Friday, July 11, 2014

Chicago, Illinois: Lounging about Chicago and being non-touristy

The sunrise wakes me up early. And the first thing I see is the daylight skyline of Chicago.

Shilpa works from home so while she works, I hack away at many blog posts that have been accumulating and need to be posted.


She also is beginning to convert me from coffee to tea. Seriously I don't think I have had this much tea in one day, and it feels great. Plus I don't have an excessive caffeine rush. I do miss the color and taste of Cape Cod Cranberry from LexCoffee.


Later for lunch we head out to the greek neighborhoods of Chicago. You know you are Greek Town when even the Walgreens say 24 HR in Greek.


She recommends Artopolis.


The place is nice.


And I quickly find what I want. A Greek squid salad.



Later, we go to Starbuck since it is the only coffee shop that has wifi in the area. She works on work. I work on blogging some more.


Later I depart and meet up with my friend Sam who moved from DC to Chicago. We catch up, I show him some of the amazing views from Shilpa's apartment. Shilpa's comes by later for a meet and greet and then Sam and I head over to the local watering hole for a beer/wine.


It was good to catch up with Sam. Haven't seen in a little less than a year. Thanks for the beer. Shilpa and I head out to a Surge meeting at Paola's Vinum: A Spanish Vine Bar and Wine Store.




Surge is a nonprofit organization that brings life-sustaining water to those most in need, while increasing awareness of the global crisis. 100% of public donations directly fund sustainable water projects. Today, nearly 800 million people do not have access to safe drinking water. Shilpa co-founded Surge in 2008 and it has been growing internationally.


After the meeting with some of the local volunteers, I plan to help out a little during my road trip across America by advertising the organization Surge for Water and also being more conscious and mindful of my water use as well. Check out her website surgeforwater.org

Later we head over to a different part of Chicago and to a Mexican Restaurant El Hefe:


We order some delicious corn dip and amazing tacos.



I also meet up with my friend Ananth from Roanoke, Virginia who may move to Chicago. I met him through our mutual friend Srikanth the day before India played Sri Lanka for in the Cricket World Cup final. I was looking for a place to watch the game and Ananth was the right person in the right place to grant that wish.

We have wonderful entertaining conversations about the top 5 countries you must visit before you die and why. I wonder if the delicious margaritas that we sipped as we learned about each other's choices definitely added more flavor and pzazz to our choices. :-)


Later, we head back home. Tomorrow I have to drive out to Indianapolis, Indiana.

Shilpa, you have been an awesome hostess - taking me out to dinner, showing me the local spots of Chicago and make sure I definitely had lots of good tea. I wish I could stay in Chicago longer. You made me feel like Chicago was my home at your home. Sam and Ananth, it was awesome to spend some time with you in Chicago. Let's all do it again sometime in the future. Shaila and Mischa hope to run into again in the future as well.

Expenses: $173.14
Lunch: $19.28
Wine: $20.00
Dinner: $33.86
Misc: $100.00 (unexpected expense)

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