Monday, August 27, 2007
Aug 27: Debbie's Home but not quite well yet...
Debbie has not passed the stone yet, and the doctor said the thing is so big the operation will have to be much more than he originally expected, and he can't arrange the operation until later in the week. See Debbie's blog for more details. Bottom line: She wants to go home rather than sit in a Belgian hospital for three or four more days. So the doctor discharged her, and she'll go back to the US and let her doctor in the Shenandoah Valley work on it.
She's home at our Antwerp apartment, but still in considerable pain. The pain medicine they gave her isn't strong enough, probably because she's been taking pain medication for arthritis for so long. She will need some stronger stuff for the plane trip to the US on Wednesday.
The hospital stay interfered with Debbie's main reason for coming here in the first place: to see her friends from church, who all have been anxious to see her again. They have been calling us and wishing her well. Oh, well, these things happen. And the medical care, while following way-different customs and protocols, has still been what I consider to be surprisingly good, and even outstanding compared to what I expected from socialized medicine. Debbie isn't happy with it because she's still not well and still in pain, but hey, I'll give her that.
The stone has apparently been there for weeks (maybe months... the doctor said one this size doesn't form quickly), and the pressure change on the flights coming over apparently loosened it and let it slip to a spot where it caused discomfort, and finally pain. It apparently is too big to break up with the sound approach used here in Belgium. Debbie is not happy with the prospects of having surgery, even back in the U.S. And everyone who reads this blog knows that *I* think of surgery and hospitals.... ;-)
Oh, well, we'll see...
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Aug 26: Mijn Vrouw Geeft de Nacht in St. Augustinus Ziekenhuis in Antwerpen
My wife is spending tonight in the St. Augustine Hospital in Antwerp.
Debbie woke up just before 5 this morning rolling around, moaning from unbearable pain in her lower abdomen. A couple of hours later, pain medication, hot baths, and ice packs had done nothing to alleviate it.
We called a pharmacist friend from our Belgian church, and he recommended we take her to St. Augustinus hospital's emergency room. We know where most of the hospitals in Antwerp are located (Stuyvenberg, St. Elizabeths, Middleheim, St. Vincents, Jan Panfijn, Universtaire, etc.,), but this was one we'd never heard of. Turns out it is about three blocks from Middleheim hospital, about a half-hour bus-ride away from our apartment, way down on the south side of town.
The Belgian medical system, although totally socialized, provides what I consider to be excellent medical care. Less than five minutes after walking in the front door, she was already in a treatment room getting her vital signs checked. Three minutes after that, they were drawing blood and inserting an IV. Within 15 minutes of walking in the front door, we were talking with the doctor.
The doctor ordered a CT scan, and within 10 minutes they were taking Debbie up to the radiology department. I went to get a snack at the cafeteria and before I could get back, they had completed the scan and she was back in the treatment room!
Fifteen minutes later, we had a positive diagnosis: kidney stone, absolutely classic, showing up beautifully on the scan.
They put her on an IV drip of medication intended to relax the tube where the stone is lodged, hoping it will loosen and come out where she can pass it. They admitted her for the night, and put her on some really good pain medication, which is making her high as a kite. If the stone isn't out by morning, they plan to surgically remove it. Either way, they expect her to be able to fly home on our scheduled flight Wednesday.
The hospital seems every bit as competent and offering quality care as anything we've seen back in the states. They have a few different customs (for example, astoundingly little paperwork, they let you keep your own clothes on, friends can bring in your favorite food and drink, etc.) but in general, the quality of health care seems excellent compared to the U.S.
I took DJ back to the hospital this evening on the bus to bring her a more comfortable housedress and stuff.
We owe a debt of gratitude to our Belgian friends, Mark and May Schiltz, who not only selected a great hospital, but actually took us there in their car, and visited with Debbie again in the evening, and then drove DJ and me back to our apartment, saving us time waiting on the bus.
The hospital room is costing (get this!) a whopping 75 euro per day! At the current exchange rate, that's about 99 dollars per day! That's NOT our part of the bill with insurance picking up the rest -- that's the whole hospital bill! And the doctor is prohibited by law from sending a "supplemental" bill for physician's services! If this had to happen, I'm kinda glad it happened in Belgium!
