Sorry for the delay in getting a new blog posted! With all the travel time has been a little short, and I wanted to have good pictures to upload. So here we go. Two weekends ago Barbara, Erwin, Lucas and I went to Chicago. We drove down in my car and found the apartment that Barbara had managed to rent via the internet. It was a terrific place - we had been expecting the worst. It had a great view over the river, and was really well-equipped. Admittedly when travelling with a toddler all you really need is a DVD player and indeed it had that as well as a large selection of children's videos. Although we were impressed by the ginormous American fridge, we never filled it up with more than a bottle of milk and a few beers. Chicago is a fantastic city!! Those of you who are planning a trip over and are visiting this city are in for a treat. The architecture is amazing and every building seems beautiful. We went to the Hancock Observatory for fabulous all-round views of the city which Lucas found pretty boring until I pointed out the choo choo wains. For Lucas by far the most exciting aspect of all of Chicago was the El, the elevated train which loops round the centre of the city. As far as sightseeing trains go you could do worse - an amazing number of gorgeous buildings turn out to be parking garages when you see them from the train, possibly having become so due to the incessant noise and look-in from the El going by. Lucas was delighted. Barbara and Erwin kindly took him off to the carousel so I got an hour all to myself to visit the Impressionist Wing in the Arts Institute. That was so soul-soothing and wonderful I could have spent another week on a train. The other fabulous place to visit was the fountain area in the main park, where two walls placed opposite eachother sprayed water at regular intervals. The ensuing paddling pool made perfect recreation for young and old alike and Lucas absolutely loved it. The fact that the weather was hot hot hot made it even better.
We got back from Chicago on Sunday evening - I went straight into a work event that lasted around 48 hours, and Lucas spent a lot of time with his aunt that week. 16 school teachers who were on their way to India so they could incorporate Indian studies into their curriculum were hosted by my Center so we could prepare them for their journey ahead. We had 3 days of lectures and language classes, meals and discussions about dress code and health. It was fascinating and exhausting. It also made me very jealous of the 16 who were on their way to 6 weeks in India!
Thursday evening it was time for the next trip, this time to New York. (The paycut the University announced this week in compliance with regulations for all State employees could not have come at a worse time!) We were staying in a friend's apartment, at the south end of the Upper East Side on the East river. It was a great location, but as always in New York, we walked for miles (Lucas in his Maclaren buggy which I had borrowed from a friend, funnily enough in the States Maclarens are considered the smart English stroller whereas in London they are a considered - at least by the Primrose Hill set - as a sure sign of total social deprivation) and as the weather was gorgeous we spent a lot of time in playgrounds. Central Park playground, Riverside Drive playground (fabulous sandpit and fountain!) and Chinatown playground. The latter was definitely the least well-equipped, you coud probably do an interesting socio-cultural study of playgrounds. In the one on the Upper West Side everything was educational and pretty much all children were white, whereas in Chinatown it was just a bunch of equipment and of course mostly Chinese children. I also overheard some great New York parenting: (mom to a 4-year old): "Are you going to take responsiblity for your actions or do you want me to phone Daddy?" which really put some question marks by the concept of "responsibility". I also witnessed a classic New York moment when crossing one of the avenues - boyfriend/girlfriend, the GF cheerily says "Oh look I can see it now" pointing at a building in the distance, the BF stares at his mobile GPS device and says "according to this we are lost". Marvellous.
Now we are back in Madison waiting for our next trip - 3 days camping on the Mississippi river next weekend. This coming Saturday it will be exactly 6 months since we landed in Madison and I am throwing a party in the back garden. There should be around 20 people - which reminds me, I should get on with cooking!
(in the pictures above, the first 6 are of New York, the rest are all taken in Chicago.)
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