Photography | Jim & Kathleen Travel

Day four in Chicago—walk, Buckingham Fountain, Chicago Cultural Center, dinner and an Improv show at Second City

by Jim Bellomo | Oct 2, 2026 | Photography

This was our last full day in Chicago as we were heading up to Milwaukee the next morning. We had purposely not planned anything for the day so we could fill in what we had missed. I still got up early that morning and headed out to see what photographic opportunities awaited me. I walked about 3/4 miles to the Buckingham Fountain at 6:00 am, only to find it was turned off until 8:00 am. Had to go back later. But you can still see the photos below for the fruits of my early-morning traipsing around.

As for the rest of the day, Kathleen stayed in. We had already done too much walking on this trip for her poor knee. Mike, Cathy, and I went across the street to the Chicago Cultural Center to see the exhibits, but mostly to see the incredible building. I would say more, but this is a case where the photos and captions will do a better job. See below. Don't forget: if you click the first shot, you can scroll through using your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE... don't look at my photography on a phone. Please... (WOW! I haven’t said that on this whole trip yet, but keep it in mind.)

After we visited the Cultural Center, we walked Cathy back to the Airbnb, and Mike and I set off to take photos of the Buckingham Fountain, which our guide on Day two told us was the largest fountain in the USA or the World…I don’t remember which. I am sure Mike will remind me. It is a pretty spectacular fountain. We got those (see below) and headed back because we had big plans for the evening.

First was dinner at Corcoran’s Irish Pub, which turned out to be our least favorite so far, especially after our experience at Rose Mary the night before. Just kind of sad. My brother Steve and his wife Jamie joined us for dinner and afterward. Afterward, we went across the street to see the current production of the world-famous improv troop—Second City. If you are unfamiliar with Second City, it is easily the most prolific contributor of cast members to Saturday Night Live. Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Phil Hartman, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Seth Myers, and a lot more started there. The show was knockout funny, and we had a great time. It didn’t end until around 10:00, and then we had a Lyft incident that I won’t go into, but it kind of capped the evening poorly. We had to get to bed because we were driving to Milwaukee early the next morning.

"I went down to Chicago to try to go into a place called Second City. I auditioned for that and got in pretty quickly, but I couldn't stop partying. They gave me a warning: 'If you do it again, we're gonna kick you off the main stage."—Chris Farley

Day Three in Chicago—walk, Architectural Boat Tour, lunch, Obama Presidential Center, the best meal of my life

by Jim Bellomo | Oct 1, 2026 | Food Experiences, Photography

The headline kind of says it all. I did my usual early-morning walkabout to take sunrise photos. I also used this walk to visit all the places we would go later in the day, like the Architectural Tour we would take at 9:00 am. Photos from this walk are directly below.

On my way back to the Airbnb, I stopped at Starbucks and grabbed breakfast for everyone. I can say with total conviction that the Starbucks at the corner of Lake Street and Michigan Avenue is the best Starbucks I have ever been in. Forget the food…that’s the same everywhere, but the employees were AMAZING. Pablo (at the register) greeted me by name on my second visit. He taught me how to stack a ton of food in a big bag to get it back home, and every time a regular came in, it was like Norm coming into Cheers. If you are anywhere near that Starbucks, it is worth a visit.

After breakfast, we were off to our boat ride Architectural Tour with Chicago Architecture Center aboard Chicago’s First Lady. This outfit is a nonprofit organization, and the person giving the tour is a volunteer docent who keeps an incredible number of facts in her head. I wish I could remember any of them, but three days later I can only come up with a few. But here are the pics and why I took them in the captions, which you can see by clicking on any photo.

After our architectural tour, we had a nice lunch right next door to our building at the Elephant and Castle British Tavern. The food was OK, but the waiter was great. He suggested that since we had already sampled two of Chicago’s iconic food and drink items, we should try a third…a shot of Malört. Malört is a bitter, wormwood-based herbal liqueur. Drinking a shot of Malört is widely considered a rite of passage for visitors and a badge of honor among Chicago locals. We tried it, and we passed. It wasn’t terrible. Kind of a cross between turpentine and shellac ?.