Naturally, at the moment, neither of us cares much about what the bill will be. Her smile in the photo belies the heavy intoxication she's under from the pain medicines in the IV drip. I wish I could say she's resting comfortably, but unfortunately, while the medication is helping numb the pain, I know she's definitely not a happy camper tonight. I sure hope she passes the darn thing soon so she'll be more comfortable.
The really good news is that she doesn't have any infection yet, no fever, no kidney failure or damage, and there is no sign of any other problems. Hopefully she'll be home (in our flat in Antwerp) in time for supper tomorrow evening.
Aug 24: Tongeren
Tongeren is billed as the oldest city in Belgium. It was an organized settlement at least 200 years before Christ. A fellow named Ambiotrix is documented to have led the natives of the town in a (temporarily) successful defense against a Roman Legion led by none other than Julius (later Caesar) himself. (Of course, Julius Caesar came back a few years later and won the second time. This was in 57 B.C.)
Here is the statue commemorating Ambiotrix, standing on the Tongeren town square in front of the Stadshuis.
Tongeren is pretty far south. It's almost 3 hours from Antwerp, south of Brussels, on the way to Luxemburg. Even so, however, it is still (just barely) inside the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium. It has the traditional bell tower on its primary church, which today is technically a Basilica and not a cathedral since Togeren no longer has its own bishop.
Debbie's back is better but her tummy is upset today. We took a very long, but leisurely, walk around the old city walls, which turned out to be amazingly lengthy! Those walls enclosed a LOT of territory... several square miles. We stumbled across a nice little park with a lake and paddle-boats, and a little zoo with emu and several kinds of deer that we aren't familiar with. No signs. Does anyone recognize this kind of deer?
Below: here are Debbie and DJ taking a load off their feet and wetting their whistles at the local pub inside the Beguinehof. That's them sitting at the table at the corner of the church at the left.
Tongeren is famous because it is one of the few cities in Belgium that has preserved and/or excavated its Roman-era city walls. A tremendous archaeological effort has gone into digging up and discovering the Roman layout, defences, homes, etc. In the process, they've uncovered the medieval walls, too. You can actually tell the difference by looking -- the construction is different.
For example, here is a tower and city gate, built in 1357, part of the medieval wall
Below is the view through the tower gate, showing the steeple of the Beguine church, where Debbie and DJ were enjoying their cold drinks while I took this picture.
Here is another section of the medieval wall.
And another shot of the 13th-century wall, even though this has arches which you normally associate with Roman architecture:
Contrast the construction above, with the tower below, which is part of the Roman wall, built in the second century (the 100's) by the Romans. Also see Debbie's blog for more pictures of the Roman walls.
Here is the statue commemorating Ambiotrix, standing on the Tongeren town square in front of the Stadshuis.
Tongeren is pretty far south. It's almost 3 hours from Antwerp, south of Brussels, on the way to Luxemburg. Even so, however, it is still (just barely) inside the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium. It has the traditional bell tower on its primary church, which today is technically a Basilica and not a cathedral since Togeren no longer has its own bishop.
Debbie's back is better but her tummy is upset today. We took a very long, but leisurely, walk around the old city walls, which turned out to be amazingly lengthy! Those walls enclosed a LOT of territory... several square miles. We stumbled across a nice little park with a lake and paddle-boats, and a little zoo with emu and several kinds of deer that we aren't familiar with. No signs. Does anyone recognize this kind of deer?
Below: here are Debbie and DJ taking a load off their feet and wetting their whistles at the local pub inside the Beguinehof. That's them sitting at the table at the corner of the church at the left.
Tongeren is famous because it is one of the few cities in Belgium that has preserved and/or excavated its Roman-era city walls. A tremendous archaeological effort has gone into digging up and discovering the Roman layout, defences, homes, etc. In the process, they've uncovered the medieval walls, too. You can actually tell the difference by looking -- the construction is different.
For example, here is a tower and city gate, built in 1357, part of the medieval wall
Below is the view through the tower gate, showing the steeple of the Beguine church, where Debbie and DJ were enjoying their cold drinks while I took this picture.
