Blizzard of Activity, Pt. 2

So what transpired during our recent impromptu Chicago " home- coming"? Well, after a mere three month absence, a few perceptions had already changed. After my 11pm arrival at O'Hare, bleary-eyed and jet-lagged and staring out the cab window on the ride downtown--a trip I've taken surely over a hundred times--for some strange reason churches grabbed my attention. Not like, "Oops, I'm overdue to attend one of those," but more like, "Hey, that European church architecture suddenly seems familiar." Not one but three churches seemed to jump out during the expressway ride downtown. Since I doubt they were newly built since November, I'm assuming they've always been there but I never previously attached any significance.

The other impression upon cruising downtown Monday night was that Chicago seemed newly HUGE again! In Zürich, our 6th floor hillside apartment affords fairly wide views making the city seem reasonably expansive. But comparing that to our "modest" 27th floor view from the Hyatt Regency, overlooking the Chicago River and Wrigley and Tribune buildings, etc., instantly re-righted that perception--the area within direct gaze from the hotel room window suddenly seemed larger than the entire county of Zürich (Zürich city's population is actually about 1/10th Chicago's).

Tuesday morning 6:00am we popped uncharacteristically awake (jet-lag!) and prepared to attack the day. Eating breakfast at nearby Corner Bakery, one of our favorite café-style chains in Chicago (offering a top-tier club sandwich and good iced tea at lunch), I chose the Swiss Oatmeal (no kidding!) and a croissant to ease the transition.

My first appointment Tuesday morning was most critical--my old barber, Joe Gambino. Receiving only one Swiss haircut in three months made my recent hairdo (with beard) appear disturbingly similar to the X-Men's Wolverine character. I spent the usual $20 (including the bargain lathered neck shave) thereby saving an additional 45 CHF ($40) vs. Zürich prices. Let the spending/saving extravaganza begin!!

The next brief stop was my old Michigan Ave. Starbucks haunt (of Chicago's ~360 Starbucks outlets) for coffee. It's only mentionable because there's actually a Starbucks closer to our new Zürich apartment than to our old Roscoe Village house. See, it's only virtual ex-patriatism. But I make a point of not visiting the Kreuzplatz Starbucks and visiting the Michigan Ave. Starbucks. It's all psychological.

Next I met with my former employer, with whom the lines of communication were never really cut, with the upshot being I'll likely do some market research contract work for them in Europe. The deal should work out well for both parties and I can use the extra income to remove the garish "UNEMPLOYED" tattoo from my bicep. They graciously treated for lunch where we devoured half-pound mushroom & Swiss(!) cheese burgers, and I saved 25 CHF vs. a comparable burger at home. I departed to run the first of the week's many errands but reconvened with a larger work group that evening for beers at the infamous Billy Goat tavern. Chicago's bars & restaurants went non-smoking as of Jan 1, a huge accomplishment, but I must admit that the missing miasma of thick smoke detracted somewhat from the Goat's traditional olfactory ambience (the overwhelming greasy cheeseburger scent thankfully remains). That evening the "weather" rolled in, instantly dropping the temperature 35 degrees and depositing nearly an inch of snow and ice.

Wednesday through Friday were consumed running around (literally, still no car) to various appointments, lunches and dinners. My twin brother from Minneapolis coincidentally had business in Chicago that week (go figure!), so I luckily saw him twice including a night of margarita and Scotch drinking (yeah, I know, bad combo) until 2am. We met "Meal of the Year" friends Sasha & Moises for lunch at favorite nouveau-rustic Mexican hotspot Frontera Grill (where I had also eaten dinner the previous night, I grew impatient) and exchanged MOY stories, of course. We indulged Friday night at the always-excellent upscale Joe's Seafood, Steak & Stone Crab with an array of seafood, steak and stone crab. And we found scant time to rendezvous briefly with a few additional Chicago friends.

I'll spare the week's countless boring errand details, but I must give shout-outs (or is it "props"? my Caucasian faux-ghetto slang is rusty...) among others to Didi Computers (call Dragos if your hard drive crashes), Dell service (home from India!), Walkabout Travel Gear in wine-country Healdsburg, CA (electrical converters out the wazoo) and of course Amazon.com. The variety, pace, service levels and astounding value of U.S. commerce is simply amazing--too easy to take for granted until you miss it. The pros and cons of capitalism vs. café-culture is one of my favorite debates--I love them both--and almost certainly worthy of a separate blog entry. Huge thanks also to Steph's coworker Rashea who, without a single complaint, received what must have been 45 Internet shipments for us in four days time.

By Saturday morning, the Snow Fairy had finally given way to Chicago's real patron demigod--the Slush Fairy--and we were exhausted and loaded down from saving $1,000 by spending $3,000. We met former housemate Gayle for breakfast near the old neighborhood at Julius Meinl, a marvelous, unpretentious Vienna-style café better than most European cafés.

Our last appointment before departing for Switzerland on Saturday was easily the toughest--we returned with Gayle to our wonderful old house to see Hobbes's best Golden friend Charlie. Next trip I'll try to reverse the order, with personal visits first and business last because it sure makes leaving difficult. Dogs have an amazing ability to distill and project "human" emotion; Charles was simultaneously elated and slightly heartbroken to see us return ever so briefly, and I couldn't have said it better myself boarding the plane to return home later that afternoon.