After lunch, we headed to one of the highlights of our trip: a visit to the newly opened Obama Presidential Center in South Chicago. It is an amazing place. If you go, get tickets well in advance. They are currently sold out through the end of the year. It is well worth the trip. The photos below will show you why, but suffice it to say, it proved what I have always believed. He may not have been our greatest president, but he was the greatest man ever to be president. No scandals, no affairs. He was never president just to benefit anyone but the people of the United States of America. Touring the center also made us sad to see how far the government of this country has sunk in less than 20 years. It is disgusting. If you can, visit here.

Our tickets were for 2:45, and we didn’t leave until almost 4:30. By the time we got back to the Airbnb, we had just enough time for a quick nap before heading out to dinner at a restaurant I found on Eater. If you are not familiar with Eater, check them out. There is one for just about every city or region in the world, with great recommendations that fit my taste exactly. Go there and type in where you live, and see if their picks match places you have been. I usually do well when following their advice. We found the Frontera Grille on that same list, where we ate the night before.

That night, we were eating at Rose Mary. It is a Croatian-Italian restaurant that serves food family-style. We were seated right next to the HUGE demonstration kitchen, which I loved. I could watch the chefs work and maybe pick up some techniques. Our server, Illyna, was superb, and her station was right next to where we were sitting, so we could talk to her and ask for recommendations. We ordered cocktails, and everyone liked theirs. I am not drinking much on this trip after my cardiac episode in June, so I stuck to the mocktails. They have one there with Luxardo syrup and Ginger Beer that I will be making at home…I promise.

The meal itself was amazing. Since it was served family-style and Illyna advised us to order six dishes for four, we each ordered one, and then each couple ordered one. Cathy decided on their Grilled Summer Squash. It was made with parmesan fonduta, beef fat, pickled summer squash and basil. I thought, “Well, I won’t want much of that.” When it came, I tried one bite and about passed out. It was that amazing. I have never tasted anything like it. It was the best thing I ate all night, and that is saying a WHOLE lot.

They served each plate separately, giving us time to digest and enjoy it. Second up was the risotto. Maybe the best risotto I have ever eaten. It featured veal breast, Parmigiano, chicken thigh, and tomato. This was followed by a pasta dish called Mafaldine with lamb ragu d'abruzzo, cacio and cavallo. Delish, but only a 9 out of 10.

We had a hard time picking our fourth dish until the two very nice women next to us had one arrive at their table that looked beyond belief. We asked them what it was and were told it was branzino. This worked out because we hadn’t ordered any fish yet. They make their branzino with a soppressata vinaigrette, artichokes, and grilled lemon. This one got a solid 10 as well.

Mike had started ordering the Pork Ribs Campanella. The ribs have Calabrian chile agrodolce, walnuts, and cabbage & yogurt relish on top. Another solid 10. I forgot to mention that early on (with the squash), we decided we had to have bread to sop up any leftover sauces, and I can guarantee you that no plate we sent back needed to be washed too well.

While we were finishing the third or fourth dish, I mentioned that they had octopus on the menu and that, since it’s my favorite food and every dish had been superb, I probably should try it. Cathy agreed to split it with me, and we ordered it. I almost wish we hadn’t. It’s as good—a solid 8—but not at the level of everything else that night.

No matter that, it was an amazing dining experience from start to finish. It was so good that I have to come up with another test that’s above the Steve Test. For those of you who are new here, my brother Steve came up with a test for a restaurant… if you had that restaurant at home, would you go there? If the answer is yes, it passes the Steve Test. Well, now comes the Jim Test. If the restaurant is so good that you would plan a trip back to that city just to eat there again? For Rose Mary, my answer would be yes. Or maybe I should also say that it means if you visited that city again, you HAVE to go there.

I don't want to make decisions about what I'm eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make. —Barack Obama

Day Two in Chicago—walk, breakfast, TOUR, hotdog, TOUR, dinner

by Jim Bellomo | Sep 29, 2026 | Food Experiences, Photography

Yes, it does seem like all we do is eat, doesn't it? Well, our first full day in the Windy City (we found out it isn't named that because it is windy here; it has to do with politicians making a lot of wind with their speeches) was an all-tour day. We had booked a Chicago Overview Tour with Johanna through Tours by Locals, a company I have highly recommended for quite a while now. Their guides never disappoint. Johanna was no exception. But more about that later. But first, my early morning walk.

