Monday, March 30 — Devil's Lake and Doctor Evermor

For breakfast this morning we had oatmeal with raisins and strawberries. This is what I eat almost every morning, but it was the first time for Anne Marie.

Here we are at the back of my house:

And in the front courtyard:

After breakfast, we drove North through the town of Waunakee up to the Wisconsin River. We planned to take the free ferry across the river to Merrimac. The ferry began running last week, after being closed for the winter.

Alas, when we reached the ferry dock, a big sign told us the ferry was closed.

A worker explained that one of the cables was broken.  We were disappointed, but it was nice walking along the river.

We drove on to Devil's Lake. Anne Marie and Marie Therese walked along the rocks on the shore of the lake.

And they climbed some rocks!

We looked at the effigy mound of a bird, constructed by Native Americans from 500 to 1000 years ago.

And then we went into Baraboo for lunch! We all had soup.

On our way back to Madison, we stopped to see the amazing art of Doctor Evermor.

If you don't believe we had fun, take a look at this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16W7BOEhKEE&feature=youtu.be

Ha ha!

We stopped in Middleton to buy coffee and milk and yogurt at the Willy Street Co-op.

The University of Wisconsin is on the shores of Lake Mendota in Madison. We stopped at the overlook on Observatory Drive. My house is on the opposite side of this lake.

At 5:30 we met my friends, Sara and Helen, at the Greenbush Bar in the Italian Workman's Club. 

This place is in a part of Madison that used to
be an Italian and Jewish neighborhood. The houses were destroyed in the 1960s to build
a medical center.

We had salad and pizza and Italian red wine. And we had a good time!

Left to Right:  Helen, Anne Marie, Marie Therese, and Sara

After dinner, we went to Helen's home to take a little tour of her retirement community, Oakwood Village, a wonderful place with opportunities for theater, exercise, art, and many social activities. 

We drove back to my house past the capitol building, it's bright white lights reflected on the water of Lake Monona, Madison's other big lake. Tomorrow, we'll see more of Madison.

Sunday — Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin

On Saturday night we slept at the home of Millie Amsler in Grayslake, Illinois. Millie's grandmother (also Phyllis' grandmother) was the sister of Marie Therese's grandmother.  Millie prepared a lovely Sunday breakfast for us. We sat at her kitchen table for a long time, talking and working with our computers. It is impossible for Marie to connect to her e-mail here in the United States. So frustrating!

It was raining outside, so we failed to get a photo of Millie's house.

After we said goodbye to Millie, we drove to Millie's old house at 506 Whittier Lane in Mundelein, Illinois. Marie Therese recognized that house from her visit here in 1966! Millie raised eight children in that little house.

From Mundelein, we drove to Milwaukee to see the Milwaukee Art Museum, a beautiful building designed by the Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava.  It was too cold and extremely windy — my excuse for yet again failing to take a photo of the building.  You can see photos of it here:

calatrava milwaukee

The indoor parking lot, where I always park, was closed today because it was filled with an exhibit of flowers! What bad luck! We had to pay $12 for valet parking, and then dash up the slippery wet steps into the museum. (Two of us dashed up the stairs. The third one hobbled up, one step at a time.)

Ici il y a two pin-ups Lyonnaises.

From the inside of the museum, one has a fine view of Lake Michigan. We enjoyed that.

The inspiration for the flower show was the current exhibit entitled, "Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years of Ebony Fashion Fair."  On display were creations by some of the worlds most famous fashion designers — Pierre Cardin, Lagerfeld, Christian Dior ...  all the famous stars.

You can see more here: http://mam.org/inspiring-beauty/gallery.php

After we left the museum, we expected the valet to bring us our car. Alas. The key to the car was not on its hook. Where is it? The valets looked for the key. I looked for the key. It was not there.

What happened to my car? Has it been stolen? Ay!

We waited outside in the biting cold and ferocious wind for at least half an hour. The wind occasionally blew keys off the hooks. 

FINALLY, one of the valets realized that he had my car key in his pocket. Whew! We got our frozen selves into the car and drove to a Mexican restaurant, La Fuente, for lunch. Sorry, no photo.

We drove for about one hour and 15 minutes from Milwaukee to Madison. 

