Chicago 2020:
Day 6


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Chicago 2020: [Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Day 5] [Day 6]

Thursday, September 10, 2020: After dining on Pop-Tarts and milk for breakfast, we took one last tour of the property before checking out. We realized that we hadn't really looked at the front of the house, so we followed the meandering pathway to the front gate.
Here's the view from the front yard, ...
... and from near the street.
Here's the mailbox.
Shade plants fluorished in the fenced sections between the sidewalk and the street. There was also a post with a plaque on it.
It gave details on the design and construction of the Emil Bach House, along with a note that it had been designated a Chicago landmark in 1977.
We spotted this tiny window on our way back to the house. It must be a window to the room in the basement that is inaccessible to guests.
One last view of the house, we swear - this time featuring the front door and the screened patio.
We peered into the brand new event tent.
We sat on the teak furniture (and noted that the brand was Diamond Teak for the bench and Gloster for the chairs). Then we went into the garage and drove out of the Emil Bach House's history forever.
Our next destination was Andersonville.
We passed an adorable food truck on our way.
We found street parking near Andersonville's famous Dala Horse statue. Here's the side representing Stockholm, ...
... and the side representing Chicago. Five years earlier, we had seen its Seattle-themed twin at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle. These were part of a series of Dala horses created for SWEA International's 25th Anniversary to share with American and international SWEA organizations.
So, there's Andersonville.
We headed to Svea Restaurant for a little brunch.
We went in through the front door, ...
... and chose to eat outdoors on their patio.
Here's our private little table at very back, closest to the alley.
When the menu opens with "Home of the Viking Breakfast," you know that at least one member of the marriage needs to order it.
So Debbie did. She got Swedish pancakes with lingonberry preserves, scrambled eggs, Swedish-style fried ptatoes, Swedish Falukorv sausage, and limpa toast. It was all so very delicious. This was our first time trying limpa bread, and it did not disappoint.
Tom chose the lunch option of The Three Crown Special, which included Swedish brown beans, Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, and salt pork. We hadn't tried salt pork before and were so glad we did. Tom pronounced all of it delicious too.
Next, we headed to the Swedish American Museum, admiring interesting brickwork ...
... and interesting storefronts along the way.
A water tower painted with the colors of the Swedish flag towers over the Swedish American Museum, shown here on the far left.
We were here at the museum for a walking tour of Andersonville, hosted by the director of the museum, Karin. We were each given a tour pamphlet and a bottle of water.
Across the street from the museum is Simon's Tavern. Word has it that they sell both Malört and glögg there.
Next door to the museum, a model of the Vasa stands in the front window.
Karin pointed out the building that used to house one of the locations of Ann Sather Restaurant.
Behind her is a small plaque noting that the building next door is part of the Andersonville Historic District and was built in 1909.
Down the street is North Side Federal Savings. Originally Builders and Merchants State Bank, it was founded by Swedes and designed by a Swede.
You can almost read the original name behind the electronic marquee. Several members of our 8-person tour opted to go inside, where they were invited in to see the vault.
While we waited, Debbie got a picture of some more interesting brickwork.
This is one of several impressions in the concrete of the Andersonville seal.
We stopped across the street at the Hagelin Building. It has a plaque that noted it used to the Andersenville School (yes, spelled with "-sen" instead of "-son" like the rest of the neighborhood).
This is the site of Lyman Trumbull Elementary School, built in 1908 to serve the growing Andersonville population. All cool brickwork, of course.
Here's Ebenezer Lutheran Church, sometimes called "Chicago's Swedish cathedral." It was designed by a Swedish architect and served a large Swedish population.
The name of the church is given in English on the left ("Swedish Evang. Lutheran Ebenezer Church") and Swedish on the right ("Svenska Ev. Lutherska Ebenezer Kyrkan"). Not sure how to pronounce "kyrka"? Let Debbie's Swedish cousin Kristina teach you.
Here's the entrance and stained glass windows.
More interesting brickwork in the neighborhood, ...
... and more.
We headed north but the water tower to the east of us let us know where we had started from.
Andersonville has lots of little charming touches, like this Little Free Library, ...
... and this mile marker post topped with a little treehouse.
Even the neighborhood sign is charming.
This white terra cotta-clad building that now houses Hamburger Mary's used to be the Swedish American State Bank Building.
Look! A shoe store straight out of the 1960s!