The absolute best thing about our Airbnb is its location. For visitors, the city center is Millennium Park. It is the one with the big BEAN art installation in the middle, and it is next door to the Chicago Art Institute. The park has so much more to see, and right now I am looking out the window of our 23rd-story Airbnb and staring directly at the park. That meant there were lots of places to walk to when I wanted to take early-morning photos. So I was up and out at 5:30 to make sure I got my full golden hour and was there for the sunrise at 6:34 am. Here are the photos from that walk.

When Kathleen and I were here in 2013 to visit my brother John, we went to breakfast at Wildberry and loved it. Since then, they have added a really nice, rather large patio with lots of tables. And believe it or not, in late September we were really happy to be seated out there. It was beautiful and warm. Our breakfast was also pretty much AMAZING. Check out the pics and my captions, and try not to get hungry.

After breakfast, we were headed out for our tour with Johanna. She got held up on the other side of a motorcade for the leader of the free world (snort), who was in town to present an award at a golf tournament. I am not going to get political here, but seriously…

Johanna finally arrived, and we headed out. Our day was full of quick stops where we would jump out, take photos, jump back in, and head somewhere else. We saw bridges, churches, skyscrapers, neighborhoods, great views, and so much more. And all along the way, Johanna kept us fully informed about what we were seeing, as well as Chicago's history and geography. She is a true local, having grown up here, and she knew a lot of information. We went to a bunch of places, and these are the before-lunch shots.

Last night we had our first iconic Chicago dish—deep dish pizza. Today our lunch would be the second iconic Chicago food, a Chicago hot dog. Before we left, we knew we wanted to try one, but all we knew about them was that you NEVER asked for ketchup on them. EVER! And I will admit that when it comes to hot dogs, I am a ketchup guy. But once I tried the Chicago dog, I may never go back. If you are unfamiliar with a traditional Chicago hot dog, it has an all-beef dog with tomatoes, pickle relish, mustard, a pickle spear, and small piquant peppers, all on a poppy seed bun. DELICIOUS! See the pics. We loved them. One made a super lunch, since we had that big breakfast and were going out later that night.

After lunch, we were back in the car for the second half of our tour. See the afternoon photos below. Around 4:00 pm, Johanna dropped us off at our Airbnb, and we said a fond farewell. I would recommend her to anyone for a fact-filled, fun day. Photos from the afternoon are below.

We were back at the AirBnB for about 90 minutes, and then we had reservations at Frontera Grill, one of Ricky Bayless’ Mexican restaurants here in Chicago. We had been to his “higher-end” place (Topolobampo) when we were here in 2013, and although it has a Michelin star, we weren’t impressed. I don’t understand the whole “foam as food” thing. It was four people for more than $400 (in 2013!!!), and we all left hungry. Last night at Frontera was not like that. The Eater website (where I find a lot of restaurant recommendations) said it was “not the pretentious food you would find at Topolobampo.” Thank the gods, it wasn’t. It was a delicious meal.

And that was enough for our day. We were all wiped out, and we had an early meeting with an architectural tour the next morning.

“It’s the finest hot dog on the planet, the one they make in Chicago. I said it, and I meant it!” —Anthony Bourdain

Back Home…Looking Back

by Jim Bellomo | Sep 15, 2026 | Photography

It’s Monday night. I am sitting in my usual chair and thought I'd put up one last post about this week-long photographic journey I just finished, and give those here for travel info a bit of what to avoid when you visit Copenhagen.

Let’s start with the last day. After an early-morning shoot on Friday (see photos below in the gallery and the panorama above), we had a three-hour processing session, then turned in our best shots so the class could vote on them. With 14 photographers, each with a different level of expertise, it was a hard choice. We were all done by 1:00 pm, and Scott and Mimo took us to a final lunch. I had Moules Frites (which appears to be the Belgian national seafood dish, on the right). For the uninitiated, Moules frites is a classic Belgian and Northern French dish made with fresh, briny mussels steamed in a flavorful broth, served alongside crispy French fries and mayonnaise (but thankfully, you can get ketchup).

