Sweden, ya youbetcha

Today we headed to Sweden. We hopped in the car, cranked up the Abba, and cruised on down to Andersonville in Chicago. First stop: Swedish American Museum, this was a lovely little museum, newly refurbished, and it was an ideal size for children. We spent about 30 minutes looking through the exhibits, which are all very accessible, for me the most interesting exhibit was about Raoul Wallenberg, who saved 120,000 people from the Nazis, only to disappear into a concentration camp himself.

Next we ate at Ann Sather's, famous for their cinnamon rolls, and rightly so. Although I swear I got a cavity just from eating one. We walked around the neighborhood which is full of cute book stores, art galleries, boutiques, etc.

I have to say this was an enlightening trip, Chicago has so much to offer, all of it right in our own backyard. We visited 5 "countries" and put less than 200 miles on the car altogether. I told the kids that it will not end here, we will continue our "Trip Around the World" in the coming weeks (on Saturdays) and I have Greece, Italy, Germany, and Korea in my sights.

Greetings from India

Today, fourth day on our trip around the world, we went to India, or actually Devon Street in Chicago. The kids said this was one of the best days, even though they weren't crazy about the food.

We shopped in a sari/fabric shop (I saw the perfect fabric for the Kimono dress in Weekend sewing, but had no idea how much to buy, might have to swing by there on our way to Sweden tomorrow), bought 24 beautiful bangles for $15, some beaded purses, the little one bought a beautiful treasure box, and ate a fabulous buffet at Tiffin.

Tomorrow, Sweden!

Buenos Dias

Today we went to Mexico! This was a homecoming of sorts, my husband was actually born in Mexico (the real Mexico) but grew up in Pilsen (the Chicago-Mexico) that we visited today. It was fun because he showed us the houses where he grew up, the laundry mat where they washed their clothes, his schools, the hole in the fence where he would sneak home from school when he was 5 (now repaired, we had to imagine), the alley where he learned to ride his bike, the park where he learned to swim, and much much more.

We ate lunch at Nuevo Leon on 18th street (highly recommended, lunch for 4 including tip was $31 and the food is great!) and we planned on visiting the Mexican Museum of Art, but our youngest felt sick and we had to head home (she was carsick, nothing to do with the restaurant, she didn't even eat). As my husband said, "Someone always gets sick when you go to Mexico!"

Before heading home, we picked up some Pan Dulces at Nopal. Tomorrow we are headed to India.

Tally Ho from Great Britain!

Tally Ho from Great Britain! If you missed yesterday's post, I am taking my kids on a trip around the world (right here in Chicago) and today we went to Great Britain. We woke up and had English muffins for breakfast, natch, then we headed downtown to the Museum of Contemporary Art.

While I know the MCA isn't strictly British, I was hoping for some bad boy British artists like Lucien Freud, Damian Hurst, etc. Or at least I was hoping for some art, period. Sadly, there is very little art at the MCA! There was a small Alexander Calder exhibit, a small exhibit of charcoal drawings by a South African artist, which were nice but kids can't appreciate charcoals, and a Buckminster Fuller exhibit. While Buckminster Fuller sounds terribly British, sadly he is not. He is an architect with lots of wacky ideas, the kids were into his toothpick models and homes of the future, plus we all wished we could try out his rowboat (hanging on the wall, what good is that). When you walk down the Chicago Ave. to get to the museum, they have signs up that say "Fear No Art", well I'm afraid there was No Art there. Thank goodness it was free Tuesday, so we didn't have to pay to get in.

Next we went to the Peninsula Hotel for Tea; this was fabulous. They have a lovely children's tea, for $18 the kids get a pot of hot chocolate, a mini burger, a ham & cheese and pb&j finger sandwich, gummi bears, rice krispie treat, brownie, pb cookies, and jello. It was adorable. And for slightly more money ($45) mom got high tea with finger sandwiches, quiches, desserts, cookies, scones, and most importantly a glass of champagne (don't worry, my husband drove home). And when the waiter heard us singing "Happy Birthday" to the youngest (she turned 9), he brought out a beautiful ice cream cake bombe with a candle and we all sang again.

Oh and it drizzled all day so that was British too!

Next stop Mexico!