Author: Greg

Back from the Second City

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I’m back from four fun and relaxing days in Chicago.  If you haven’t been, I can’t recommend it enough.  A “second city” only in name, I can truly say that I prefer Chicago over the Big Apple for the quintessential American big city experience.  Chicago has everything New York has.  You get all of the shopping, entertainment, food, sports, art and history that New York has to offer, but wrapped in a more beautiful and friendly mid-western package.

What did these past four days in Chicago look like?  I got to a Cubs game and a White Sox game and have to admit that I preferred the atmosphere on the south side to that at Wrigley.  I spent a morning touring public art installations inside the loop downtown followed by an afternoon at the Art Institute.  I wandered through interesting neighbourhoods to the west and north of the city.  I ate incredibly upscale food the first couple of days, then ate downmarket for the last two days and honestly don’t know which I enjoyed more.  I tried some great craft beers, hung out in a late night blues club and then shook off the ringing in my ears the next morning by walking along Lake Michigan and taking a place on the seawall to just stare at the Chicago skyline in the distance.

Chicago skyline

All in all, it was a great trip and a revitalizing short vacation.  More to come on Chicago and my experiences in the weeks ahead….

A William Penn’s eye view

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On each successive trip to Philadelphia it gets a little bit harder to find a “new to me” attraction to visit.  That’s probably a good thing.  Trips back to Philly are now more about neighbourhoods, restaurants, and events.  But on my last trip, I did a tourist thing that was right under my nose for all my previous Philadelphia visits.  Unknown to me until last year, you can buy a ticket to take an elevator to the top of Philadelphia City Hall to get an incredible panoramic view from the base of the William Penn statue that overlooks the center city area.

For a city the size of Philly, it’s a bit odd that none of the skyscrapers have a publicly accessible observation deck.  But from the top of City Hall, about 500 feet above street level, you get some pretty nice views.  First, here’s the view straight down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway:

Looking down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway

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Behind the scenes at Wrigley

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As I get ready for my upcoming trip to Chicago in a couple of weeks, one of the things I’m really looking forward to is (weather permitting) getting to my second Cubs game at Wrigley field.   Four years ago, my wife and I snagged upper deck seats for a late season afternoon game against the Cardinals and had a great time.   We also carved out some time to do a tour of Wrigley Field to see it in a quieter setting and to get a bit of a behind the scenes peek.

The morning tour started in the famed bleachers, and from here, you can fairly easily feel the history of the place:

Bleachers at Wrigley Field

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Tailgating with the Bears

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I’ve been to a few NFL games now, and as much as I enjoy the simple act of watching the sport live, it’s also quite an American cultural experience.  Nowhere is that cultural experience on display more than in pregame tailgating.

Four years ago, my wife and I traveled to Chicago to see an early season Bears-Packers match up.  With a wee bit of research, we found a tailgating group who welcomed us to hang out before kickoff.   If you’re not familiar with tailgating, it’s basically a group of people who meet up in the parking lot prior to a football game, usually to grill some food, have a few drinks and talk some football before heading into the stadium.  In Chicago, it looked like this:

Chicago Bears tailgating

This tailgating lot for Bears games is located about a 20 minute walk south of the stadium and, as you can see, it is cars and grills and plumes of delicious barbeque smoke as far as the eye can see.  Through this maze, we found our specific spot nestled over to the side of the parking lot:

Chicago Bears tailgating

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Looking back on, and ahead to…. Chicago!

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It’s been close to four years since I visited Chicago for the first time.  That trip came to be to take in a Monday night Chicago Bears game against their arch rival Green Bay Packers.   Around that was wrapped some incredible dining including a dinner at Topolobampo that remains the best meal I’ve ever had, an architectural river cruise and a food and wine festival where I got to meet a couple of celebrity chefs including…

Me and Marcus Samuelsson

Chicago really surprised me back then.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I was taken with the city.  It left enough of an impression on me that I’m making a return trip there in early April for a few days of vacation.   A flight on points, the Cubs and White Sox both in town for early season games, and a host of food that I missed out on trying that first trip motivated this return visit.  Over the coming weeks I’ll write a bit about some great memories from my first trip to Chicago as I get ready to travel to the Windy City once again.

A world of food in Toronto

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A trip to Toronto for me is always a chance to sample from a world’s worth of cuisines.  On this last visit, I managed to to squeeze in some pretty tasty Spanish, El Salvadorian, Mexican and Venezuelan meals.

Spanish: Patria

The food of Spain isn’t the only allure for me, it’s also the art of tapas that draws me in.  I always struggle picking something from a menu, so tapas works perfectly for me.  Patria, on King St. West, is a relatively new Toronto restaurant and was the place my sister picked for her birthday meal.  The food and wine were lovely, and we had a nice cross section of tapas.   Marcona almonds, chorizo, manchego, pan con tomate, roasted peppers, some interesting Spanish wines, and much more…. good times!

Tapas at Patria

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Hockey night in Toronto

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I’ve spent a lot of time in Toronto.  Leisure visits, countless in/out trips for work, a longer consulting engagement where I had an address and actually received postal mail for a period of time.  I know Toronto well enough that on the Yonge-University subway line, for most of the downtown stations, I can tell you which subway car to get on so that when the train stops, you’re right across from the station exit you want.  But up until this recent trip to Hogtown, I had never experienced the quintessential Toronto event – a Leafs game.

I had been in the ACC one time before for a Raptors game, but I still got to the arena early so I could look around.   It’s a really great rink.  I would soon learn that even from the upper deck, there really isn’t a bad seat in the house.  I wanted to catch a little bit of the pregame warmup from a good seat, so I made my way down to the lower level:

Centre ice at the ACC

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The ruins at Tulum

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Work commitments and plans for other summer and fall trips have seen me toughing out the entire Canadian winter without a southern respite these past three years (that might have to change in 2015).  Each winter I end up going back over pictures of trips to Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Mexico to find a desktop image to at least warm my heart during the coldest months.  Doing that this year reminded me of a great day trip I took the last time I was south.

The trip to Mexico a couple of years ago was perfectly timed.  I had started a new job and I was getting worn down during the last few months as a part-time student on the path to completing my CMA.  For those reasons, a week at a resort with ample margaritas close at hand was ideal, even if not my usual travel approach.  Part way through that week, it was time to explore some off resort sights, and the ruins at Tulum were only about a thirty minute drive away:

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Toronto to start 2014’s travels

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Kicking off my 2014 travels is a trip to Toronto for the better part  of next week.  It’s another mixed work and vacation trip: a couple of days with my sister (her wine club and a new Spanish restaurant will occupy much of our time together) will be followed up by a few days on course at U of T.  I’ll be taking in a slice of Canadiana one evening as I see my first Leafs game, which is a bit of an embarrassment given how much time I’ve spent in Toronto over the years.

No matter how many times I get back to Toronto, there’s always something new to discover.  On this trip, I think I’ll be spending a bit of time wandering around in search of public art yet undiscovered by me and a journey to a couple of neighbourhoods I’ve yet to visit.  That being said, if the polar vortex still has its grip on Hogtown, I may just elect to find a cozy coffee shop or bar to while away the hours with a good book.   There’s something liberating about a couple of vacation days in a place that feels so much like home and a place you know you’ll keep making return visits to.   With crossed fingers that Mother Nature allows my travel plans to proceed as planned, here’s looking forward to Toronto and the start of a great year of travel!