After lunch, that was it. We were done. All that was left was to get out of town. I should say that some of the 14 were already gone. George and Sandra left early that day to deal with a family situation back home in England (they only had to drive to the Dover ferry and then home to the Cotswolds—I love that I know someone who lives there). Katey and Lauren were wiped out and spent the day trying to recuperate from the Brussels/Antwerp trip. Others left that afternoon, and the rest stayed one or two nights before flying out. Part of the workshop fees covered our hotel stay on Friday night, and by the time we were done, it was too late for me to fly home, so I was one of that group.

In fact, I couldn’t even go home on Saturday. When I had originally purchased my airfare, it was one price if I flew back from Copenhagen to Seattle on Saturday and quite a bit less expensive (like $3,000 less) if I flew home on Sunday. So I decided to save that money and book a much cheaper hotel room for one night.

This is where I have to admit that Mr. Travel screwed up. I found an airport hotel online that looked really good on its website. Two or three different websites I had used for hotel recommendations recommended it. When I arrived in a taxi from the airport, the folks at the front desk were very nice. The lobby was nice. Everything was great. Then I got to the room. Wait, it wasn’t a room. It was a cell. It stunk. It had a single bed with a single blanket and a small pillow.

It was hot, and the only ventilation was a window that opened onto the parking lot, where engines were running. With the windows closed, it was not only hot but also stank.

When I opened the bathroom door, there was a toilet and a sink, but no tub or shower. A shower head hung from the wall, and a drain sat in the middle of the bathroom floor. It turns out you go into the bathroom, sit on the toilet or stand at the sink, and turn on the shower, which gets the entire room soaking wet…I imagine. I don’t know because I turned right around, jumped on the web and found a slightly more expensive room at another nearby hotel where they had actual showers.

Found a decent hotel, got an Uber over there, ate a nice dinner in their restaurant and went to bed. I had originally planned to go into the city on the tram, but my back was still killing me from carrying my backpack all over Belgium. So I stayed in, FaceTimed with Kathleen, watched some YouTube videos and fell asleep in a fairly comfortable bed. In the morning, it was back to the airport, where I spent a very nice three hours in the SAS lounge (one of the nicest I have ever been in) and then my nine-plus-hour flight home, which was just about as good as the one going out.

I got back to Seattle, got right through Customs (it pays to carry on your luggage and Nexus), jumped on the light rail, and was back in Redmond in what seemed like no time. Kathleen picked me up, and my long week was over.

Kathleen realized I was writing my final post for this trip, and she said, “You should tell them how much you liked the workshop and what you learned.” She is right. So here’s what I learned:

I am my own kind of photographer. And that’s OK.
I like to shoot my photos with my camera set to manual. I think part of that is because when I first started taking pictures, all SLR cameras were manual. Manual focus, light settings, and more. On some of those original cameras, we had to use a separate light meter.
Photo gurus (like Scott and Mimo) aren’t always right. They don’t like to shoot in manual mode. They shoot in Aperture mode. That’s OK for them. Not for me, but they were nice enough to acknowledge that it was okay for me.
I will probably never be a tripod kind of guy. I finally (on the second-to-last day) got the hang of putting it all together, and I understand why I want to do it, but I just don’t see myself lugging that tripod around, no matter how light it is.
I did like shooting on the tripod once I figured it out. I should have practiced with it more. Most of the other people could have theirs set up in less than three minutes. The first time it took me about 15. By the last day, I was down to about five.
I found out I like post-processing more than actually taking the photos. I find it to be more creative. But I am not a fan of AI. I believe that you should only do edits if you could have done them in a non-digital darkroom.
I enjoyed being around other good photographers. They had super ideas and were willing to share them.
I enjoyed using the ND filter once I got the hang of it. It does make water look different. I am not going to say better…or worse, just different. And I want to thank Mimo for being so patient while I tried it out.
I enjoyed shooting a model. It was very different from any photography I had ever done before. Getting the lighting right and not losing the warmth was interesting.
I learned the best white balance setting. I had never tried it, but it warms up my photos almost perfectly every time. Not too much and not too little.

