Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood is alive with art.  Murals are everywhere; sophisticated and well-designed murals, political murals, naively-drawn murals, misspelled murals, and entire houses covered with murals.  Pilsen smells fantastic—a combination of tortilla factory corn, fried dough, sugar and spicy street food.  Houses are adorable and oddly sunk below street level.  Spanish is spoken everywhere, guitarists are playing in front of windows, cute children are abundant.  I’ve been working a lot and sleeping too little.  Pilsen, with it’s lively street life, gorgeous churches and exuberant art gave me rejuvenating hug and a kick in the pants.  Thank you Pilsen!

How we got to Pilsen: Chicago Transit Authority.

Where we slept: at home.  Price: mortgage, assessments and utilities.  Recommended: highly.