After the obligatory frustrations surrounding any attempt at getting away for the weekend, Bear and I had the best vacation we've ever had... hands down. It began with his adorable desire to surprise and spoil me; handing me a Mapquest print out and telling me to get him there. He wouldn't tell me where we were going, or even if he had any idea.

"We'll see when we get there," he said. And when we got there, well, this is what I saw...















That is the Sofitel, ladies and gentlemen. One of the finest hotels I have ever stayed at, hands down. It was simply beautiful. We walked in, just a punk and his girl (a mess of leather jackets, studded belts and freshly dyed hair), ignoring the princesses incapable of carrying their own bags, and feeling like we owned the world.

After checking in, we rode the elevator to the eighth floor where we encountered one of the prettiest rooms I've ever stayed in.















That is a publicity photo, but I swear the room looked almost exactly like that. We could see some of the Chicago skyline out the window, and I breathed in every bit of city air I could fit into my lungs.

After relaxing and having sex for a bit, we headed here...













That's the Metro. The Metro was essentially my home as a teenager - a bastion of skinhead, punk rock and rude girl/boy culture - a place that raised me up to be strong, tough and capable of standing up for myself.

We saw a band called the Red Sparowes (which followed some horrific band that I've almost completely wiped out of my memory. The word "shit" is the closest to describing the horror, but even that doesn't sum it up. I can't remember ever being at a show that I wanted to leave that quickly; Bear and I ended up sitting in the lobby for most of it!). Anyway, that probably one of the most unique shows I've ever seen. It was ethereal and trance inducing, yet at the same time heavy and pounding. There were three guitarists and no vocalist, and every song seemed written as though there was a deeper meaning that they were trying to drill into your subconscious. They projected grainy black and white stock footage of what Bear and I figure was probably World War Two behind them, and we were both sucked in so deeply we didn't know which way was up by the end.

Afterwards, it was off to Rezas.


Rezas is this great middle eastern restaurant, where Bear and I both gorged ourselves on all sorts of delightful vegetarian Persian food. There were dips, cheeses, bread, tea... it was glorious.

We walked back to our hotel, probably about a 20 minutes walk, stopping to ogle graphic design books and modern furniture through windows. It was dark, the moon was full and the world seemed somehow magical.

To top off the night, we had desert at the Sofitel's restaurant.
















It was delicious, creme brulee and two glasses of aged port wine. I ate most of his fruit - fresh blueberries, raspberries and blackberries (those I didn't touch), while we talked about the world, the city, music, politics... you name it.

That was mostly the end to our night, besides watching the last round of the World Poker Championship and a minor freakout on my part where I talked about needing to get married. More on that later, I'm sure. Right now, I must attend to some chemistry homework and chatting with Bear about the things I'll be writing about tomorrow. Until then, adieu.

This entry was posted by Mellie, on Monday, August 22, 2005.