Oscar at the beach

A quick stop in Raleigh at Grandma and Grandpa's house before heading for the coast...   

Exploring a new house was a blast...
 

 




We even got to vist the NC Aquarium... 

 And of course the beach was fantastic. Oscar loved running around and playing in the sand.





 He wasn't afraid of the water, until the surf got pretty rough.

Hotels

In case you haven't figured it out, we're really hoping you come to our wedding. It order to make it as painless as possible, we'll be giving you lots of helpful info so you can get the most out of your trip to Chicago.

Choosing a hotel is something I used to agonize over. Now I only agonize over it if I can't bring my bike along. It can be difficult finding the right hotel for your tastes that is also conveniently located for the types of things you want to do. For now, I'll focus on giving you a few different price/location options. Perhaps later I'll try and demystify Chicago's sometimes great/sometimes awful public transit system so you can see the things you want to see without losing your shirt.

The hotels in Chicago are concentrated around the airports or just north of the Loop in the neighborhoods of River North, Near North, Gold Cost, and Streeterville.


View Marmalade in a larger map (A quick key to the symbols: beds=expensive hotels, yellow pins=bed & breakfasts, red pins=not quite as expensive hotels)

These hotels range in price from slightly expensive to very expensive.

Pros: close to lots of (expensive) shopping options, restaurants, and nightlife. Short bus ride or long walk to downtown museums, etc.
Cons: far from (less expensive) shopping options, restaurants, and nightlife.

If you're looking for something (a little) cheaper and in a more varied neighborhood, I've found a few different kinds of accommodations a little farther north in the Lincoln Park/Lakeview/DePaul neighborhoods.

Pros: close to (less expensive) shopping options, restaurants, and nightlife. Closer to some nice public beaches which are nice for relaxing even if it's too cold to swim.
Cons: only one El line (the Red Line) runs through these neighborhoods, so you'll be doing more walking, busing, or taxi-ing.

Hotels:
Days Inn
Diversey and Clark

City Suites
933 West Belmont Avenue

Super 8 (a little farther north than most)
7300 N. Sheridan Parkway

Bed and Breakfasts
Windy City Urban Inn
607 West Deming Place

Hansen House Mansion
1020 w. Altgeld

Gold Coast Guest House
113 West Elm St.
312.337.0361

This is just enough to get you started, enough to realize there's more out there than what shows up on the first page of a travelocity search. And in case you get too enthusiastic in your search, there are a few businesses with "hotel" in the name that are not what you're looking for (they charge by the hour).

If you find any of this info needs updating due to changing availability, let me know.

Tourist towns without any tourists

Rebecca's students were on vacation again last week, and since we've got some visitors coming in a week, we decided to preview some local destinations that people might (or might not) find interesting to visit. We had two criteria: things we haven't seen, and train access.

While the winter in Poitiers has been pretty mild by Jefe's standards, the sun has been playing hard to get. And poor Rebecca grew up within two hours of the East Coast of the U.S. and has been craving the beach since we left Wilmington. We quickly settled on the sunny, seaside locale of La Rochelle as the perfect destination. In order to maximize the discovery factor, we were looking for another destination close to La Rochelle. Following the local train routes and trying not to stray far from the sea, we decided on Rochefort.

When Rebecca mentioned this duo of destinations to people, trying to solicit ideas for things to do in the area, she got a bevy of similar responses.

La Rochelle: Oooh, how nice, you're going to love it, it's beautiful!

Rochefort: Hmmm...(Silence).

Well, La Rochelle is nice. A popular summer destination for French and English tourists, the area boasts one of the highest concentrations of vacation homes in France. There are almost as many hours of sunshine every year as the Mediterranean coast but without the endless stretches of beachside hotels that you find in Nice.

Nice, France: land of beaches and hotels

Despite its un-Nicey-ness, La Rochelle remains a primarily tourist-driven economy. Restaurants have different hours hors saison (out of season) or are closed entirely for their congés in late winter; hotels are cheaper; some museums/attractions are closed. It's not as though we're panting to fight the throngs during the Festival Francopholie, but there is something a little odd about port-side restaurants in a tourist haven who have to fight for the few off-season visitors. We even spotted one restaurant with a designated crier, an older woman standing out front listing the delicacies inside in a loud voice to no one in particular.

