Live from Japan!

Danielle and I have slowly been ticking off the things we wanted to do in chicago before we leave. The limited time meant that even after fridays night out, we had to plow on with another full day of chicagoing. On Saturdays list were the Printers Row Book Fair, and the Map Room.

The Printers Row Book Fair is an incredible event, in which lots of book stores and publishers set up tents along three blocks with tons of used books, old maps, photos, and all sorts of printed materials. (Including some, ahem, world war two era Varga prints and calendars. Very historical.) We had a blast looking through old books and maps for a few hours. My personal favorite finds were, an atlas of american wars published by west point, which had all sorts of really cool maps, and a young mens etiquette guide circa 1809. I learned many interesting things from this second book, including not to use too complicated of language when speaking with ladies, and never to invite a lady to the theatre, opera, or ‘place of amusement’ without also inviting her mother. It was a lot of fun and ended all too quickly. The only real bummer was that, due to our impending trip, we couldn’t really buy anything.

Likewise The Map Room is an incredible bar, or “travelers tavern” i guess, here in chicago. It is decorated with maps, globes, flags and currency from around the world. They have bookshelves full of National Geographic, Atlases, and travel books. And they have beer. Their selection is unlike anything I have ever seen, they have easily 15 to 20 beers on tap, and I can’t even venture a guess of how many they have in bottles. All I know is that the beer list is in a ridiculously small type that probably leads many drinkers in to myopia due to the poor lighting of the bar.

We had a great time drinking, talking, and playing pool into the wee hours of the morning. I had the unique, and amusing, experience of remaining sober for most of the evening. A rough morning lead me to be quite conservative with the amount of beer I consumed. For perhaps the first time, I got to watch with clarity the antics of my drunk friends. (Normally my low tolerance and high metabolism lead to me being one of the first inebriated.) A side benefit of this is that, while I only drank three full glasses of beer, I got to taste many more in a state where I could really appreciate them. There are some very good beers out there.

I don’t have much time left in chicago but I can imagine spending another night in the map room. Apparently, they have lectures on mondays and meal from around the world catered on tuesdays.