Here is another section of the medieval wall.
And another shot of the 13th-century wall, even though this has arches which you normally associate with Roman architecture:
Contrast the construction above, with the tower below, which is part of the Roman wall, built in the second century (the 100's) by the Romans. Also see Debbie's blog for more pictures of the Roman walls.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Aug 23: Grottes Han-Sur-Lesse (Caverns)
The Lesse is a river flowing through the southern (and very French-speaking) part of Belgium. The town of Han is located on the River Lesse, hence the town's official name: Han Sur Lesse.
Han-Sur-Lesse is really little more than a collection of houses and shops. There are only two streets, and one "T's" into the other on at the center of town. Weyers Cave would be a thriving metropolis compared to this tiny town--- even smaller than Spring Hill or Mt. Solon! Here are Debbie and DJ sauntering down the main street. You can walk from one end of the town to the other in about three minutes.
About a five-minute walk from the center of the little tiny town you can find one of the most beautiful caverns I've been in. And I've been in Luray, Grand Caverns, Kentucky-Down-Under, and Mammoth Cave. This set of caves is fuller and more densely packed with interesting and gorgeous formations (stalagmites, stalactites, curtains, plates, layers, domes, beehives, etc.) than any I've ever seen. They won't let you take any pictures inside (even without a flash!), but suffice it to say that I was impressed. Debbie's back is bothering her, but she withstood the 456 steps of stairs just fine -- she says it's because they were spread throughout the 2-hour cavern tour.
We bought the combi-passes, which includes the 3-hour train ride from Antwerp to Brussels to the Jemelle station, the 30-minute bus ride from the Jemelle station through the southern Belgian countryside to Han-Sur-Lesse, a short 1 kilometer narrow-gauge train ride from the center of town to the cavern entrance, a 2-hour guided cavern tour, a shuttle back to town, a 90-minute Safari ride to the other side of the mountain, entrance to the geological museum, plus admittance to the 3D interactive movie program, along with the return trips, all included, for less than the cost of one adult admission to an American theme park like King's Dominion or Six Flags!
The countryside in this part of Belgium is hilly and beautiful.
Here is where the River Lesse comes out of the mountain, near the exit of the cavern tour.
We did the caverns tour in the morning. In the afternoon, we took the tram ride from the town around to the other side of the mountain, where it entered a huge 1000+ acre game preserve, and our tram ride turned into a safari. It's like a huge open zoo.
The French name for owl is "hibou", and the Dutch name is "uihui", although the guide pronounced the names as "hoo-boo" and "oo-hoo".
The brown bears were in an enclosure, and enjoyed posing for the tourists.
"No, no, really, darling, I just finished my nails..."
We got to practice our French more on this trip than any we've taken since Paris and Strasbourg 2 years ago. Je parle un tres peu Francais, mais Debbie parle Francais tres bonne.
Han-Sur-Lesse is really little more than a collection of houses and shops. There are only two streets, and one "T's" into the other on at the center of town. Weyers Cave would be a thriving metropolis compared to this tiny town--- even smaller than Spring Hill or Mt. Solon! Here are Debbie and DJ sauntering down the main street. You can walk from one end of the town to the other in about three minutes.
About a five-minute walk from the center of the little tiny town you can find one of the most beautiful caverns I've been in. And I've been in Luray, Grand Caverns, Kentucky-Down-Under, and Mammoth Cave. This set of caves is fuller and more densely packed with interesting and gorgeous formations (stalagmites, stalactites, curtains, plates, layers, domes, beehives, etc.) than any I've ever seen. They won't let you take any pictures inside (even without a flash!), but suffice it to say that I was impressed. Debbie's back is bothering her, but she withstood the 456 steps of stairs just fine -- she says it's because they were spread throughout the 2-hour cavern tour.
We bought the combi-passes, which includes the 3-hour train ride from Antwerp to Brussels to the Jemelle station, the 30-minute bus ride from the Jemelle station through the southern Belgian countryside to Han-Sur-Lesse, a short 1 kilometer narrow-gauge train ride from the center of town to the cavern entrance, a 2-hour guided cavern tour, a shuttle back to town, a 90-minute Safari ride to the other side of the mountain, entrance to the geological museum, plus admittance to the 3D interactive movie program, along with the return trips, all included, for less than the cost of one adult admission to an American theme park like King's Dominion or Six Flags!
