Law, Partially

The last days in Chicago were spent in an Airbnb studio apartment in Wicker Park. Wicker Park is often called a "hipster" neighborhood, but the truth is something diagonal. In the 90s hipsters were moving in, and since then the young families and professionals have been pushing the true hipsters further afield, leaving perhaps commuting hipsters or moneyed hipsters. Nevertheless, despite the increasing wealth of the local citizens, there remain many "hip" stores and inexpensive and trendy restaurants. The neighborhood vibe will foreshadow our May trip to Portland, where the " dream of the 90s is still alive ." Our apartment was just off Milwaukee Avenue, where we dined up and down the street. We had ramen (Kizuki Ramen and Izakaya), Hawaiian (Mahalo), Mexico City-style comfort food (Fonda Frontera), hearty classic brunch (Bongo Room), sushi burrito (En Hakorre), expensive doughnuts (Stan's Donuts), New Haven style pizza (Piece Brewery & Pizzeri

We went back to Cedar Rapids last weekend ostensibly to celebrate Easter. We also missed the Linges because we hadn't seen them since the middle of February; everyone was excited to see Bobby. We haven't gone to church on Easter since... I can't remember the last time. It has developed into more of a celebration of Spring for us, however. We seemed to have drifted toward Paganism without me even realizing. For Sunday Easter brunch, courtesy of Aunt Marti, we had Champagne (even the good stuff, Veuve Clicquot), mimosas, bloody maries, and lots of brunch food, including the Danish pancake, ebilskiver. And now, I am growing to discover, Easter is also an opportunity to photograph our children wearing outfits celebrating Spring. Bobby with his cousin Hendrik cheesing for the camera. Bobby with his custom Easter basket, overstuffed with Spring toys, given by Nainai. I'll be up there with you soon, Hendrik, says Bob. I spent a few extra days in Cedar R

Why do we (or anyone) travel? For Christine and me, we are just trying to satiate our curiosity. Making comparisons between places across time provides a method of organizing the knowledge accumulated during travel adventures. I was shocked and impressed to hear that the Quad Cities have a distinctive pizza style . The Quad Cities lie on the route just between Chicago and Cedar Rapids. Christine and I travel through there regularly on our frequent trips to the Linge homeland. Eating pizza while on the road is a bit tough. Pizza takes a while to bake, and we're usually too excited to arrive at our destination to wait for pizza. In addition, pizza is a heavy food that as a matter of tradition I tend to overeat. I'm usually sleepy while driving and become even more tired after eating, especially overeating. It's a shame we never tried Quad Cities pizza before because it is one of the best pizza styles in the U.S. We visited Harris Pizza in Bettendorf on Saturday. Quad

April ends with the FD Linges in Cedar Rapids and Chicago in temporary housing. Bobby did not like his 12 hour flight from Tokyo to Chicago. He slept most of first night back in Chicago. We arrived in Chicago the afternoon of Tuesday, April 11, and by Friday night he was more or less back on schedule. The period in between was terrible for all of us: Bob regularly woke up in the middle of the night and just cried and cried until he was hoarse. We needed him to get back on schedule. During the day I woke him up from his naps so that he wouldn't get too much sleep during the day. Baby jet lag is terrible. But after the heavy jolt of the time zone switch, I no longer had to bounce Bobby to bed. He's been falling to sleep on his own in his crib. Maybe he just wasn't sleeping well in Singapore. Or maybe he just got in the habit of being bounced to sleep when he was recovering from jet lag upon arriving in Singapore. But he didn't need it anymore once we were back. My

"Are you ready for more crazy robot show?" the Eastern European hostess asked the crowed during intermission to get us hyped. There has been some intrigue among Western travelers in relation to the show at Tokyo's Robot Restaurant. Anthony Bourdain apparently remarked that his feeling upon viewing the hyper neon sensory explosion of the show must be how Eric Clapton felt upon hearing Jimi Hendrix's music for the first time. This writer, however, would strive for a more nuanced description. I visited the show with my friend Dave, who happened to be passing through Tokyo, while Christine stayed at the airbnb with Bobby; he's not yet ready for flashing lights and loud music. Maybe in college you can get a strobe light and a Jimi Hendrix album, Bobby. The reviews on TripAdvisor call the show hilarious and unique. Before I visited, I thought maybe the show would be mocking of Japanese culture. I mean, some Westerners may have the idea that modern Japanese culture i

We were out of the U.S. for six weeks, our first international trip with a baby. It was important this experiment succeed because we're planning a much longer adventure starting in May: moving to the U.K. In six weeks, we visited three places (Singapore, Penang, and Tokyo) and took six plane rides (Chicago to Tokyo, Tokyo to Singapore, Singapore to Penang, and the reverse of these). We learned some things along the way and forgot a few others. Bobby doesn't care about Tokyo per se. He's a curious little fellow who likes observing busy scenes, but we can find busy scenes in Chicago -- so why drag him 14 time zones away? We had to bring him to Singapore to visit his grandparents (if you don't like traveling with babies, then you probably should date in your home town, I have learned). Since a trip to Singapore involves a stopover in Tokyo, and since Mom and Dad like visiting Tokyo, and since an extended stopover in Tokyo also breaks the very, very long plane ride into t

Christine and I visited Ippudo when in New York a few years ago and visited in Tokyo during this trip. In New York, Ippudo is a painfully trendy affair with $20 bowls of ramen and hour wait times to get in. Ippudo is actually a chain from Japan, and it's not uncommon to find them in Tokyo, where they are much less of a hassle. The ramen is, however, great and costs about $10 a bowl. Also, in Japan, Ippudo doesn't accept credit card. I had to run back to the Airbnb to grab the cash notes I forgot; the wait staff was very confused why I had deserted Mum and Babe. Maybe they were more confused when I came back. Japanese food is having a moment in U.S. cities, with trendy ramen places popping up in Chicago over the years I've been here. There were very few when I moved here in 2012 and now there are several, mostly all are self-consciously trendy. There's no ramen in Cedar Rapids yet; I expect Iowa City to pave the way, but as yet, I believe there is still no dedicated ra

We visited a famous Buddhist temple, Zōjō-ji (増上寺), in Tokyo and used the grounds as a backdrop for a classic family photo. The white flowers on the trees are cherry blossoms, known as  sakura  in Japanese. Based on reading the historical markers at the temple, I realized the temple itself is the story of the Japanese twentieth century. (Also, it is a reminder of how I can suck the fun out of vacations: stopping at every historical marker, reading every paragraph, and turning fun tourism into a comparative social sciences course. I am sorry, in advance, Bobby, for all of our family vacations.) The FD Linges posing for a family photo. I have a tinge of anxiety about this photo. Are we appropriating some sacred religious site for a family photo just because it looks cool and "very Japanese"? Are we being culturally insensitive just because we want to show friends and family that we visited Japan? One thing is for sure, as it was raining when this photo was taken, the awning