Verdi, sushi, la pluie & me...

 
  As you all noticed, we just celebrated our one year anniversary. We wanted to take a walk down memory lane and go to one of our favorite places in – Chicago.

  Picture this. It's 2007. Ze Gege is on her first trip to visit Ze Brian in America. Only that Ze Brian lives near Detroit,not necessarily the most thrilling of American cities. With New York too far away, Chicago seems like a good alternative to show Ze Gege what a vibrant American city looks like.

  Fast forward to 2011. Still recovering from the 12 hour drive from Montreal to Detroit last week, driving to Chicago was out of the question. So the train it was. We expected something a little more romantic – what we got was a slow ride and the privilege of listening to the hen party seated all around us gossiping of ex-husbands, boyfriends, affairs, and having champagne toasts - “to girlfriends” - at 8:26am.

  Despite a rocky start, we ended the day with a bang – literally. We spent the evening at Grant Park with the Symphony Orchestra and Choir, listening to their final concert of the summer season.

  Saturday marked two special occasions – one was our anniversary and the other, of course, was our first bike tour in Chicago. We used to do boat tours wherever we went – Paris, Porto, Chicago, New York, Washington. We've graduated from passive tourism to active tourism and now we are hooked. Bobby's Bike Hike welcomed us with open arms – really they did, our guide was very excited, so much so that we thought that he had attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) or was an aspiring actor that tries too hard. Turns out that it was the latter. He was also extremely proud to hand out our individually named Schwinn bikes: Ze Gege had “Homer,” but I had the privilege and honor to ride “Marilyn Monroe” for about 3 hours. At least, that was what was planned...

  We loved the beginning of our tour, sailing through the Chicago neighborhoods. And then “someone turned on the rain.” We tried to wait out the storm (with hot dogs and beer), but it was a little too intense and Marilyn and Homer didn't seem to be in the mood for a ride. We called it quits and headed to the hotel to dry off.

True to the Midwest, however, an hour later the sun was back – not a cloud in the sky. To make up for the bike tour, we hopped on an architectural boat tour of Chicago. Cue pictures of buildings...

  Our evening ended at one of our favorite restaurants in Chicago – Tuscany. This Italian stallion is the type of red sauce joint that you'd expect the Godfather to appreciate: white tablecloths, 50 year-old Italian waiters, ham and cheese in the deli case, only Italian wines - a hustle and bustle coordinated to resemble a finely tuned engine.

And to finish every great Italian meal - Italian lemonade!  And you were thinking tiramisu...after everything we ate, that was not an option!  

   After meandering the mean streets of Little Italy, we high tail it back to the metro station crossing our fingers not to bump into the ghost of Al Capone or one of the Corleone's... 

to be continued...

Ze Brian