Chicago, Illinois: Long
Weekend Vacation – Part 1 – by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
Long
before I attended the University of Chicago, I knew the City of Chicago was
very nice to visit. My mother could
drive on the highway between Detroit and Chicago, so we visited often.
On
one 5-day weekend for the Fourth of July, my mother and I set out for a
vacation in Chicago. We would meet one
of her friends, her friend’s sister who babysat me from time to time, and my
babysitter’s son. (My babysitter took me
to museums, so I considered her a tutor more than a babysitter.)
We
stayed at the Essex Inn on South Michigan Avenue. Our hotel was right next door to the 5-star
Hilton Hotel. The Hilton has a majestic
façade of foliage-rich Corinthian columns with windows between them for
ballrooms and expensive suites for royals visiting the Chicago Institute of
Arts or attending the Lyric Opera or the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
As
a young teen, I preferred the Essex Inn, because it had a swimming pool. My mother and her friend both preferred the
Essex Inn, because it had valet parking on the ground floor. The Hilton was designed for tax and limousine
pick up in the lobby.
When
we arrived in Chicago, my mother took me to the Hilton Café that was located
off to the left side of the lobby when entering from Michigan Avenue.
I
thought the café chairs were posh – rattan with flowery fabric. I did not know about Raffles Bar in Singapore
at the time, but I think it was inspired by the décor at Raffles. I liked the lush, green foliage that set the
café apart from the lobby, too.
My
mother set down the rules quickly about behavior in Chicago.
“If
you behave, you can eat here. That means
no fighting, pouting, or complaining,” she said. Boss lady mom knew the power of examples.
I
quickly agreed to the contract and ate eggs Benedict with tangy, lemon-flavored
Hollandaise and grapefruit baked with brown sugar that had a maraschino cherry
in the middle.
If
you grow up in industrial cities like Detroit, trying different food in
well-decorated restaurants is a vacation and relief from factory time and
scenery. Detroit looks better now, but
work and money are still the huge draw to the region.
As
a young teen, I liked trying different foods.
I especially loved going on vacation, because we ate out a lot.
End
of Part 1.
To
be continued.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
