(CH)ICAGO ABROAD: TWO WEDDINGS AND A BBQ Part 1.

We arrived in Barcelona pretty broke and nearly defeated. Nearly but not completely. But my shoes, that was another story. They experienced too much sangria and cerveza and after five or six years of dedicated service to my feet, it was time to say goodbye.

Before we get started with the weddings and the home cooking, I completely forgot to write about Hemingway and other books I read during my four week Tour de Force/Team Chaos tour. During my trip to Brussels and Munich, my mind was wandering and wouldn't stop until I purchased a book. My wife suffers from the same ailment. Now that I think about it, when I was younger, my mom always had a book in her hand as well. Unfortunately, for me though, I have a very addictive personality. So once I start a book, that's it, every available second is book book book and more book. Over the course of four weeks, I read five books, two American classics and two sci-fi fantasy books that were over 1,000 pages each. So basically, I read until my head explodes and blood starts oozing out of my ears. But the main point of this seriously too long story is that one of the books I read was The Sun Also Rises. This is the book that made the Festival of San Fermin so popular around the world. So Hemingway and these other expat writers like F. Scott Fitzerald pretty much traveled around Europe and created this crazy writing culture that told the "classic" american story but from outside the country. I know what you're thinking and the answer is "YES". I saw The Great Gatsby at the airport bookstore and pretty much crushed that book on this trip as well in two days. I'll be honest, the classics, are good but I preferred the The Game of Thrones book 2 and book 3 even though they were more than a 1,000 pages long.

After our brief stay in Barcelona, which included walking along the Mediterranean looking like zombies and asleep by 8pm, I arrived in Chicago on Monday ready to reclaim my city. Not quite. I can't reclaim a city that's knocking on 110 degrees followed by torrential tree-uprooting downpour of rain. So for the week, I pretty much did nothing in preparation for the Cape Cod wedding. Oh wait, I went to English High Tea at some fancy hotel and then went to a King Spa. All part of a girls day and night out.

Our first wedding of the American Wedding Tour had us descending upon Cape Cod. I can honestly say I was more excited to see my wife, having spent two weeks apart, than anything else. But the wedding was an added incentive as well for a few reasons. 1. First time in the Boston Cape Cod area 2. I wanted to see if the accents you hear in movies like The Town or Good Will Hunting are actually true (they ARE actually true) 3. And my wife's childhood friend was getting married. We'll just call him J.A.M for Johnny All-American. Pretty much his profile is athletic build, chiseled face, firm handshake, probably played eight Division 1 sports in college and can probably recite Pi out to 54 decimal places. I'm not jealous, I'm just saying, we all know a J.A.M or two. In typical Hemingway fashion, I will say this, J.A.M is a pretty swell guy. Of course, even with GPS navigation, I managed to get lost in Boston on my way to Cape Cod but managed to get to the wedding site in one piece. I don't know much about the Cape but what I do know is that the people in Boston sure do love driving out there. It took me 3 hours for what should take an hour and half. Here are the abbreviate highlights from Wedding #1

I gave my wife a big hug.
As they say on the Cape, "It was a corker" and I sweated through my shirt and suit at the pre-wedding festivities.
My wife and I pretty much owned the dance floor. Women of all ages stalked me. SERIOUSLY
After only sleeping for four hours in 4 days, my brother-in-law gave an amazing best man's toast
After only sleeping for four hours in 4 days, my brother-in-law drank his weight in beer
After only sleeping for four hours in 4 days, my brother-in-law was wrestled to the ground and put to bed by me at 3am. (note to self, never wrestle a trained meathead to the ground in sweaty suit)
After only sleeping for four hours in 4 days, my brother-in-law slept through our noon tee-time and left me alone with my father-in-law aka Mr. "It's all about course management, are you sure you want to use that club" Guy aka Charlie Sheen's best friend aka Bogner.

See pictures and captions below.