The Windy City

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So  I just want to start out by saying this post is pretty long – which is probably why it took me so long to write it. If you are Kathy, I hope it will fill up at least 5 minutes of your week.

Back in the Fall, Mark and I were thinking about taking a long weekend and head up to Chicago. But things got busy, the holidays came and we never made it happen. So in December, when Mark stumbled on a MegaBus promotion for free tickets, we decided to go for it. The catch was you had to use them between January and February – not the most ideal time for Chicago but hey they were free and the MegaBus has free WiFi. What else do you need?

And that’s how we found ourselves on a cold February morning, bundled up with luggage in tow, waiting on a corner in downtown Cincinnati for our adventure to begin.

So pretty immediately after boarding, the driver informs us that if the wifi didn’t work, there was nothing he could do about it so don’t ask. Yeah, it didn’t work. And I later found out that the power outlet at my seat also did not work. (The bus on the way back was better and everything worked.) Mark thought the seats were comfortable but I had a hard time finding a position that would support my back.

In case you are wondering what MegaBus seats look like:

 

Overall, the actual ride wasn’t too bad. There was a 20 minute stop midway between Cincy and Indy and another between Indy and Chicago. And of course there was my beloved windfarm.

This was my first time on a double decker bus so I used my new 2nd floor vantage point to snap pictures looking down into a truck driver’s cab. It’s really not fair that they can always look into other people’s cars.

We arrived on time without incident and immediately started our workout. And by workout I mean lugging our luggage 1 mile in the wrong direction before realizing it, then walking 1 mile back to our original starting point and then another mile in the correct direction to the hotel. Unfortunately we had planned on using Mark’s phone to guide us and it died right when we got off the bus. Oh wretched technology – how I hate that I love thee!

We stayed downtown at the Palmer House Hilton which is a fancy historical hotel located right in “the loop”. We found a deal on hotwire for 80 bucks a night (thanks for the tip Michele) which is at least 1/2 off the regular price.

According to Wikipedia:

The first (known as “The Palmer”) was built as a wedding present from Potter Palmer to his bride Bertha Honoré. It opened on September 26, 1871, but burned down just thirteen days later October 9, 1871 in the Great Chicago Fire. Palmer immediately set to work rebuilding, and with a $1.7 million signature loan (believed to be the largest individual loan ever secured at the time) constructed one of the fanciest hotels in post-fire Chicago.

I was pretty pleased when I saw who owned it.

The front entrance – images of these peacock doors were used as art in the rooms. They seemed to be used as other design elements throughout the hotel as well. I never saw anyone pass through them so I don’t think they are used. There were two bigger modern doors on either side.

Right behind the fancy doors are steps leading up to the lobby.

The lobby. I think the scaffolding is a really beautiful touch.

I’m not really sure why I took so many pictures of stairs… but these were cool.

Photos of famous people who entertained in the ballrooms lined the hallways. Jane Russel, Sonny and Cher.

 

Mark thought the room was on the smallish side but having stayed in less hotels than he, I thought it was fine. The exterior doors were modern with modern locks but all the interior doors were original with the old original hardware. I thought everything had a cool mixed old/new vibe. Other than the crappy shower water pressure. Neither of us thought that was cool.

We didn’t do much our first night other than walk to Giordanos for some Chicago style stuffed pizza. I’ve never had it before and it was delicious. I would describe it as a giant pie of cheese with sauce on top. YUM!

After finding some breakfast on Friday, we headed to the Chicago Cultural Center to check out the “Forever 27” exhibit – “a collection of paintings and drawings that commemorate the lives — and deaths — of performers who went out in a blaze of glory at the age of 27. Beginning with blues legend Robert Johnson, the “27 Club” went on to include Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and, most recently, Amy Winehouse.”

The Cultural Center also had this cool city-sponsored workspace for artists with disadvantages. They sell their art in the same space. When I was browsing around, I was immediately drawn to this adorable illustration of a happy little couple. It was perfect for Amanda and Zubin but I decided to walk away and think about it. But it was just too perfect so I went back and bought it. The whole studio was so happy. They were waving it around announcing the sale before going to wrap it up. The artist had just gone to lunch so I didn’t get to meet her but it was definitely feel-good vibes all around. (And turns out Amanda and Zubin loved it just as much as I did!)

We meandered around the exhibits for a while before heading up to check out the largest Tiffany glass dome. Pretty beautiful.

From there, we headed across the street to Millennium Park and Chicago’s famous “bean” also known as Cloud Gate.

Under the bean!

Millennium Park kinda rolls into Grant Park so we walked around there, stopping to check out Buckingham Fountain and Lake Michigan.

