Fortunately, there was an Apple store
not too far away, so that was the first stop of the evening. It being
an Apple store it was also a bit of a playland for lots of adults.
(Side note: these stores turn into total chaos when a new iPhone
version comes out, do NOT go shopping for anything Apple during that
time.)
Grocery shopping with a list of items
needed by Kelley at work is an adventure. Normally I'm not a fan of
places like Walmart, but her list was so varied that this is one of
the few places that has everything on the list. Plain Greek yogurt,
coloured aquarium rocks, vegetable oil, bird seed, etc... It was fun,
and we cleaned out the plain Greek yogurt section.
The next day I did a whole lot of
nothing. When Jon and Kelley left for work (at different times,) I
was either still asleep or on the couch watching a marathon of Law & Order: SVU. When they came home, I was on the couch, still watching
episodes. Cable TV is great.
On the 8th of July I decided
I should actually do something, or see something. At some point I'd
searched on a travel app and found that there is a cafe named after
me in Chicago, so that seemed like something I should do.
I could've taken a train from their
suburb, but the timing was far less convenient. About an hour later I
got off the train at Clybourn station, and started walking. (Google
maps told me I could catch buses from the metra station, but I wanted
to walk.) It took me a while, but I got to Eva's Cafe easily enough.
After my drink I kept walking, and made
my way to downtown Chicago. I aimed toward Lakeshore Drive, one of
the most identifiable parts of the city.
There are tiny beaches
there, but I'm glad I hadn't brought my bikini because the place was
super packed. How is that fun for anyone? I've been on crowded
beaches before, but at least the beach itself is big, or has
something else going for it. This was just small, and crowded. I wouldn't even have been able to lay down and soak up sun!
There is a road along the lake,
(Lakeshore Drive,) and there is a path along the road. The path is
for walking, running, cycling, etc... That's where I walked. My
original plan had been to follow the path to Navy Pier, but I didn't
leave myself enough time.
While I was walking I noticed at least one
group of people I'm assuming were a bachelorette party group.
Instead of walking out to Navy Pier, I
walked under an underpass. There was a sign under there, something
about creating or building a new Chicago. I like this Chicago well
enough thanks, no need to change it.
At this point I realized I would be
cutting it really close on time to make the train I wanted. In other
words, uh oh. I walked quickly, but it ended up not being quite fast
enough. I shouldn't have taken so long in 'my' cafe.
I ended up missing the train I wanted
by just minutes, so I found another that would get me close to home.
(I'd originally planned to go back to Kelley's work.) Thankfully,
that train ran on time and there were no delays in route. Kelley
picked me up at the station, it didn't take long to get home.
That evening we went out with friends
of Kelley and Jon to the neighboring town of Libertyville. The food
was pretty good, but I still have a hard time finding a small taco to
be worth $5. Oh well, I'm glad I went out with them. After eating
they dropped me off at home and went to a microbrewery with fun
sounding beers. I was exhausted, (doing very little somehow managed
to exhaust me,) and since I couldn't have any of the beers, I opted
out.
Go figure, we visited the temple over
a weekend that was a holiday for this temple. Kelley had looked
online and seen that there would be services all day, so we hadn't
expected to be able to go inside. We didn't realize that would be
police managing traffic on the streets nearby, and the need for
parking far enough away to require a series of shuttle buses!
After
going through the temple we chatted with someone who told us as many
as 15,000 people were expected each day of the weekend. Wow.
The temple is gorgeous. There is a gate
near the front, with heaps of carvings, with a couple elephants
carved out and standing in front of the gate. This isn't the kind of
gate you drive through, it is the kind of gate you walk through to
enter temple grounds. Not too far behind the gate was a long fountain
with blue water.
Behind the fountain was the actual
temple itself. More beauty, heaps of it. The man we talked to
afterward said the whole thing had actually been made in India, then
shipped here in 44,000 pieces.
I'm amazed it was all put together
this well after being shipped so far. The entire building was carved
with really intricate designs.
The visitors center is next door, this
is where we found out we could go in the temple. I had to borrow a
wraparound skirt, as my dress wasn't long enough. We took off our
shoes (there were several places for all the shoes that had to be
taken off,) and went downstairs into a tunnel that came up into the
inside of the temple.
The inside of the temple was just as
amazing as the outside. It wasn't big, but the carving everywhere was
stunning.
The ceiling itself was a series of mini cupolas, each
carved with a different design, with the center one being the biggest
and most intricate. Along the edges were places for different Gods.
There were columns every so often, holding up the roof I assume. In
front was a GIANT display of some of the offerings brought by
pilgrims over the weekend. A buffet for the Gods I suppose.
Obviously, I'm not Hindu, or Indian or
Pakistani so I wasn't wearing a sari, but it felt as though nearly
everyone there was. Such beauty and colour in that clothing.
The exit at the back of the building
brought us to the sidewalk where a couple volunteers were directing
traffic (before parking in the lots where shuttle buses picked up,
nearly everyone drove around the temple area first,) to keep
accidents from happening. Given the number of people there, I was
thrilled to have the volunteers. It was kinda funny to watch them
yell at someone who felt he could cross the street when he felt like
it instead of waiting like the rest of us.
We hopped on the shuttle bus, which
took us to near where we were parked. This was actually at a nearby
high school, and the shuttle buses were school buses! In other words,
the holiday weekend for this temple was a really big deal, and took a
LOT to organize and support.
That night I reread the directions for
the application for my Russian work visa and realized I needed a
blood HIV test, not an oral swab. This was not a fun realization,
since it happened in the evening, and I had no idea how to go about
doing this. Kelley gave me a suggestion, and I thought I had it
sorted to happen the next day.
Monday I went with Kelley to work
again, then walked to the place I thought I could get my test done.
It turned out, they needed a doctor's order to do this test. Of
course, I didn't have this kind of order. Since I don't live in the
States, I don't have a doctor, let alone the ability to get an order.
Argh.
The front desk manager felt sorry for
me, and let me use the phone. I tried calling family members, hoping
they could somehow help me out, but the American medical system is
beyond ridiculous. I walked back to the library, where Kelley set me
up with one of the reference librarians, and lent me her phone.
After
calling a gazillion numbers (and dealing with waaaaay too many of
those stupid automated menus which never had the option I wanted,) I
finally figured out where to go.
I had to wait for the next metra train,
but eventually took that and two buses to get to the medical clinic.
At the clinic my blood test was done really fast, yay! From there I
walked to Union train station, not as short a walk as I'd originally
thought, whoops. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long for a train
going home.
The train brought me home, the walk
from the train station wasn't long. It was a stressful day, and my
last in Chicago, booo.
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