The countryside in this part of Belgium is hilly and beautiful.
Here is where the River Lesse comes out of the mountain, near the exit of the cavern tour.
We did the caverns tour in the morning. In the afternoon, we took the tram ride from the town around to the other side of the mountain, where it entered a huge 1000+ acre game preserve, and our tram ride turned into a safari. It's like a huge open zoo.
The French name for owl is "hibou", and the Dutch name is "uihui", although the guide pronounced the names as "hoo-boo" and "oo-hoo".
The brown bears were in an enclosure, and enjoyed posing for the tourists.
"No, no, really, darling, I just finished my nails..."
We got to practice our French more on this trip than any we've taken since Paris and Strasbourg 2 years ago. Je parle un tres peu Francais, mais Debbie parle Francais tres bonne.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Aug 22: Aquatopia
DJ and I thoroughly enjoyed this world-class aquarium, located right downtown in Antwerpen, on KoningenAstridPlein (Queen Astrid Plaza). Yes, the zoo entrance is also located on this plaza, located right next door to the railroad's Central Station, but the zoo is not affiliated with the aquarium. Here is a picture of DJ looking through a porthole at a passing ray.
The aquarium has dozens of tanks, including several huge ones, like this one, featuring not one but TWO (2) tunnels for humans to walk through, giving the effect of actually being down in the water with the fishes.
The aquarium has dozens of tanks, including several huge ones, like this one, featuring not one but TWO (2) tunnels for humans to walk through, giving the effect of actually being down in the water with the fishes.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Aug 21: Delft, Holland
Since Dubby and Bopnopper have both posted and described Delft, I won't repeat it, but they overlooked some very interesting aspects of this quaint Dutch town that I thought you might enjoy.
First, the picture below is "NieuweKerk", or "New Church". The name is somewhat misleading, however, because the New Church was actually built between 1351 and 1496! Yep, that's right, the "new" church was pretty much completed BEFORE Columbus set sail!
So, click on the picture above, and look closely at the people at the entrance of this church. See how small they are? The church tower is HUGE. It is over 108 meters high, which is the equivalent of a 35 story building.
Now here is the fun part: DJ and I climbed all 386 stairs to get to the top! You can see the spiral staircase on her blog. Once again, an old gray-haired, pot-bellied, 50-plus year-old geezer was able to climb stairs -- without medication! And here is the photo to prove it!
By the way, that's the OLD church in the background.
Of course, to be honest, we did take a couple of breathers along the way up. But hey, climbing stairs for half an hour is supposed to be good for you, if you believe those commercials on TV for the stairmaster. And believe me, these stairs were steeper than anything you'll find on the settings for the stairmaster!
The view from the top was stunningly beautiful. The picture below is the view looking down at the spot from which the very first photo on this post was taken. The building in the center of the photo below is the city hall, or stadshuis. The tower of the city hall is actually attached to the back of the building. That tower is actually part of a castle from the 1100's called "the Steen". The Steen burned and was demolished -- all except for the tower, which was preserved and made part of the new stadshuis when it was constructed in the 15th century. Incidentally, we ate lunch under one of the yellow tents to the right in this picture.
Of course, no trip to Holland would be complete without a photo of a real classic windmill, built in the late 1600's and today holding a pet food store in its base.
Like Amsterdam, Delft is criss-crossed with canals. Take a look at this following picture. Notice anything. Question: how the heck do people get out of their parked cars without falling into the canal? We never found out. Notice: no guardrails, either! They apparently don't have many lawyers in Holland.
We toured the Royal Deflt Ceramics Works, or Pottery factory, or Porcelain Works, or whatever you want to call it ("Fles" in Dutch). Below is a picture taken in the factory courtyard. Europeans love to eat and drink outside. Of course, there aren't very many bugs in Europe for some unknown reason. About the only bugs we ever see are the occasional bee here and there. So eating and drinking outside is very pleasant. And although it is mid-August, the temperature is a very comfortable 70 degrees at the heat of the day, and about 55 at night (Farenheit, of course).
