Time is (not) on my side

After Day 1 back at work, I can categorically tell you that my holiday is officially over. I know, it kills me to even think about it.

I'm not quite sure where most of my holiday went of course, as I was very remiss in blogging all the dirty details. But I will give you an insight into the little memories I have been cherishing ever since my crazy house guest disappeared through airport security yesterday. [And now that I mention THAT, it will probably be easier if I work through the holiday in reverse.]

The day before J's departure was pretty much a write-off. The cold snap had come in and neither of us were feeling up to traipsing around the City doing any last-minute touristy stuff. We had wanted to do the Architecture Boat Cruise but had been otherwise occupied in the window of fine weather we had, and I guess it's fair to say we missed the proverbial boat.

Sunday morning we met up with Coco for brunch downtown at a cute place in the West Loop called Wishbone. We'd indulged in a little too much juice the night before and didn't feel up to eating much - but I am vowing to return for the crawfish cakes. [Just as an aside, I've decided that I don't care much for grits and even though it's only cornmeal, I prefer to eat it in usual polenta consistency so in future I will forgo it at brunch and save it for Italian cuisine instead.]

The Friday night was an art gallery exhibition for a Chicago-based Aussie group (and I'm this month's poster child on the website - can you believe it?). Anyway the indigenous art gallery was full of amazing and colourful works and I think we could declare the evening a success.

We did well to make it to the gallery on time actually because we'd just come back from an overnight visit to Milwaukee. A friend of mine lives up there but we were really motivated to go just for the excuse to get out of Chicago and see something else.

So we caught the Amtrak train from Chicago's Union Station and ended up in Downtown Milwaukee, a short taxi ride from our 4-star hotel, The Ambassador. Selected as much for its decor (art deco) as its location, The Ambassador was a perfect home base for our city exploration. We walked through the Marquette University district and arrived at the Milwaukee Public Museum, where we spent a happy day browsing the exhibits and the IMAX theater.

We should have given ourselves more time in Milwaukee of course. We hadn't anticipated the Museum's "Titanic" exhibit to be quite so engrossing. It really did just suck all our time away. And the post-museum drink at the cute wine & piano bar called Centanni could not have been more timely.

So you can see on a reverse reading of these adventures that my holiday wasn't entirely about resting and relaxation - we really did get out and do stuff. Which is probably why J's cold germs are rearing up and attacking me with a vengeance now. I'm dosing up on all kinds of pills and potions to stop the onslaught but I think that this is what happens when you stop moving.

Maybe I should invite another house guest to come and stay. Any takers?