Evanston beach. Playa de Evanston

Si! Hoy hemos estado en la playa del lago Michigan, la misma que estaba cubierta de nieve hace un par de meses :) Como conte en el post anterior, por fin ha llegado el calorcito y puesto que hoy era imposible ir a Chicago por la cumbre de la OTAN, que mejor plan que ir un ratito a la playa, a tan solo 5 minutos de nuestra casa. Aunque esta tan sumamente cerca y habiamos ido por alli a pasear, nunca habiamos ido alli con la intencion de pasar el dia y darnos un baño. La playa "oficial" aun no estaba abierta y digo oficial porque hay que pagar para entrar, asi que hemos disfrutado de un gran dia de sol y como debe ser, gratis.

Habia gente paseando, niños con cometas y viento, mucho viento, se puede decir que hemos tragado kilos de arena, espero que sea bueno para la piel, jeje!

Yeah! We've been at the Evanston beach :) or lake Michigan, the same place that was covered with snow a couple of months ago :) As I wrote on the previous post, summer has arrived and since it was impossible to go to Chicago today (NATO summit), the best plan of the day was going to the beach. It is very close from our apartment, only 5 minutes walking and even though we had been walking around the place, we had never gone there with the clear intention of staying under the sun and go for a swim. The beach wasn't officially open, there are still some more days to go and of course, pay (I don't understand this...). So today we could enjoy the sunny day for free :)

We were not the only ones at the beach, there were kids with kites, families and wind, a lot of wind!! I can say we swallowed tons of sand, I just hope it is good for our skin, hehe!

La verdad es que el agua estaba muy fria. Normalmente, el lago necesita varias semanas para calentarse  una vez que la temperatura es alta con continuidad, pero ya que estabamos alli, no he sido capaz de resistirme y junto con otras dos o tres personas que habia por alli, me he sumergido valientemente en las gelidas aguas del lago Michigan. Como se suele decir, una vez dentro no se esta tan mal :)
Por otra parte, Thomasito lo ha intentado, pero no ha sido capaz, jeje! Le dare otra oportunidad cuando haga mas calorcito aun :)
The truth is that the water was pretty cold. The lake needs several weeks to warm up once the weather gets warm, but since we were there, it was warm and sun was strong, I couldn't resist it and I just went in. I was one of the few brave people who went in the water today :). Once inside it wasn't that bad!
Thomasito tried also, but he decided not to feel the cold water. I'll give him another chance when it is even warmer :)

Too cold for him, hehe!!

Demasiado fria para el, jeje!!

Me encanta tener la playa tan cerca, aunque no sea el mar o un oceano, de todas formas el lago tiene una superficie mayor que toda la provincia de Ciudad Real :), asi que creo que se le puede considerar playa!
I really like having the beach so close, even though it is not the sea or the ocean. Anyway, the lake's surface is bigger than the entired Ciudad Real province (my home region) :) so I think it can be considered as a beach.
Una vez mas, un maravilloso dia de sol que ha terminado cocinando cosas muy ricas y tomando fuerza para empezar una semana lo mas productiva posible. Eso si, quemada como un cangrejo...no os perdais la foto!!
Once again, a wonderful day was had. We finished the day cooking nice things and resting to start a highly productive week burned as a lobster :) don't miss the picture, hehe!!

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 :)