Author Archives: The Wife of Bath
Art history tumbles forward with Giulio Romano’s giants in Mantua
Here’s how they did things in Italy for around 1400 years; popes, baby Jesus, really fancy places to put the popes and all the church people in, saints, more baby Jesus, everyone dies from the plague, more baby Jesus, oh hey, look— some ancient stuff—maybe we should rediscover it, let’s make some art and buildings […]
Graduate like Dante in Padua
It’s springtime in Padua, a university town, and that means graduation parties. So many wholesome scenes. Extended families presenting flowers to the proud graduate, who is decked out in a Dante-style wreath of laurels. Grampa, grandma, parents—everyone raising their spritzes in a toast which I was easily able to interpret having learned Italian as a […]
Mantua, Italy: once more, with trip hazards
I’m not a do over person, but I’ve never been able to get Mantua out of my mind. We were last here in spring 2009, after the economy crashed and flights got super cheap for a while. It was the first time we didn’t travel in winter and I remember stumbling out from looking at […]
And then we said “What the hell, let’s get the cats a new apartment”
I live with three dudes. Only one of them has intact testicles. There’s the dude I married. (More on him later.) And then there’s Shinto. When we lost our cat Janacek, a sweet old boy remarkable only for his shedding, we went to the shelter looking for a similar cat. We asked the attendant to […]
Wabash Arts Corridor—much better than a hole in your eye
You may recall from my last post that when HOB and I were in the marvelous Rookery building, he spied a glasses shop. Soon after he made an appointment with an optometrist there, because, as he told me “I think I have a hole in my eye”. And damn it if he didn’t—for real—have a […]
Find the rooks (and a dorky bat) in The Rookery
Hey, WOB, how do I find The Rookery in Chicago? Well, dearest reader, you will find The Rookery on LaSalle, between Adams and Quincy. If you’re me—meaning you’re lucky—you can visit on your lunch break. Easy enough just to casually walk by and check it out from across the street. You’re probably going to want […]
Brighton Park: Parisian novelties, Flemish rooflines and Mexican submarines
Though I’ve lived in Chicago since 1994, this was the first time I’ve visited the Brighton Park neighborhood. I was not expecting Parisian Novelty. This is where we jumped off the bus, 17 miles south of our neighborhood, Rogers Park. The Parisian Novelty Company dates from 1898 and—back in the day—made trendy celluloid cases and […]
A sprint through Toronto’s museums
At my goodbye party at my former museum job, I was presented with two official gifts “to thank you for your years of service”: 1: A gorgeous artist-designed bag, which once I pulled out of layers of fluffy tissue paper, I was told I couldn’t actually keep, but I would receive later by mail (I […]
The gentle density and radical façadism of Toronto
One of the reasons I like to walk great distances through new cities is to experience the zoning and density. (You thought I was going to say I do this for snacking opportunities, didn’t you?) We weren’t in Toronto long, but we got around, and I was continually impressed by how well Toronto does density. […]
Toronto: all wonderful (except the poutine)
Actually, we didn’t try the poutine. Yeah, I am the lady who always tries the local foods but… …it just looks regurgitated. Oh, did I mention we just came back from a flash trip to Toronto? I mean, what would make sense with me about to start a new job is that that I would […]
Picnic at the Cathedral 