We had a few hours to kill before our evening plans so we walked over to Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) hoping to check out the Skydeck overlooking the city. But it was a two hour wait so we bailed.

State Street was decked out with banners and music. There were these outside speakers and signage indicating you could send a text to request a song. When we arrived it was all set up for Valentine’s Day but by Sunday we noticed everything had been swapped out for St. Patrick’s Day. The love ballads had been replaced with fun Irish jigs.

At night, we walked over to the Oriental Theatre to catch Green Day’s “American Idiot the Musical“. I bet there were less than 10 lines of dialog – part of me was wishing there was a bit more to drive the story along but overall, it was a good show. I didn’t know that album was considered a Rock Opera so it was interesting to watch it unfold as a story.

Our seats were in the 2nd to last row. Ha. Pickins’ were slim by the time we got the idea to go.

For fun (and out of curiosity because I am me), I estimated our Friday walking distance with google maps. We casually walked almost 5 miles! Not bad for a day without an actual planned workout – plus it helped offset that pizza we stuffed ourselves with the night before.

Saturday! We slept in late enough to skip breakfast and headed around the corner from our hotel to check out America’s Dog – a local restaurant founded by two brothers who took a road trip across the country sampling all the local hot dogs and bringing back the best to Chicago. Such a fun concept. Since we were hungry enough, we got two to split and then went back for two more.

First up: Chicago Dog & Tucson Dog

Followed by: Polish and Cincinnati Dogs

Ya. Das is gut?

 

Here are the results from most liked to least:
Mark: Chicago dog, Tucson, Cincy, Polish
Jamie: Chicago dog, Cincy, Tucson, Polish

By the way, even though the Cincinnati dog was good, it wasn’t as good as a REAL Cincinnati dog. There was chili on it but it wasn’t Cincinnati style.

After lunch, we hopped on the “L” (Chicago’s train/subway system) and headed up to Navy Pier. Walking around outside was not quite abandoned amusement park creepy but it was not exactly busting with life either. The outdoor eating areas were obviously closed as was the Biergarden much to Mark’s dismay. We were both surprised to see that the Ferris Wheel was running.

  

Inside we stumbled upon a giant greenhouse, a stained glass museum, a mall, lots of restaurants and a Margaritaville where we stopped for drinks in honor of Mark’s Dad.

  

Then we rode up to Wrigley Field where we got on the city cam and called Mark’s parents so we could wave to them. Never mind that it took us like 15 minutes to figure out where the camera was…  I never realized how right-smack-in-the-middle-of-a-neighborhood this ballpark is. I’m used to our stadiums with the big plazas outside.

We headed down the street to snap some pictures of The Metro – the alternative vibe music venue where the Smashing Pumpkins frequently played.

This was about when we realized it was mardi gras weekend and we were in the middle of several giant drunk pub crawls. Trying to avoid any bars with long lines and annoyingly drunk costumed college students, we slipped into the Goose Island Brewery for some drinks and dinner. This was a pretty convenient find – it was a local brewery, it had a nice vibe and didn’t seem to be on the pub crawl list.

On the walk back to the subway, Mark insisted on snapping this picture to show the world that there is a McDonald’s right across from Wrigley Field since you never see it that way in photos. But really, in Chicago, there seemed to be a McDonald’s pretty much across the street from everything.

Next up was a train ride over to walk the Magnificent Mile – Chicago’s strip of fancy retailers, night life and apparently the American girl store where we ducked in to use the bathrooms. Mark said the mens’ room featured a doll holder! When the shops started fading away, we continued south planning to catch a train back to the hotel. But I never saw the cross street I was looking for and somehow we found that we had walked all the way back to the area where we were staying. Dammit Chicago!!

Somewhere between the magnificent mile and our hotel was this giant 26ft Marilyn Monroe based on that famous subway-grate scene from “The Seven Year Itch”. According to wikipedia, it is only going to display until Spring of this year. And according to my birthday spring countdown, that is only 14 days away. Oh, and she is wearing underwear. I felt kind of creepy looking but I just had to know, ya know?

Approximate miles logged on foot Saturday: ~ 6.7

Sunday! I know this will sound pretty trashy but I actually had whiskey and coke for breakfast and was pretty tipsy before 11:30am. We had brought a bottle with us and I was enjoying it in honor of Mark’s grandfather. I’m sure all of our parents assumed we were in Church like they would have been at that time. But we were actually heading down to the lobby bar for free wifi and another round of drinks before starting our day.

