Chicago, Day 7

We're all ready to go home, but we have one more day before we can start packing. It is the day of the reunion – the ostensible reason for our visit anyway. We decided to make the best of it and eat valiantly on.

Today we had early dinner plans with a half-brother so we went into town early to catch an early lunch. A friend of our son recommended The Patio in Little Italy. It is a small neighborhood restaurant that specializes in Italian Beef and Sausage sandwiches. We each tried a beef and, while very good, had no Italian flavors unless you count the steamed green pepper on top. I think my husband is remembering something better than it was. Both of the ones we've tried so far taste like a French Dip with green peppers on top.

The three of us split an Italian Sausage sandwich that was very good. The sausage here is much denser than what we get at home, not to mention how much more flavorful it is. If we have any more sandwiches I'm sticking with the Italian Sausage!

We killed the afternoon driving around the neighborhood where my husband grew up on Normal Ave. – kind of an oxymoron I think. His childhood was anything but normal. The old home was torn down but I could picture it from the neighboring houses still there, small little two-flats. The neighborhood is shabby and run down. He remembers it as being a nice house but said the bad times outweighed the good times there. I don't think he's too sentimental about the place.

We ate dinner at Carmichael's. The chef is a friend of the half-nephew. It is a very nice steak house with great décor. The bread basket was full of assorted artisan breads and accompanied by a tub of cheese which we later found was cheddar whipped with beer – great idea and great taste. I had a salad that was fabulous and it was a treat to eat just a salad.

We ended up the night at Blue Chicago. It is a tiny little blues club – a narrow, long room with a bar and the back corner is sectioned off for the band. My son said it is too touristy. If it is, I can't imagine what kind of place the locals might attend; this place was no-frills. The band was good and we drank too much. Tomorrow is going to start a little rough I can tell. They closed down early, 1:30, and as we were filing out the bouncer shoved me into one of the tables and grabbed an inebriated patron who was trying to touch the instruments and threw him, quite literally, out the door. I get that; I didn't get me being thrown around.