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Published: September 11th 2008
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Unfortunately, I found out that we had an extra hour that we didn't know about until after I'd come back from a quick run around the shops!!! Typical, however I did discover that Macy's in Chicago has 7 floors. That's right - 7! Even I was a bit lost.
We were in Chicago for the Lollapalooza, a 3 day music festival which took place in Grant Park. The park sits on the edge of downtown and Lake Michigan. 8 stages were set up across the park and over 75,000 fans per day enjoyed music from artists such as Kanye West, Wilco, Rage Against the Machine, Sharon Jones, Nine Inch Nails, Gnarls Barkley and The Raconteurs. The weather was amazing for the whole three days, warm and sunny.
On the Friday evening, the day we arrived in Chicago, we strolled over to Grant Park to take in the evening's music. Our good friends James and Jenn flew in from Vancouver and they met us beside a stage. Beer tents and food stalls were set up in various locations around the site, so refreshments were always close at hand. After the last music act shut down, we made our way a
couple of blocks back over to downtown. We stopped at Pizano's Pizza Restaurant which was located on The Loop. The Loop is known by locals as the area that is home to the historical centre of downtown and is also part of the public transport system - the train service basically runs round on a loop. Our hotel, "The Silversmith" sits on Wabash Avenue which is one side of the Loop. Pizano's Restaurant was just of Wabash, so very close to all the action. At this time of night, it was jumping. We got a great table and were fortunate to have Cachi as our server. He kept us entertained during dinner.
The next day I dragged the boys to the Chicago Zoo, which is located just North of the city further up Lake Michigan. It's spread over an area called Lincoln Park and surprisingly, is free. It was a beautiful sunny day and we took the train up to the Lincoln Park area. We enjoyed a walk along to the park, passing some beautiful old architecture on the way. After strolling around the zoo for a couple of hours we were all hungry and found a great diner
not too far away. We enjoyed a caeser style bloody mary - yes, they had clamato!!! Good old fashioned comfort food soon came our way and when we all had happy and full bellies, we made our way back to the train to go back downtown.
Whilst the boys enjoyed a little afternoon refreshment, Jenn and I hit a couple of the shops . A few purchases later, we were ready to meet up with the boys. We met them at Miller's Pub, seemingly a popular place to hit whilst in Chicago. After that we were ready to head over to Grant Park for another evening of musical fun. The boys went to enjoy the mosh pit that was Rage Against the Machine and Jenn and I rocked to Sharon Jones and then Wilco. Fun.
The next day was another scorcher and we had another outing on the agenda. Before that day's outing I decided that I really needed to get some time to walk around the city. I hate being somewhere new and not being able to take in the local sights. Being Sunday morning and the fact that it was only 8am, the streets were nice
and quiet. I wandered and wandered and wandered. I made my way up to the river which has lots of bridges crossing over, some for cars and some for the trains. I also made my way to Millenium Park. Millenium Park sits slightly North of Grant Park beside Lake Michigan. It has some very unusual architecture such as BP Bridge, Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the Crown Fountain and my favourite Cloud Gate. Cloud Gate is also known as "The Bean" and is a stainless steel structure which was inspired by a drop of mercury. It reflects the sky and the Chicago skyline and of course - yourself, when you're standing in front of it. Pretty cool. This time we took the train up to Wrigley Field, home to the Chicago Cubs. Another essential whilst in Chicago is a trip here for a baseball game. The area around the park was heaving with people and we enjoyed buying baseball caps and nudging our way through the throngs to a nice outdoor patio. Here we enjoyed a beer before heading over to the stadium. Now, it has to be said that everyone else enjoyed the game except I'm sad to say, me! Oh
dear. I'm not the biggest sports fan and my recollection of watching a baseball game from when I first came to Canada is that it was a little boring. So, after the excitement of the onion machine that has a handle to turn, to get diced onion for your hotdog, I was a little bored. I wandered the stadium for a while, finding an outside patio and got a great view of the field from a higher level. After that, I was done and jumped back on the train to downtown and had a wee walk around. Later we all went over to the park again and after the finale show by Kanye, it was all over and the throngs left for the last time. We again went to Pizano's for pizza as not many places were open at this time of night. After half an hour's wait, we got a great table by the window. We enjoyed our food whilst watching a man on a specially designed bike which would turn like a wheel, taking him along for the ride. Fun.
Then it was time to say goodbye to Jenn and James. They were flying back to Vancouver
the next day and we were making the long road trip back to Toronto. We were woken in the morning by a horrendous thunderstorm. It was so loud that we both sat bolt upright in bed, wondering what the racket was. It got us up though and it wasn't too long until we were on the road.
That adventure will be in our next blog. Until then, take care and lots of love.
Mike and Charlotte. xxx
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