September 11, 2025

Chicago, Illinois

Good morning. Well, it is for some of us. Apparently, out front of the hotel there was a very bad accident involving three cars and it appears a couple of deaths. V and I are walking down to the world’s largest Starbucks, which is located in Michigan Ave just a couple blocks North of the hotel. The Michigan Ave exit from the hotel is closed, E. Ohio Street is blocked by a police car so we walk north on N. Rush Street hoping to avoid the accident.

We hang a right on East Ontario and walk a block back to Michigan Ave. and hand a right away from the accident. The Starbucks Reserve Roastery is just on our left. We walk in and the first thing they tell us is that the upper floors aren’t going to be open until 8:00. They are apparently filming something up there.

This isn’t a normal Starbucks. They don’t have Starbucks normal breakfast items. I get a tall cappuccino and a prosciutto and fontina croissant. Really trying to stay on the Keto diet plan and the croissant isn’t included. Was hoping for the bacon and Gruyère egg bites, which do follow the Keto plan.

Afterwards we walked back to the hotel, stopped at 500 Michigan Ave where the Italian Consulate is just to confirm we were right about where we need to a 14:45, and then we returned to our rooms. V brought his things over as he is checking out today. Housekeeping showed up just before 10:00 to clean my room. We headed out to do some shopping. V was looking for a ½ zip sweater.

We went next door to the Shops at North Bridge. There is a Nordstrom, Hugo Boss, White House Black Market and a few others. We didn’t’t really find anything that struck his fancy. Approaching lunchtime, we stopped at the very disappointing food court in North Bridge for a quick bit. The only real choice was Panda Express. V, apparently, like this stuff, and as long as I stay away from the rice it might be possible to stay on the Keto plan.

After lunch we walk across the street to Alan Edmonds. We can more clearly see the accident from this morning. They are still cleaning it up. It is obvious that one car was totally T-boned, and looking at the damage the car that hit it must have really been booking down the road. Given the amount of blood in the T-boned car, that person didn’t make it. You really have to watch out for the other guy.

We didn’t find anything in Alan Edmonds, although they did have a nice ½ zip sweater, but V didn’t really take a shine to it. So, we walked back to the hotel. I actually took a nap while V did schoolwork. About a quarter to 2 we went over all the forms again and double and triple checked that we had everything we could possibly need for the appointment.

We departed from the hotel about 14:15 and headed downtown the street to 500 Michigan Ave, the hotel is at 540 Michigan Ave, to the Italian Consulate. We checked in at the front desk and were directed to take the elevator to the 18th floor. The on-line instructions say the 10th floor, but we’ll have to go with the front desk on this one. We take the elevator up to 18. Exit the elevator and just to our right is the door to the consulate. We’re in the right place.

We enter, sign in and sit. There is only one other person here and he is at the passport window, for which there is only one. We get called over to another window where the woman asked if we have everything, cash to pay the fee? Every answer is yes, so we are told to go back and take a seat.

In the meantime, people begin arriving for their appointments. The small waiting room is beginning to fill up. V gets called to the window; I go with him but the lady behind the glass sends me away. I go over to the woman at the first window and ask about fixing IV and Rochelle’s marriage record. Legnano said Chicago has to fix it. Chicago, this morning, says Legnano has to fix it. I’ll go back to the anagrafia in Legnano in February as see if I can get it repaired then.

Five minutes later V is done. Application, fingerprints, and fee paid. They tell him the passport will arrive in three to five days. They are probably printing it as we walk away. We go back to the room and V collects his things on the hope of making the 15:45 bus back to school. I have three hours before dinner with Jeff, Linda and Courtney. Napping seemed a good choice.

I got a text from Jeff saying they had made it into town and were at Shaw’s Crab Hous win the bar waiting for me. I pulled on my shoes and headed out the door. It is just about 600 or 700 meters from the hotel to Shaw’s. Shaw’s isn’t much to look at from the exterior but the interior had a nice classic vintage vibe about it. It was easy to spot Linda and Jeff in the bar sitting at a high table. I walked over and joined them.

Courtney joined us after a while and then we were sat down about 18:30. It was really hard to resist the really nice looking dinner rolls, or skip the fried calamari; which was on a near by table looking so good. I stuck with a cup of New England Clam Chowder and twin Maine lobster tails in dawn butter.

New England Clam Chowder really isn’t Keto. 21 grams of carbohydrates in a cup! Ouch. The twin lobster tails don’t really have any, and the dawn butter is just what I need fat. Dinner was delightful, although it was a bit difficult to hear as the restaurant is a little noisy. We opted for dessert. Probably the biggest Keto mistake of the evening, but the raspberry pie, a house specialty, was too much to pass up. Linda got a cherry cobbler which also looked divine.

The raspberry pie was worse than the breakfast sandwich at 66 grams of carbohydrates. I am really going to have to work all of this off and probably starve tomorrow as a result. After dinner it was back to the hotel. Back in the room by 20:00. Worked a little on my food summary for the day, got very depressed about how poorly I had chosen today. Took a nice warm shower and headed to bed.

Buonanotte e caio,

Enrico