As the Bopnopper pointed out, all of the Delft china and vases and figurines and tiles and stuff is all hand-painted before it is fired. Since DJ's photo is blurred, here is one of the painters at work.
The Royal Works pride themselves on custom pieces, one-of-a-kind, designed and manufactured for one and only one customer. For example, they do unique work for all the kings and queens of the Netherlands. They will do almost any kind of commission, too. Below is a work where the customer decided to let the factory display the wares for a few months before he takes possession of it, sort of as an advertisement for what the company can do. This is a full-sized (100% actual size) reproduction of Rembrandt's famous painting "NightWatch", done bit by bit on a bunch of little 6-inch-by-6-inch tiles, which when all put together, re-create the masterpiece. It is amazing.
Below is a panel which re-creates the famous Vermeer painting of the "Milk Maid". This is all on one panel, but is life-sized (100% the size of the original painting).
The "Milk Maid" is famous because it is the first painting of a common person... prior to this painting, most of the Dutch Masterworks were of royalty or rich people or of religious subjects, or posed portraits. Vermeer was a groundbreaker because he painted common, ordinary folk, doing ordinary things, giving us a fantastic insight into the lives of the commoners from the 1600's.
Vermeer's home town, by the way, was ... Delft! And he is buried in the "Olde" church, or "Oudekerk". Below is a photo of the tower of the Old Church. Notice anything about the tower?
If it looks like it is leaning to the right, it's because.... it *IS* leaning to the right! About ten feet, to be exact. The tower was built in the 1200's. Because practically all of Holland is silt (the saying goes, "God created the world, but the Dutch made Holland") and part of the tower was built on a filled-in canal, the thing leans. The Old Church holds the tomb of Vermeer, as well as Antoine Van Leeuwenhoek, the inventor of the microscope and father of microbiology.
Below is a picture of the Prinsenhof. Students of European History will recognize the Prinsenhof as the place where Balthasar Gerard shot William of Orange (in the very first assassination of a politician using a firearm). William of Orange was the one who stopped Philip II (Holy Roman Emperor, for whom the Phillipines are named, and son of Charles V who sent Cortez to bring back the Incan/Aztec gold to finance his wars to force all of Europe to stay Catholic). William of Orange was a brilliant strategist who started out loyal to Philip, but who grew tired of the murder of thousands in the name of keeping the faith pure by stamping out the Protestants and Calvinists and Lutherans, etc., so William declared the Netherlands independent of the Spanish/Hapsburg empire. If you want some interesting reading, look up the entries on these folks on Wikipedia. Anyway, William of Orange was killed here, and is buried in an elaborately-decorated tomb in the New Church. The Prinsenhof is in the foreground in this photo, and the tower in the background is that of the old church.
Delft is about 2 hours train ride from our apartment in Antwerpen. We had to change trains in Rotterdam, but Delft makes for an outstanding day trip.
First, the picture below is "NieuweKerk", or "New Church". The name is somewhat misleading, however, because the New Church was actually built between 1351 and 1496! Yep, that's right, the "new" church was pretty much completed BEFORE Columbus set sail!
So, click on the picture above, and look closely at the people at the entrance of this church. See how small they are? The church tower is HUGE. It is over 108 meters high, which is the equivalent of a 35 story building.
Now here is the fun part: DJ and I climbed all 386 stairs to get to the top! You can see the spiral staircase on her blog. Once again, an old gray-haired, pot-bellied, 50-plus year-old geezer was able to climb stairs -- without medication! And here is the photo to prove it!
By the way, that's the OLD church in the background.
Of course, to be honest, we did take a couple of breathers along the way up. But hey, climbing stairs for half an hour is supposed to be good for you, if you believe those commercials on TV for the stairmaster. And believe me, these stairs were steeper than anything you'll find on the settings for the stairmaster!
