spent up at the school, where Katie took us on a long walk through the beautiful grounds. The colours of the trees were just coming out, and its just such a nice place to be! On Friday night Katie and Dan's son Ted was playing in a Symphony Band concert up at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The concert was fantastic, and then we went to the Jolly Pumpkin Grill and Microbrewery, which was just brilliant.

On Saturday we went to the Detroit Institute of Art, which is apparently the sixth largest art museum in America, and home to a famous mural by Diego Rivera. The place is absolutely massive. We spent several hours there and barely covered a floor! Saw a whole room full of Picasso, and a Van Gogh display, which was wonderful. Afterwards we went with Katie to the Traffic Jam and Snug Grill and Microbrewery (notice a delicious theme?), where they had sweet potato chips (divine) and stuffed deer heads on the wall (a bit creepy). After a tour of Detroit we headed back to the house and introduced Charlie to the delights of Arrested Development ("It's not a trick, Michael! It's an illusion!), and learnt a new card game called Euchre, before heading out with Dan and Katie to a grill (no microbrewery) called Ticondaroga. I had Buffaloaf. Buffalo meatloaf. Buffaloaf. Gonna just, gonna give you a minute to think about that.

Buffaloaf.

Charlie ate Buffalo Balls, which, it turns out (thankfully) are Buffalo Meatballs. Buffalo Balls. Gonna just, gonna give you a minute to think about that.

This morning (Sunday) Katie and Dan drove us to Ann Arbor, where we are currently staying with Ted. We went to a great place for breakfast called Afternoon Delight, where Charlie ate a Belgian-style (naturally) pecan waffle and Dan and I both had a Meat Boule, which was a massive hollowed-out bread roll filled with ham, bacon, sausage, swiss cheese, mozzarella, cheddar cheese and scrambled eggs. Meat Boule... Gonna just, gonna give you a minute to think about that.

So we have had a fantastic few days staying with Katie and Dan in their beautiful home, it really has been so much fun. We're currently at Ted's in Ann Arbor, and tomorrow we're heading over to Chicago, for the last new city on our trip. Hard to believe that we started almost 2 weeks ago! We're about to go out to a Mexican Grill (I'll keep you updated about the microbrewery situation), and hopefully it won't be so long until we blupdate again!

Ciao ciao,

Chris & Charlie

Art-deco Heaven, Motor City, and a Pilgrimage to the Home of the Buffalo Chicken Wing

What an interesting couple of days we've had. I'm writing this from the home of Katie and Dan Lorts in Troy, Michigan, near Cranbrook School (a 350-acre wonderland), and about 15 miles north of Detroit. Since I last blogged we have had our final overnight bus trip (huzzah!), hired a car (free upgrade!) and eaten lots of chicken (chicken!).

We had to check out of the hostel in Buffalo at 10.30 am on Wednesday morning, and so we decided (over a cup of the best damn hot chocolate in the state) to go on a historic walking tour of Downtown Buffalo, see some amazing architecture, and then explore the Allbright-Knox Art Museum. The walking tour was fascinating. Buffalo has a reputation for being a bit run down (indeed, we were there at the same time as the National Preservation Conference), and there are about 20,000 empty homes in the city, but hidden about the place are architectural gems. We saw the world's first tall office block, complete with large floor mosaics and gold-leaf elevators, and climbed to the top of City Hall, which truly is one of the finest art-deco buildings in the world.

We ended up in Elmwood Village, the artsy boho area of the city, and had a delicious lunch in a European cafe (when in Rome...) before heading up to the Allbright-Knox. Half the gallery was shut for installation, but we managed to see an original Renoir, Monet, Warhol, Lichtenstein... It was incredible. We even saw that self-portrait of Frida Kahlo with a monkey. Worth it. We'd heard a rumour that the Anchor Bar was the place to go for dinner, so we headed back towards Main Street (via Riley Street) and entered the 'Home of the Buffalo Chicken Wing'. Turns out the Anchor Bar is one of the most famous in America, and you can't not have a plate of spicy wings, celery and bleu cheese, which we shared while watching another Ice Hockey game. The bar itself is great, and the walls are plastered with signed photographs from famous visitors such as Frank Sinatra and the Everly Brothers, but the highlight for us was meeting some really nice people up at the bar, some of whom were in town for the Preservation Conference, and whom we're already in contact with. Fascinating place. If ever you're in Buffalo, head to the Anchor Bar. Or Pearl Street Grill, both are amazing.