The biggest takeaway was that I like photos that tell a story. The architecture shots didn’t do much for me, except to teach me techniques. I like my photos to be full of life. My favorite photos tend to include people or animals.

For the non-photographers out there, sorry I got so technical. I did enjoy the workshop, even on the really long days. Not sure I would do it again unless it involved less flying for such a short time. I really want to try and get Scott to do a workshop in Seattle. Or Portland. Or San Francisco.

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” —Elliott Erwitt

Finished and Collapsed

by Jim Bellomo | Sep 12, 2026 | Photography

As I write this, we are done. The class is over and we have had our farewell lunch. I am not sure when I will get this posted online but as tired and drained as I am it probably won't get finished until tomorrow when I am in the airport lounge waiting for my flight to Copenhagen.

We did the slog from hell yesterday. I woke up a little before 2:00 am., couldn’t get back to sleep, and my legs were cramping from all the walking the day before. We had to meet up at 5:00 to catch the train to Brussels. Scott and Mimo had hired taxis to get us to the train station, so we made the 5:19 train. It took about 90 minutes to get back to Brussels. Once there, we took taxis to the city center, where we shot photos for a little while. The panorama at the top of this page is from our first stop—Brussels' main square.

After shooting there for about 40 minutes, we walked a ways and had breakfast at a cafeteria-style restaurant nearby. Then we completely switched to a different subject matter for the rest of our time in Brussels. Up until then, our photography had focused on historical Belgium. Yesterday (once we were done shooting in the very early morning), we switched to ultra-modern. You will see it in my photos below.

We first took a subway ride to a very cool subway station and shot there for about half an hour. Then we took two subway rides and stopped at Atomium, a science center/museum all about the elements, housed in the pretty cool building you see at right. Inside those spherical shapes were all kinds of exhibits and light shows and more. You went up to the very top to start and worked your way back down again. In each round sphere were science, music and light experiments we could photograph and use to capture interesting patterns and lighting. It was kind of cool but not my usual kind of photography. There are some photos from inside the gallery below.

After we finished touring the Atomium, Scott picked up the tab for a panini sandwich and a drink for everyone at the Atomium snack bar. We ate quickly and were back on the subway in no time, heading back to the train station for our train ride to Antwerp. I thought I would show you a quick map of all the places we went on our Belgian slog today.

In Antwerp, it was more of the same. Scott and Mimo gave us some great ideas for photos in the train station, and then we took another taxi ride to a kind of cool building with an 11-story spiral staircase you could look up or down. By the time we got there, all I wanted was to get back to the hotel and go to bed. I certainly did not want to spend an hour while people took way too many photos of a spiral staircase. I told Scott I'd let others shoot it, and I asked if he knew where the restroom was. He told me to take the elevator to level B of the building, look around, and I would find it. There was no restroom on level B. You know what was on level B? The bottom of that damn spiral staircase. So as long as I was there, I took a couple of photos and ended up using one of them for my afternoon critique the next day. And of course Scott had to rub it in the entire time.

Our last stop in Antwerp was way out at the port, where a very modern building sits atop a very old one. The new building looks like a glass ship perched on the original port building. The best way for me to describe it is for you to see it. It is in my photos below, and the shot with the sun creating a star inside the crook of the building was the one I submitted for the Best of the Week contest.

We shot at that location for almost an hour. To be honest, I had all the photos I wanted from every angle within minutes of getting there. But we had to hang around while some people shot the building and everything around it for an hour or so. TOTALLY EXHAUSTED. Finally, we got back in our taxi and fought our way through Antwerp rush hour to the train station, where we had to wait about an hour for a train back to Bruges. Everyone got snack bar food for dinner, and we boarded the train around 7:30. We were back in Bruges by 9:00 and, thankfully, in bed by 9:30.

As many of you know, I walk a lot. Before my recent cardiac scare, I was walking four to six miles a day. But this day, which started at 5:00 and finished at 9:00 and included 16,000+ steps, just about killed me. I am still feeling it. Not because of the walk, but because of the 22 lb backpack I am carrying with all my photo gear. Scott warned us not to bring too much, but then he said, “Bring a tripod, a platypod, your camera with your main lens, a really wide-angle lens if you have one, and a few other things.” My back will probably hurt for a week after that day.