The view from the top was stunningly beautiful. The picture below is the view looking down at the spot from which the very first photo on this post was taken. The building in the center of the photo below is the city hall, or stadshuis. The tower of the city hall is actually attached to the back of the building. That tower is actually part of a castle from the 1100's called "the Steen". The Steen burned and was demolished -- all except for the tower, which was preserved and made part of the new stadshuis when it was constructed in the 15th century. Incidentally, we ate lunch under one of the yellow tents to the right in this picture.
Of course, no trip to Holland would be complete without a photo of a real classic windmill, built in the late 1600's and today holding a pet food store in its base.
Like Amsterdam, Delft is criss-crossed with canals. Take a look at this following picture. Notice anything. Question: how the heck do people get out of their parked cars without falling into the canal? We never found out. Notice: no guardrails, either! They apparently don't have many lawyers in Holland.
We toured the Royal Deflt Ceramics Works, or Pottery factory, or Porcelain Works, or whatever you want to call it ("Fles" in Dutch). Below is a picture taken in the factory courtyard. Europeans love to eat and drink outside. Of course, there aren't very many bugs in Europe for some unknown reason. About the only bugs we ever see are the occasional bee here and there. So eating and drinking outside is very pleasant. And although it is mid-August, the temperature is a very comfortable 70 degrees at the heat of the day, and about 55 at night (Farenheit, of course).
As the Bopnopper pointed out, all of the Delft china and vases and figurines and tiles and stuff is all hand-painted before it is fired. Since DJ's photo is blurred, here is one of the painters at work.
The Royal Works pride themselves on custom pieces, one-of-a-kind, designed and manufactured for one and only one customer. For example, they do unique work for all the kings and queens of the Netherlands. They will do almost any kind of commission, too. Below is a work where the customer decided to let the factory display the wares for a few months before he takes possession of it, sort of as an advertisement for what the company can do. This is a full-sized (100% actual size) reproduction of Rembrandt's famous painting "NightWatch", done bit by bit on a bunch of little 6-inch-by-6-inch tiles, which when all put together, re-create the masterpiece. It is amazing.
Below is a panel which re-creates the famous Vermeer painting of the "Milk Maid". This is all on one panel, but is life-sized (100% the size of the original painting).
The "Milk Maid" is famous because it is the first painting of a common person... prior to this painting, most of the Dutch Masterworks were of royalty or rich people or of religious subjects, or posed portraits. Vermeer was a groundbreaker because he painted common, ordinary folk, doing ordinary things, giving us a fantastic insight into the lives of the commoners from the 1600's.
Vermeer's home town, by the way, was ... Delft! And he is buried in the "Olde" church, or "Oudekerk". Below is a photo of the tower of the Old Church. Notice anything about the tower?
If it looks like it is leaning to the right, it's because.... it *IS* leaning to the right! About ten feet, to be exact. The tower was built in the 1200's. Because practically all of Holland is silt (the saying goes, "God created the world, but the Dutch made Holland") and part of the tower was built on a filled-in canal, the thing leans. The Old Church holds the tomb of Vermeer, as well as Antoine Van Leeuwenhoek, the inventor of the microscope and father of microbiology.
Below is a picture of the Prinsenhof. Students of European History will recognize the Prinsenhof as the place where Balthasar Gerard shot William of Orange (in the very first assassination of a politician using a firearm). William of Orange was the one who stopped Philip II (Holy Roman Emperor, for whom the Phillipines are named, and son of Charles V who sent Cortez to bring back the Incan/Aztec gold to finance his wars to force all of Europe to stay Catholic). William of Orange was a brilliant strategist who started out loyal to Philip, but who grew tired of the murder of thousands in the name of keeping the faith pure by stamping out the Protestants and Calvinists and Lutherans, etc., so William declared the Netherlands independent of the Spanish/Hapsburg empire. If you want some interesting reading, look up the entries on these folks on Wikipedia. Anyway, William of Orange was killed here, and is buried in an elaborately-decorated tomb in the New Church. The Prinsenhof is in the foreground in this photo, and the tower in the background is that of the old church.
