Belmont

Hola a todos! Parece que el buen tiempo ha llegado a Chicago, espero que dure :) La verdad es que estaba deseando que hiciese calorcito, ya que mis padres me contaban que en Ciudad Real estaba haciendo un calor muy veraniego en las ultimas semanas y esto, me daba mucha envida.

Thomas tuvo group meeting, como todos los sabados y yo decidi ir un par de horas al laboratorio para adelantar un par de cosas. Los sabados suelen ser moviditos: limpieza, compra, deporte y trabajo. Asi que cuando acabamos, viendo el maravilloso sol que hacia, no nos podiamos quedar en casa!!

No nos apetecia estar mucho tiempo en el tren y la verdad es que a veces, Evanston se queda demasiado pequeño. Al final decidimos ir a unos de los barrios entre Evanston y Chicago, Belmont. La verdad es que esta casi en Chicago, pero bueno, nos ahorramos un par de paradas de metro y todo el lio que se ha montado con la cumbre de la OTAN.

Hello! It seems that the nice weather has finally arrived to Chicago. I hope it lasts long :) The truth is that I was really looking forward to have higher temperatures. My parents were telling me that the last couple of weeks were really warm in Ciudad Real and to be honest that made me jealous.

Thomas had group meeting as usual and I also decided to go a couple of hours to the lab. Saturdays are normally pretty busy: cleaning, groceries, sports and work. But after all of this and with the awesome weather we had yesterday it was forbidden to stay at home!!

We didn't feel like being in the train for too long but there weren't really many things to do in Evanston, so we decided to go somewhere in between, Belmont. The truth is that it is very close to Chicago downtown but at least we saved some train stops and all the mess caused by the NATO summit.

Siempre que voy por alli me parece que solo hay gente joven, muchos de ellos con un rollo moderno, alternativo y hippy, no muy dentro del puro estilo americano :), me encanta! Por otra parte, es uno de los barrios gays de Chicago, aunque no es tan grande como Chueca, que tambien me encanta. Hay un monton de bares y sitios para tomar algo, tiendas de ropa vintage, otras con todo tipo de objetos sin ninguna relacion aparente (disfraces, camisetas deportivas, pelucas...) y entre todas estas cosas, un monton de iglesias y casas preciosas.

I always have the feeling that only young people live in this neighborhood, many of them with a very alternative and hippy style, I really love it. It is also a kind of gay neighborhood, but nothing compared to Chueca in Madrid, for example, which I also love. There are a lot of bars and places to go, apart from vintage shops, stores with tons of gadgets (costumes, sport t-shirts, wigs...) and among all these things, a lot of churches and beautiful houses.

Posando con una de las iglesias...no me acuerdo de que culto.

Here in front of one of the churches. Don't remember what kind of cult it was.

Buscabamos un sitio con terraza, dificil de encontrar por estos lares porque aunque haga buen tiempo, no se cual es el problema de los americanos y las terrazas, las echo tanto de menos!!

Encontramos un restaurante con una terraza (aceptamos barco como animal acuatico...), no como las españolas, pero bueno, terraza :) donde tenian su propia barbacoa y una amplia carta de cervezas, asi que alli nos quedamos.

Thomas se pidio las costillas de la casa regadas con una Hefe-Weisse y yo me pedi un sandwich de "pulled pork" con cole slaw y una buena La Chouffe.

We were looking for a place with terrace, so difficult to find here. Even though there are several months of nice weather, Americans don't really like terraces and I don't know why. I miss them so much!!

We finally found a place with the most similar thing to a terrace :) and they had their own bbq and a long list of beers, so we decided to stay there and enjoy the food, the beer and the weather. Thomas ordered smoked ribs and a Hefe-Weisse and I had a pulled pork sandwich and a La Chouffe (this beer brings me very good memories).

Despues de cenar dimos una vuelta por el lugar, la verdad es que todo estaba muy animado. Antes de volver a casa hicimos algunas fotos en la estacion de metro, tiene unos murales muy coloridos y siempre que pasamos quiero fotografiarlos, asi que aqui estan. Fue una buena noche, justo lo que necesitaba en un momento de morriña española, de terraza y sol :)
We walked around the place after dinner, the environment was very lively. We took some pictures before going back home. I really like how is this station, with all the colorfull paintings. I always want to take pictures there and I finally did it yesterday. We had a great time and that was exactly what I needed because I was feeling a bit melancholic about the good Spanish summer time :)