For the evening meal, we went to the home of my friend, Sheila.  

Sheila's beautiful house, built in 1918

Our friend,  Caroline, joined us for dinner.  

Marie Therese, Anne Marie, Caroline, Sheila, in the kitchen

We had a delicious meal of lasagna, wild rice, roasted vegetables, and salad. Thank you, Sheila!

Caroline and Marie Therese

Saturday in Chicago

On Saturday morning, we began the day with breakfast at Thom and Jean's house.

Jean prepared a delicious breakfast of eggs and bacon and coffee cake! 

Thom is working hard on the campaign of Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago.

Marie: quel accueil chaleureux j'espère que Chuy gagnera les elections!

We drove down Lake Shore Drive to the Planetarium so that we could see the Chicago skyline.

 It was very cold and windy!

We parked the car in the Grant Park South underground lot, and went to the Art Institute. 

Inside, we went straight to the Impressionists!

 And then we walked to the far side of the museum to see the Chagall windows.

By the time we got to Chagall, I had walked as far as I could go, so we asked for a wheelchair. Marie pushed me through the vast exhibits as if I were a queen. We went careening around corners! Just like driving in Paris!

From the Art Institute, we walked to the Federal Building to see the Calder sculpture. 

We got there just in time to enjoy a celebration of Persian New Year, complete with music and dancing. 

Our next objective was the Willis Tower, which in my mind will always be the Sears Tower. We wanted to go to the Skydeck for the view on this clear and sunny day. 

It was a long walk. A very long walk. My toes were frozen! Walking was difficult. Anne Marie, freezing, kept ducking into doorways to get out of the wind. 

Finally we got there ...

... only to be told that there would be a two-hour wait to get to the observation deck. Ach. 

So we lost a whole hour!  Aaargh!  

Back to Dearborn, we hoofed it over to see Chagall's Four Seasons. 

Onward then to Picasso!

We walked around to the back of the sculpture to see that the subject is actually a beautiful woman!

I think Picasso enjoyed playing a little trick on us!

At this point we were SO frozen and SO tired that we took a taxi back to the Art Institute, got in the car, and drove up to Gurnee, Illinois. Bye-bye Chicago.

In Gurnee, we went to the home of Meg and Matt Amsler. Meg is one of Millie's eight children. Millie's son, Tom, was also there to greet us, together with his wife, Vicki.

L to R: Tom Amsler, Marie Therese Castay, Meg Beckley, and Millie Amsler

Matt grilled hamburgers — sorry, Matt, didn't get a photo of you — and Meg demonstrated how to build a burger with mushrooms, caramelized onions, cheese and lettuce. Yum!

And..   Strawberry Shortcake for dessert! 

They've arrived!

Here they are! Marie Therese and Anne Marie arrived safely at O'Hare and got through customs, etc., in about an hour. 

First thing we did was to drive past the house where I grew up with my grandparents and my mother. Marie had visited that house and stayed with my mother back in 1966 when I was in Africa, but in her memory, the house looked very different.

We drove along Devon Avenue for miles, past Catholic churches, and then past Jewish synagogues, and then past Indian and Pakistani shops. Finally we got to Rogers Park and the lovely home of Thom Clark and Jean Bryan.

Marie Therese, Anne Marie, Jean, and Thom

Thom went to buy fish. Marie, up for anything, decided to go with him.  

Marie: premier shopping en amerique une boutique de poissons comme dans le 19e  a Paris.

While Thom and Marie Therese were out buying fish, Jean showed Anne Marie some family photos.  Anne Marie:  c'est mon premier echange en anglais pas tres concluant

Thom is telling Marie about the Native American culture at Mesa Verde, a place which we will visit in a few weeks.

After our fish dinner, we stopped at the Heartland Cafe to see a photo exhibit. Two of Thom's photos are in the show.

Can you see how cold it is outside? Maybe not! We're having a good time.

Jean took us downtown Chicago to see "Chicago By Night." I was delighted to be back in my hometown, and I think Marie Therese and Anne Marie were impressed.

As I type this, Marie Therese and Anne Marie are sound asleep. I had hoped they could write a bit here in French about their first impressions. Maybe tomorrow!