Delft is about 2 hours train ride from our apartment in Antwerpen. We had to change trains in Rotterdam, but Delft makes for an outstanding day trip.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
August 8-11: Chicago
I presented a paper at the American Accounting Association annual meeting in Chicago. It was a four-day conference, packed with informative and educational sessions, and I always find this a wonderful way to recharge my publication batteries. Although I believe several other conferences through the year are much more useful and productive, this convention is the one where I can renew old friendships with my colleagues at other universities who aren't in the Accounting Systems field. Besides, there is some prestige associated with presenting a paper at the national meeting of all accounting professors.
The meeting was held in the historic Palmer House hotel on State Street. The lobby is something to behold:
I took a few minutes off one afternoon to snap a couple of pictures. Here is the Wrigley Buidling, and yes, it was built by the gum people, the same ones for whom the Chicago Cubs' Wrigley Field is named. The Wrigley Building, built in 1921, was Chicago's first air-conditioned office building. It is located at the south end of the famous "Miracle Mile" shopping stretch of Michigan Avenue.
In contrast, my hotel was next door to the John Hancock building which is located across the street from the Chicago Water Tower, which is the north end of the Miracle Mile.
And here is the famous Chicago Water Tower, located about 2 blocks from my hotel (no, I didn't stay at the Palmer House -- even with the group convention rate, my hotel was about half the cost of the Palmer House).
Grandma Bliss has a painting of the Water Tower at Night in her living room, so I took a photo of the WaterTower at night. It doesn't do justice to the scene, however:
The night after taking this photo, I became deathly ill, with the 72-hour bug, "coming out both ends simultaneously", as they say. I had a high fever, and I don't take fever well at all. I could hardly get out of my room to walk the 2 blocks to the all-night convenience store to get some Ibuprofen to get my fever down. Fortunately, my fever was down and I was well enough 2 days later to take the plane trip home... which due to weather delays and missed connections, actually took 2 days! I spent an unexpected night in Washington, and when I finally got to Shenandoah 24 hours late, they had lost my luggage! Hey, this is modern air travel, what can I say? I'm a seasoned traveler, so I had an entire change of clothes in my carry-0n, as I always do and have done for years. I learn from my mistakes. At the airport, I had a 4-ounce bottle of Pepto-Bismol in my carry-on. The security lady stopped me and told me the limit was 3 ounces. So in front of her, I opened the bottle, swigged a couple of swallows and asked, "is that about 3 now?" and she let me through. Sheesh. Modern air travel.
The meeting was held in the historic Palmer House hotel on State Street. The lobby is something to behold:
I took a few minutes off one afternoon to snap a couple of pictures. Here is the Wrigley Buidling, and yes, it was built by the gum people, the same ones for whom the Chicago Cubs' Wrigley Field is named. The Wrigley Building, built in 1921, was Chicago's first air-conditioned office building. It is located at the south end of the famous "Miracle Mile" shopping stretch of Michigan Avenue.
In contrast, my hotel was next door to the John Hancock building which is located across the street from the Chicago Water Tower, which is the north end of the Miracle Mile.
And here is the famous Chicago Water Tower, located about 2 blocks from my hotel (no, I didn't stay at the Palmer House -- even with the group convention rate, my hotel was about half the cost of the Palmer House).
Grandma Bliss has a painting of the Water Tower at Night in her living room, so I took a photo of the WaterTower at night. It doesn't do justice to the scene, however:
The night after taking this photo, I became deathly ill, with the 72-hour bug, "coming out both ends simultaneously", as they say. I had a high fever, and I don't take fever well at all. I could hardly get out of my room to walk the 2 blocks to the all-night convenience store to get some Ibuprofen to get my fever down. Fortunately, my fever was down and I was well enough 2 days later to take the plane trip home... which due to weather delays and missed connections, actually took 2 days! I spent an unexpected night in Washington, and when I finally got to Shenandoah 24 hours late, they had lost my luggage! Hey, this is modern air travel, what can I say? I'm a seasoned traveler, so I had an entire change of clothes in my carry-0n, as I always do and have done for years. I learn from my mistakes. At the airport, I had a 4-ounce bottle of Pepto-Bismol in my carry-on. The security lady stopped me and told me the limit was 3 ounces. So in front of her, I opened the bottle, swigged a couple of swallows and asked, "is that about 3 now?" and she let me through. Sheesh. Modern air travel.
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