Thank the gods we only had one more day to go.

“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.”— Kurt Vonnegut

OMG—I Missed A Day

by Jim Bellomo | Sep 11, 2026 | Photography

Seriously, the last six days have been so absolutely crazed that about 10 minutes ago, sitting on my hotel bed in Bruges on Saturday morning, I suddenly realized the post I was writing was about what we did on Thursday, not that I had totally missed writing about Wednesday. The week has been like that. Just when you think you remember everything, you realize you have missed an entire day. That’s crazy! With a capital C.

There is a fix for this: write about it now. So… we met in the lobby at 5:00 am. We took taxis to the train station and caught the 5:30 train to Ghent. We arrived at the main Ghent station at 6:10 and took taxis to St. Michael’s Bridge to get photos of Hogwarts in the Golden Hour. If you aren’t a Harry Potter fan, Hogwarts is the school he attends, and it is quite the spooky castle. The oldest areas of Ghent truly look like Harry Potter lives there. See the photo above if you don't believe me.

This was another chance for me to get friendly with my new travel tripod. It gets easier every time. I’m getting a little more used to all the things I need to do to get my BlackRapid strap off, the tripod plate on, the legs extended, the camera attached to the tripod head, the head leveled, focus set, and then shoot. On our first morning, it took me about 15 minutes (everyone else who was used to working with tripods took about three minutes), but on Wednesday morning in Ghent, I did it in about seven minutes…while standing on a bridge, watching for bikes and cars coming in both directions. It seemed like we had designated watchers who would yell loudly as cars and bikes approached so we could get out of the way. One problem with this system is that, in that dark space, the exposure times were usually 30 seconds or more. So you just push the shutter, it starts taking the photo, and you can’t move the camera and tripod until those 30 seconds are up. If a car or a bike is headed your way, 30 seconds feels like 30 minutes.

We took these incredible photos of Ghent for about an hour, then it was back in the vans, back to the train station, back to Bruges, into cabs to the hotel, drop your gear in your room, run downstairs to breakfast, eat, back upstairs to get our computers, back to the meeting room to start processing photos and to have Scott and Mimo give us tips and teach us techniques for processing until around noon, when we would turn in our best photos to Scott. He would put them on the big screen, and we would all see them and offer critiques. I have to say, it is amazing how many great photographers there are in this group. I also have to say that this is NUTS, and no wonder I can’t remember which day came before which other day.

After the critiques, anyone who wanted lunch went to eat, while others, gluttons for punishment, went back out to shoot Bruges some more. The rest of us took naps, which didn’t help our internal clocks adjust to Belgium time one iota. Around 5:00, I would get up and see if anyone else wanted an early dinner (since we had skipped lunch). I usually had some takers, so we would head out to find a nearby restaurant and eat. After dinner, we would meet back in the lobby at 6:30, grab a cab, and go out somewhere else to shoot.

Another crazy thing about Bruges is its one-way streets and bridges. On our evening shoot, we went to a beautiful spot with a restaurant and an old mill, and I got some shots I loved. Then Scott had planned to take us all to a small village to shoot a windmill at sunset, but he and Mimo could only find one taxi, which took the first six people (Scott went with them so he could pay the cab driver) to the village with the windmills. The rest of us waited with Mimo while he ordered Uber after Uber, but none showed up. He ordered cabs, but none came. Finally, after the sun had completely set, we gave up. But we wondered how we would get back to the hotel. Our local guide, Andy (an awesome fellow), said the hotel was about a 15-minute walk away. We were awestruck. How could that be? The cab ride to get to the shoot had taken almost half an hour. But that’s because of those one-way streets. We all walked back to the hotel and went to bed. Because, as you will see in my next post, Thursday was the day from hell.

I am going to try to add captions to the photos in the gallery below, and I apologize for not having captions on my earlier galleries. It was more important to keep up with posting than to add captions to essentially cool pics. Don’t forget: if you click the first shot, you can scroll through using your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE… don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…