Overnight Greyhound bus brought us to Detroit, via Cleveland (tick Ohio off the list), and we managed to work our way up the famous Woodward Avenue to our rental place. Sadly, they didn't have the car we booked... so they gave us a free upgrade. A 2011 Hyundai Sonata, very nice indeed. Has the looks of a BMW with the efficiency of a Ford Mondeo. Very, very nice.

We're about to head up to Cranbrook School itself, meeting up with Katie between her lessons this afternoon (she's a teacher there), and we'll also explore the campus. It's a truly remarkable place, one of the largest private schools in America, and I'm sure we'll have plenty more to say about it in the next post!

Ciao ciao,

Chris and Charlie

Canada, Getting Wet, and the Best Damn Microbrewery in the State!

In Canada they speak funny, eh?

Well, no, not as it turns out. Not in the little corner of Ontario that we explored yesterday. They sounded more Scottish than anything. You can probably guess that we went to Niagara Falls, and it was incredible! It´s really cheap to get there from Buffalo, or, as the French call it, Buffle ($1.75 for an hour´s journey? OK then!), so we headed over at about lunchtime. The whole resort of Niagara is winding down now, on both sides of the border, as the season officially closes on Monday, so we timed it really well. We went on the historic Maid of the Mist tour, which takes you just close enough to the horseshoe falls to get sopping wet. We still have our little free ponchos, just in case we get caught in a storm! After the Maid of the Mist we took the long walk across the Rainbow Bridge to Canada, which got us both another stamp in our passports. From Canada you can see the entire Falls in all their glory, and there´s even the opportunity to walk behind the Horseshoe Falls. How could we pass up an opportunity like that! Wearing another free poncho you venture down the side of the cliff to the bottom of the falls, so you can get wet again, then walk a significant distance behind the Falls and look at the water from various viewing points. The power of the water is unbelievable!

Last night, having returned to Buffalo and dried off, we headed to Pearl Street Grill and Microbrewery, where they brew a minimum of 12 different beers on site at any one time. It also happens to be the best place to go if there´s a Buffalo Sabres Ice Hockey game on, which there was, so we piled in with the rest of the crowds, worked our way down the Draught Board (a thing of beauty), ate some incredible burgers and watched a brilliant Ice Hockey game. Wonderful night.

As we had travelled overnight to get to Buffalo, we were both pretty beat. Still are, actually, but we need to venture out into Buffalo itself as we´re about to get kicked out of the hostel. We have another overnight bus tonight (our last, thankfully) to Detroit, via Cleveland, so I´ll probably update you from the road. Still loving the free wireless on a bus!

Love,

Chris and Charlie

Voldemort, Zombie Marilyn and the Best Damn Ice Cream in Massachusetts

There´s probably only one place in the world where The Dark Lord could walk free unapposed, and a Marilyn Monroe impersonator could get zombified without batting a heavily-made-up eyelid. That place is Salem, MA. We visited that place...

Salem is famous for its witch-burning history, which gives crazy people pretty much free reign to plow the public with psychic readings and incense wherever they go. Fun though. We had a great walk around the town (its not that big) seeing all the haunted houses, all gearing up for Halloween, which isn`t far away. We spent most of yesterday afternoon in the Peobody-Essex Museum, in the centre of Salem. It´s a beautifully designed art gallery, with important installations on all aspects of global art, stretching as far away as Oceanian earthenware.

Last night we stayed in with Maureen, Mark, Henry and Adrian, had a wonderful dinner, then rocked out on Guitar Hero. Today was another relaxing day, Charlie and I headed down to a private beach in Magnolia, sat on the dock of the bay (and sang about it), climbed some rocks, then headed in to Gloucester. Gloucester is a pretty little town, full of interesting shops, including record stores and the best-stocked second-hand book shop I have ever seen. After that Maureen took us to Manchester where we ate the best ice cream in the State. I haven´t tried much ice cream in Massachusetts, admittedly, but I doubt anything can beat the double chocolate brownie and ginger we had. (Charlie just informed me she actually had maple walnut and oreo cookie ice cream. I am assured it was delicious)

After a bit of travelling back in to the centre of Boston, in search of the mythical cheeto-niknak hybrid, we boarded a bus to Buffalo, which we´re on right now. Not an awful lot has happened. Charlie beat me at May-I (a card game), and we both ate M&Ms (what a life!), and thats about it.

Tomorrow morning we´ll wake up in Buffalo, near Niagara Falls, which is where we´ll next update you.

Ciao ciao,

Chris and Charlie