Lost Larson is a newer bakery on a street that used to have up to a half dozen Scandinavian bakeries. They sell some Scandinavian items including Debbie's beloved prinsesstårta but we didn't think to shop here after the tour ended.
Potbelly Sandwich Works is now in what used to be the Erickson Jewelers building. The sign still hints at an old jewelers sign, ...
... and the interior still features some Swedish flair.
We passed Svea Restaurant again and heard more about it, ...
... while these spooky faces looked down at us from a building next door.
It was a great tour and it wrapped up after an hour.
Tour participants were offered free entry to the museum. Right inside the entry to the museum is the original Andersonville Dala horse. It had been moved inside and replaced with a replica to prevent it from receiving any more damage from the rough Chicago winters.
We headed inside and up the stairs ...
... to the museum.
There were great displays on the experiences of Swedes as they emigrated to America.
This display featured a model of one of the immigrant ships - possibly even the one that brought Debbie's grandfather to America?
This reimagining of old posters offered suggestions of what each immigrant should bring with them on the voyage.
Here's the food ...
... and here's everything else. Yep, that's all you'll really need to move your entire life to a new continent.
Did you know that Walgreens is a Swedish company? Well, sort of - it was founded by the American son of a Swedish immigrant.
This display caught Debbie's eye - all about Swedish clubs in the 1800s and 1900s.
Debbie's grandfather was in a Chicago-area Swedish men's choir. Until this moment, she had assumed there was one choir, but this exhibit made it clear that there was more than one. However, the Chicago Swedish Glee Club was a charter member of the American Union of Swedish Singers, with whom he performed in Salt Lake City in 1958, so there's a strong chance that he is one of the performers on this record.
There's an even stronger chance that he performed using the green booklet in this display at the American Union of Swedish Singers 1954 Jubilee in Chicago.
Here's a nice assortment of Swedish fiber arts.
Lots of Swedish stuff, even a cool stained glass window.
On the main floor, there was a great photographic display of Swedish fathers with their children using paid parental leave.
Read all about it.
We love Scandinavian-themed gift shops, but we own a lot of Scandinavian stuff already so we can't buy it all. For example, we bought the stuffed Dala horse on the top shelf when we were in Stockholm in 2013 just in case we had grandchildren someday. A year later, we did.
Debbie inherited her mother's copy (and most likely her grandmother's copy) of this exact same cookbook.
We did walk out of there with some lefse for Claire, cheese for Tom, salmon spread for Debbie, and coconut cookies for everyone. Just kidding, Debbie isn't going to share those cookies.
We drove away from Andersonville to start our journey home.
We had to circle around to get this picture of a horse statue because it matched the one we had seen on Navy Pier a few days earlier.
Our next stop was Graceland Cemetery.
We drove past gigantic shrines to wealthy people ...
... until we found the grave we were looking for: ...
... a glass-encased statue of a little girl named Inez.
Inez died at the age of seven and her grave is a popular site in the cemetery. As we were parking our car, we watched a runner approach her grave, kiss his hand and then pat the glass, cross himself, and run back the other direction. Tom knows about her from the Dresden Files book series.
Debbie recognized the "Nuts on Clark" logo but can't remember why she knows it. Any ideas?
We passed Wrigleysville Dogs on our way to ...
... Wrigley Stadium. There's a statue of Harry Caray, ...
... and this side of the stadium featured statues of ...
... "Sweet Swinging" Billy Williams ...
... and Ron Santo.
Go Cubbies!
This intersection featured a company sign that amused us: ...
... Always There Dental Care. Who wouldn't want this dude for a dentist?
Our next Dresden Files-inspired stop was St. Mary of the Angels.
With a building topped by numerous Doctor Who-style weeping angels, it's a natural to be included in a book series featuring ghosts and the supernatural.
This was a fun little architectural feature. We need one on our house.
More great brickwork.
We took this picture because of the skeleton on the motorcycle in the lower left corner, but it helped us finally figure out what that blue and white flag with the four red stars on it is. It's the City of Chicago's flag. Guess that was a no-brainer.
We had to stop for the Metra. We were inconvenienced for approximately 10 seconds.
We wanted to go on an epic car chase under the "L" tracks but we settled for driving the speed limit safely.
Chicago seems to be filled with bars named "<IrishFirstName> <IrishLastName>'s." Case in point: Paddy O'Fegan's.
Wait! What? Boeing has an office in Chicago? Why, Santy Claus, why?
Gary's domed buildings mean that it's smooth Indiana sailing all the way home from here.

** THE END **


Chicago 2020: [Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Day 5] [Day 6]

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