I visited Chicago last week and felt as though I walked the entire city between several meetings. I was impressed by the ways in which everything was layered together. When I was flying into O’Hare, I first noticed the layers of the city from downtown to the suburbs–from the densely packed skyscrapers to suburban neighborhoods with 2 story houses and yards. And then when I found myself on Lower Wacker or the El, I appreciated all the levels of transportation the city offered.
I was impressed by the numerous ways that nature appeared in the city, from gardens to building lobbies to rooftops and weeds. It is nice to have some greenery in the middle of a city and even better that the mayor has made a commitment to make Chicago the greenest city in America; he started out by building a rooftop garden on Chicago City Hall.
I also enjoyed seeing the old and new right next to each other in Chicago: Walking in Wicker Park and seeing a historic Victorian next to a modern home, or in downtown, where you can see the story of the skyscraper developing from the Tribune building to the Willis (Sears) Tower. Below is the new walkway to the Art Institute of Chicago with the old, new and newest:
The other awesome part about Chicago was the water, and I particularly enjoyed walking along the river, where I could see so much of Chicago’s architecture, beauty and history. I saw architecture from almost every era, including old factories covered in ivy and repurposed as condos. And crossing the river from the Loop, it appeared as though the water found its way into more than just the river. Perhaps this image can remind us that Chicago was initially built on a swamp:
I have three photographs that I feel define my culinary experience in Spain.
The first image is of my first meal, breakfast. Below is smoked salmon on top of bleu cheese and bread. I washed it down with some tea, all the while thinking that bleu cheese and salmon was a weird combination. I feel though that this dish set the tone for the rest of meals, where I tried to order something that sounded a little strange–but usually turned out pallatable.
The next image is a rack full of jamon. It seemed that every restaurant that wanted to prove it was good would hang as many ham legs from the ceiling as possible. This particular scene is from a market. As a side note, I have not eaten any ham in a month.
If I was not eating ham, I was probably eating fish–and probably anchovies or sardines, though I did have a little tuna and squid.
All in all I was satisfied with the food in Spain because it was cheap and good–it is worth noting that the more expensive meals I had were no better than the cheap ones. I especially enjoyed ordering a small beer in Granada and receiving a free tapas dish.
For the Holidays I left Richmond and road-tripped to Nashville TN and back with my girlfriend. We stopped in Asheville, the Smokies and Knoxville on the way there and Radford and Charlottesville on the way back. I am going to begin with Asheville and move my way through each city or place in chronological order.
Asheville is probably most famous for the Biltmore Estate, “the largest home in America.” To visit the estate costs $50 a person and takes all day (at least it does if you want to feel that it was $50 well spent), so we skipped the main attraction and visited the rest of the city. The city is built on a hill and is surrounded by mountains. It has a vibrant downtown full of coffee, good food, art, clothing boutiques and interesting architecture. The city is dominated by the BB&T bulding but has other older and more interesting buildings from the time the Biltmore was constructed up to a building designed by I.M. Pei.
Downtown Asheville is a very walkable place and there are also many musicians playing on the street, it seems that after 5 oclock they come out and populate many street corners–so you can go shopping, eating, walking and find different music throughout the city.
From Asheville we ventured to the Smokies to do a little hiking. We decided to hike up Mt. Sterling because it promised great views on the Eastern side of the Smokies (near I-40, the road to Nashville). We camped there and hiked in the morning. The best part about camping:
We woke up early, but not that early, and began our hike to the summit at 5842 feet–pretty high for the east coast. On top of Mt. Sterling is an old observation tower that we climbed to get a complete panoramic view of the Smokies.
After hiking back we made our way to Knoxville. Knoxville has Gay St., but Gay St. is very different from Broadway in Nashville and Beale in Memphis–namely it is not famous for music. But there were lots of architecture firms renovating old building into lofts and new commercial space.
We just had a cup of coffee in Knoxville and then hit the road again and reached Nashville and then we ate in and hit Broadway–the music capitol of the Music City. The bars and Honky Tonks span almost two blocks, from the Sommet Center–home to the Predators (NHL)–to the River.
We visited several of the venues, including Robert’s Country World:
While I am showing photographs of Broadway, here are a few more from New Year’s Eve:
And here is one of me singing with Elvis (photo by Neah Monteiro)
While on Broadway we drank:
But we did also visit the Flying Saucer, a Beer Garden with lots on tap:
Music City needs a few good record stores, and according to Rolling Stones, Nashville has one of the best Indie record stores in the country in Grimey’s:
In addition to Music City, Nashville is also known as the Athens of the South. I was never told why when I was in the city, but it earned this nickname because it had numerous colleges, universities and the first public school system in the South. The State Capitol is modeled after a temple in Athens, below is a photograph of the Senate Chamber.
We were in Nashville while tensions between Israel and Hamas were escalating. Supporters of Israel gathered in front of the Capitol to show their support. (In Richmond, Palestinian supporters were in front of City Hall).
In 1897 Nashville held the World’s Fair to renew interest in the City after the Civil War. All that is now left is Centenial Park and a full size replica of the Parthenon, where a couple is having a portrait session.
And then I have two parting shots for you (I do not have any photographs from my trip back through Radford and Charlottesville–not for this blog at least).
