Thursday, September 20, 2007
Chicago, IL
Despite our harrowing taxi ride upon arrival, our stay in Chicago was really great.
Our hotel was on the Chicago River. Opening our drapes in our room gave us a much different view than the river - construction! This was not what we had expected, but ended up being a matter of fascination for me each day. I would sit each morning and afternoon for a bit and watch all that was happening. Our small city on the plains does not build skyscrapers and the bird's eye view I had of the process was really pretty cool.
Highlights:
*Eating at Harry Carry's across the street from our hotel. I am sure it is a touristy place, but the antipasta platter was yummy with several cured meats and an awesome blue cheese. I managed to keep myself from buying a pair of sweat pants with "Holy Cow!" across the boohind.
*Roaming the Navy Pier was interesting. I would not recommend using the free trolley service in Chicago unless you really needed to do so. Our experience led to frustration and the beginning of blisters on my feet.
*Old Town Trolley Tour was wonderful, as always. They are one of my favorite tour companies and I learned alot about the city on the tour. I also took the optional ethnic neighborhood part of the tour which was very interesting. The main tour includes a trip on LSD - aka, Lake Shore Drive!
*A couple of other really good restaurants - Maggiano's Little Italy and one of Rick Bayless' restaurants - can't think of the name right now.
*The Art Institute of Chicago was a great museum. Another lady and I walked there and then spent the day roaming and then walked back to our hotel. More blisters! The museum houses several recognizable paintings (including American Gothic) and several things I had never seen or heard of before.
*The Magnificent Mile of shopping was what I kept accidentally calling the Million Dollar Mile. Probably a Freudian thing because I think you would have to have a million dollars to shop there. Perhaps my feet hurting so badly I thought I would cry had something to do with it, but I was not in the mood for high end browsing. The Ralph Lauren Store was a fantasy tour. But sorry Filene's - I don't like digging through stuff to shop - not even for high end bargains! I ultimately limped into Niketown and left wearing one pair of $12 socks and a new pair of tennis shoes and carrying a bag holding another pair of tennies and my "these shoes are not made for walking" sandals. Yes, I said $12 dollar socks and given the circumstances, I would do it again!
*Wrigley Field was a pilgrimage for me. Seriously - I have wanted to go for a really long time and calling it a 40th birthday celebration for me was incredible. If you don't follow baseball I don't have the time to explain the significance to you. If you do follow baseball, rejoice with me. We watched the Cubs play the Brewers. Starting pitchers: Sheets and Zambrano. The wind was blowing in at Wrigley, so no onto Sheffield Drive homeruns. But we did sing during the 7th inning stretch and we left with an autographed picture of Derrek Lee. Unfortunately, my Cubbies lost. But as of this morning they are 1/2 game up on Milwalkee. Go Cubbies!!!
*We took the Untouchables Tour before leaving town. It was purposefully hokey (as expected) but also interesting. While waiting for the bus to arrive my husband leans over and points out an older gentleman waiting to take the tour. "Old ganster," indicates my husband. True, the man had a look about him. Turns out he claims to be Al Capone's great (great?) grandson! Who knows??
We would definitely go to Chicago again. Things I would add to my list to do or see:
Lots more restaurants - touristy and homey.
Several more museums.
Lake, river, and architectural tours.
Shedd Aquarium.
Loyola and DePaul Universities.
Cubs (again), Sox, and Bears.
Stadium tours.
Find the adventure in every day!
simple faith
Despite our harrowing taxi ride upon arrival, our stay in Chicago was really great.
Our hotel was on the Chicago River. Opening our drapes in our room gave us a much different view than the river - construction! This was not what we had expected, but ended up being a matter of fascination for me each day. I would sit each morning and afternoon for a bit and watch all that was happening. Our small city on the plains does not build skyscrapers and the bird's eye view I had of the process was really pretty cool.
Highlights:
*Eating at Harry Carry's across the street from our hotel. I am sure it is a touristy place, but the antipasta platter was yummy with several cured meats and an awesome blue cheese. I managed to keep myself from buying a pair of sweat pants with "Holy Cow!" across the boohind.
*Roaming the Navy Pier was interesting. I would not recommend using the free trolley service in Chicago unless you really needed to do so. Our experience led to frustration and the beginning of blisters on my feet.
*Old Town Trolley Tour was wonderful, as always. They are one of my favorite tour companies and I learned alot about the city on the tour. I also took the optional ethnic neighborhood part of the tour which was very interesting. The main tour includes a trip on LSD - aka, Lake Shore Drive!
*A couple of other really good restaurants - Maggiano's Little Italy and one of Rick Bayless' restaurants - can't think of the name right now.
*The Art Institute of Chicago was a great museum. Another lady and I walked there and then spent the day roaming and then walked back to our hotel. More blisters! The museum houses several recognizable paintings (including American Gothic) and several things I had never seen or heard of before.
*The Magnificent Mile of shopping was what I kept accidentally calling the Million Dollar Mile. Probably a Freudian thing because I think you would have to have a million dollars to shop there. Perhaps my feet hurting so badly I thought I would cry had something to do with it, but I was not in the mood for high end browsing. The Ralph Lauren Store was a fantasy tour. But sorry Filene's - I don't like digging through stuff to shop - not even for high end bargains! I ultimately limped into Niketown and left wearing one pair of $12 socks and a new pair of tennis shoes and carrying a bag holding another pair of tennies and my "these shoes are not made for walking" sandals. Yes, I said $12 dollar socks and given the circumstances, I would do it again!
*Wrigley Field was a pilgrimage for me. Seriously - I have wanted to go for a really long time and calling it a 40th birthday celebration for me was incredible. If you don't follow baseball I don't have the time to explain the significance to you. If you do follow baseball, rejoice with me. We watched the Cubs play the Brewers. Starting pitchers: Sheets and Zambrano. The wind was blowing in at Wrigley, so no onto Sheffield Drive homeruns. But we did sing during the 7th inning stretch and we left with an autographed picture of Derrek Lee. Unfortunately, my Cubbies lost. But as of this morning they are 1/2 game up on Milwalkee. Go Cubbies!!!
*We took the Untouchables Tour before leaving town. It was purposefully hokey (as expected) but also interesting. While waiting for the bus to arrive my husband leans over and points out an older gentleman waiting to take the tour. "Old ganster," indicates my husband. True, the man had a look about him. Turns out he claims to be Al Capone's great (great?) grandson! Who knows??
We would definitely go to Chicago again. Things I would add to my list to do or see:
Lots more restaurants - touristy and homey.
Several more museums.
Lake, river, and architectural tours.
Shedd Aquarium.
Loyola and DePaul Universities.
Cubs (again), Sox, and Bears.
Stadium tours.
Find the adventure in every day!
simple faith
Labels: Travel
# posted by simple faith : 8:09 AM