The little cafe we had planned on visiting was closed on Sunday so we found ourselves face to face with AL’S BEEF. We were hungry. Many other places were closed on Sunday. We needed to eat something. We went in. My ‘drive-in’ hamburger was actually pretty tasty. Mark ordered his sandwich “however most people get them” which apparently involved some sort of dipping? Soaking through 2 layers of wrapped paper and on to the table, it was the greasiest sandwich he’d ever eaten. We quickly started walking after lunch to try to prevent any sort of oncoming heart attack.

 

We stopped into a few stores before taking a train up to Lincoln Park Zoo. Walking from the train to the zoo, we passed Second City – the improv-based comedy club where many SNL greats like Tina Fey and Bill Murray got their start. We stopped in to see if they had any shows open other than the 10pm one listed online. No luck but definitely something we want to plan ahead for next time.

The zoo was nice. I was actually surprised at how many people were there in February. Not all the exhibits were open as expected but it was nice.

This is leaving the zoo, looking south back to the city.

Afterwards we found ourselves walking around Old Town in search of ice cream. And after dessert and another train ride, it was time for dinner at Rainforest Cafe. I’m pretty sure I went there with an art trip in high school. It was cool inside but the wait was sooo long and there were tons of impatient kids going crazy in the gift shop where you had to wait. The food was good but it was expensive. I’d say its more of a novelty restaurant that you go to once. Unless you are me and you go there again because you didn’t remember you had already been there.

 

Sunday added another 3.7 miles to our walking log. Overall, I would estimate we walked around 20 miles which is pretty awesome for a vacation. It definitely kept me from feeling bad about any of the delicious food we sampled.

All this walking probably wouldn’t have happened if the weather hadn’t cooperated. It was a gamble to plan a Chicago visit in February but we lucked out. It was chilly but sunny every day with no rain or snow.

Mark and I have both actually been to Chicago before – he with work, and me in high school and then to visit my friend Sarah several times throughout college – but this is the first time we’ve stayed downtown and explored so much on foot. I think when we go back, we’ll want to plan ahead and get tickets for a show at Second City. And go during warmer weather so we can do a boat tour.

Overall, it was a nice little mid-winter getaway.

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12 thoughts on “The Windy City

  1. Ellen

    Woah! This was so long that I am afraid I’m going to forget some of my comments! First, great price on the hotel! Srcond, I bet that painting will be special to Amanda and Zubin. Third, tell mark not to smile so much while standing under giant reflective beans. Fourth, all of your food sounded so good but the hot dogs looked best. YUM! You guys did a ton and sounds like you had a great time!

    Reply
  2. Becca

    great blog! I have been waiting for that and it was worth the wait. I can’t wait to see the Amanda and Zubin painting. Do you have a picture of it? You look great in the bean picture! The pizza comment is making me hungry for some quality pizza. I would love to see the stained glass museum and your hotel looks amazing. The peacock doors are really cool. Thanks for sharing! I’ve never been to Chicago!

    Reply
  3. amanda

    WOW! You two sure did a lot! I’m glad that you are such a great writer and photographer. I look forward to recreating your trip in the future!

    Reply
  4. kara

    sounds like a perfect, fun, laid-back, and delicious time! my mouth dropped open when you said the cincy hot dog didn’t have cincy chili on it–wouldn’t that be the whole point?! glad the weather cooperated. (whoa–i just wrote co-operated and had to fix it. must have been transported back to college and our chicago-sarah visit.) also, you look so super model-y in the bean pic! you’re purty.

    Reply
  5. jamie

    @becca – I’ll have to get a picture of the picture! It’s super cute.

    @amanda – yeah, we need to go back and do the boat things. Zubin can be our guide!

    @kara – Mark said the chili tasted like canned chili! Gasp! I agree – I think they may have missed the point. Now that I’ve studied the map a little more, I am actually curious as to where we stayed on that chicago-sarah trip. She moved around so I know I stayed with her in at least 3 different places. AND – thanks for the compliment!

    Reply
  6. kara

    i’m sure you walked by one of the places she lived… you walked all over the city! 😉 didn’t we see improv when we were there? also, there is a boat tour here… if you come i’ll take you on it! yeah? yeah?

    Reply
  7. Mom

    Wow! That was a long blog. I read it all and felt like I was on the trip. I loved all the pictures too. Love you,

    Reply
  8. Michele

    Wow you guys had a great trip! I’m glad you found so many things to see, and that you found a good room on Hotwire. I can’t really take the credit – that is definite Bill knowledge. I love the pics. The next time we go on vacation I want you to plan it and come along to be our official photographers.

    Reply

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