I had to include a picture of our front door. So cool. Around our building are apartments with even more elaborate embellishments with coats of arms, building names, etc. Some have imitation Bastians (circular towers) and some with battlements. Obviously the latter are only for show, but still cool. Some have elaborate false tops that have supports behind to keep them up and they are the most elaborate. The streets are generally very narrow one way or two way traffic (one time a passing car, nicked our drivers side mirror-no damage-but he didn't even show down). You will find that some of the larger cars and trucks have duck tape on their side mirrors as they have had similar experiences. Some of these roads have cars parked on either side and they still have two way traffic. NARROW!
The roads are lined with big beautiful trees. Which is very reminiscent of Sacramento, CA, our last mission.
Cathi keeps telling me to keep my eye on the road. She can look at the beautiful buildings but I can't, and for safety purposes she is absolutely correct.
To be fair, these narrow roads are usually only in the older parts of town. One unique Chicagoism seems to be the unique action of if there is room for two lanes they are treated as two lanes whether there are road lines or even parked cars ahead. Drivers will take the created lane and go as far as they can then slip in between the cars on the left. This can be a little unnerving as the space between the cars sharing the road is quite narrow but they are not deterred. Huge vehicles including tractor trailer trucks, cement mixers, etc. will do this. Road lines seems to mean nothing as vehicles literally clammer for position. This is not to say that all Chicagoans drive like this. But I believe the Chicago drives are the most aggressive drivers I have ever been amongst.
This is the rear view through our back door. Four stories, all brick. That is so foreign to me. In the city center there are building 20+ stories and all brick! Being raised in California, where earthquakes are common, you never see large brick buildings! And these are not brick facades, but solid walls. I have included a close up of the breezeway which to me looks like a dungeon. We have to passed through a personal back door and community back door to get to this passageway which leads to this locked breezeway in order to drop off our rubbish.
This passageway gets plenty of sunlight. I have been tempted to get a rectangular planter and plant Swiss Chard! I would probably need to speak to the manager and I doubt they would allow this. Maybe this is a time of getting forgiveness rather than permission! Ha!
So below right is an example of the narrow streets ( right next to our flat) but this picture doesn't begin to show the narrowness. Still figure two cars (sometimes truck, etc. going down these streets. You tuck as close as you can to the right and hope right side mirrors pass. Once a p[assing car clipped our side mirror. When you park on the street, you fold up your side mirrors. And occationally you see a side mirror that has been duck taped up. Sad days.
This space is unfortunately and un-purposely not left blank.
THIS IS VERY EMPTY SPACE
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