Even though some of the posted menus of the restaurants in the tourist area looked interesting, we were disconcerted by the prospect of having people watching us eat, peering in the restaurant windows and trying to determine if you're enjoying yourself enough to merit them coming inside to try it.

Port-side restaurants in La Rochelle...probably to be avoided

Luckily we were able to find excellent restaurants away from this area. La Rose des Vins was wonderful, small, earthy restaurant serving traditional French fare with a little bit of a twist, and occasionally featuring ethnic cuisine from around the world (Jamaican chicken). They also have an extensive wine list, with some wines available by the centimeter (get a bottle and only pay for what you drink), and excellent recommendations.

We also stumbled upon Le Cabanon des Pêcheurs while craving a seafood restaurant. Baked oysters topped with melted cheese, salmon terrine, and fish with spanish chorizo were more than enough to satisfy our urges. And Jefe couldn't pass up a post-meal rhum arrangé (rum with fruit soaking in it) as the giant jars (pineapple, passion fruit, strawberries, and more) were lined up enticingly on the bar.

Lovely Rhum arrangé at Le Cabanon des Pêcheurs

We also wandered along the coastline and the ramparts of ancient castles. And, perhaps even better, we went to the sprawling central marketplace, got snacks, and took them to the beach. We ate our picnic while basking in the sun. Sublime.

●●●

Rochefort-sur-Mer (as opposed to en-Terre) was just a short train ride away. We noticed something odd about it almost immediately. The city blocks are square! How un-French. Apparently, it was a planned community started in the 17th century as a naval base and shipbuilding yard (wiping out the former pesky Protestant town that was there before). The military influence led to the straight streets and right angles.

Apparently, Rochefort is one rung down on the tourist ladder from La Rochelle, it was mostly a ghost town in late February. There are a few interesting things to see (as our extremely enthusiastic hotel personnel pointed out), notably the Maritime Medical Museum, the house-cum-museum of Pierre Loti (author, seaman and general eccentric), and the rebuilding of the frigate Hermione (which La Fayette used to aid in the American revolution).

On top of everything, it seems we picked up some nasty stomach bug while we were there. Not so nice. Reminded us a little of our friends Jessie and Tom, who came home from their honeymoon early because they got sick. And bored.

Well, we stayed it out, but we were happy to get back to good 'ole Poitiers. And now we have the first of our visitors to look forward to, the Jefe's brother, Josh...we can't wait!

The Beach

There are few things as refreshing as a beautiful saltwater beach. In this case, Wrightsville Beach near Wilmington, North Carolina. We went partly for the beach itself, which is hard to replicate in Illinois, and also because Rebecca has a few friends who reside in Wilmington. Camping, biking, swimming, and sailing are a few of activities we were able to cram into the last week while staying with a friend of Rebecca's from high school.

In order to get our camping fix, we went to Carolina Beach State Park for the first night. It is a nice campground with gravel tent pads that drain well when it rains. We were able to ride to the beach in about 15 minutes from the campsite. At the beach we acquired stage 1 of our beach tans. In my case there was a little bit of a burn.

It rained the next night so we moved indoors to Kyle's apartment in Wilmington. In a mutually beneficial situation that would continue for the rest of our stay, we cooked her dinner (oyster and crab stew) in exchange for a place to stay and a guided tour of the local scene.

Two days later, after acquiring stage 2 of our tans, we were off to Ellen's (another friend of Rebecca's) family's river house for a day of sailing and relaxing on the Pungo River in northeast North Carolina.

They had a sunfish sailboat, so we took that out a few times while we were there. We didn't go to far, venturing out into the main part of the Pungo River only once because the water was a little choppy. Since a sunfish is such a small boat you really have to work together to sail it with two people so you don't get in each others way.

Coming back to Wilmington we had only a few days to hit the local french bistro for dinner, attend a local rock show that was way too loud (but good), and acquire stage 3 of our tans.