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When we left, we walked up Michigan Avenue to go to Vosges Haut-Chocolat. By chance, we passed Moonstruck's new chocolate bar. I had planned to go to the Moonstruck store I knew of outside the city, but this saved me a trip. We stopped there and then finished the walk to Vosges. Evelyn wanted to know what I thought of the city. I don't think she was happy that it impressed me as "New York light." However, when I leave the elevated train and walk on the street under the girders, it's impossible not to think of New York.
We finished the day's chocolate shopping at Neiman-Marcus, which used to carry the chocolates of Le Francais but no longer does. There were no great new finds in this chocolate search, although Vosges' Woolloomooloo is nice. Complete results have been entered into my chocolate store reviews.
I don't waste any time when it comes to chocolate, so we were done before one o'clock. Evelyn wanted to ride the elevator at the Water Tower, the next block over. It's some sort of nostalgia thing. Then we took the subway north to try the Chicago Diner, a vegetarian restaurant. That was the last time I had any control over where I ate in Chicago. The Chicago Diner is nice, but I miss the Candle Café in New York City.
I wanted to find a gift for my hosts, Evelyn's sister Ruth Constante and brother-in-law Patrick, so we shopped at the nearby Century Mall. Then we took the train back downtown, stopped at the Merchandise Mart in the loop, and made our way to the Constantes', where I was introduced. We played Family Business with Ruth and Patrick's children, Stacey and Patrick, and we picked up a stuffed pizza for dinner, apparently nostalgic for Evelyn and Tom. Since we omitted mushrooms from the vegetarian side of the pizza, Stacey, who is nine years old, asked if I didn't like mushrooms. I told her that mushrooms were icky, squishy, and trying to take over the world. She disagreed, so I told her about the 1500-acre fungus in Washington state. Then Stacey looked at Evelyn. In fact, every time Tom or I said anything the least bit questionable, Stacey looked to Evelyn for confirmation. I think I convinced her that there is a huge fungus, but she doesn't think it is taking over the world.
We wanted to visit Fermi Lab, but a call to the lab led us to believe they only had tours for groups of ten or more. Later, a return call revealed you can take a self-guided tour anytime. However, it came too late for us to go.
We picked up a thin-crust pizza for dinner, another of Evelyn's nostalgia. I presume it fills a similar role for her as Ledo's in Maryland does for me. The pizza was even a little like Ledo's. Stacey and I picked up the fungus discussion. She maintains they taste good but admits they are squishy. I say they are icky and maintained that the fungus is trying to take over the world, even if it won't. (In fact, there is an even larger fungus in Oregon that is killing trees.)
After dinner, we flew around Chicago again, at night.
The museum also had a good exhibit on animal diversity. The collection displayed a very broad range of animal forms, habitats, defenses, food-gathering, reproduction, colors, and so on.
After the museum, we drove through Tom and Evelyn's old neighborhood and lunched at Lalo's Mexican Restaurant, more Evelyn nostalgia. Then we went back to the Constantes' and played Apples to Apples Junior with Stacey and Patrick. After their parents got home, we went to the Moldau Restaurant for dinner.
It was pretty late by then, and I was ready for bed. We had to get up at six a.m. the next morning to get me to the airport. However, Evelyn and Ruth wanted to go to the Empress riverboat casino. Evelyn doesn't get up early on a normal day, let alone after spending a late night in a casino. So I thought this was a bad idea. Plus, Evelyn hadn't told me a casino was on the itinerary, so I had not prepared. Playing optimal blackjack requires memorizing some detailed tables.
However, I went with them. If I hadn't, they might still be at the casino. I watched folks playing roulette for a while, and I spent a little time figuring the average return on some of the craps bets, and I helped Evelyn with a few blackjack hands. However, I wasn't gambling, so I stepped out on deck, which was deserted. Since the casino is a riverboat, it has to have a trained crew, but the ship never goes anywhere, so the crew must be bored out of their minds. We left at 1:30, so it was 2:30 before I got to bed, leaving only 3½ hours to sleep. We made it to the airport on time, but I don't remember much of the plane ride home.
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