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Published: August 1st 2008
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Duckies
They must have known that Duck President was visiting :) Chicago is one of the most amazing cities I have ever had the privilege to visit. We went to the windy city for the wedding of our close friends Adam and Ashlyn and made a whole weekend of the trip.
We arrived early Friday morning and spent the day exploring the city by foot - primarily Michigan Avenue. We drove in via Lake Shore Drive and it was absolutely beautiful. I have never really given my Chicago pals credit for the beachy atmosphere of the lake, but it is pretty big. Still not an ocean - but I will give it beach credit nonetheless.
Michigan Avenue was amazing. Axel had to physically restrain me in the Chanel store. I'm shocked that he didn't take away my credit cards before we went through the doors. I could have done some serious damage in there. It was nice to explore and imagine though. Axel was thrilled by the Banana Republic store. Unlike most clothing store that only allocate about 5 square feet to men’s clothing, this one had 2 floors dedicated to menswear. He went on and on about the grave injustice that is lack of attention to men’s clothes in
stores serving both men and women. He is clearly so oppressed. I’m sure that the women on his ship have TONS of square footage compared to that of the men…
For lunch, we went to a cute little place near our hotel. I was mainly excited about it because the Chef was featured on Bravo's last season of Top Chef. I must say that my mac n cheese was SPECTACULAR and well worth it!
We stayed at Sofitel. The room was very nice. Especially the shower. They somehow managed to design the shower such that no steam escaped into the rest of the bathroom. I swear, this alone would make Axel stay there again! When we arrived, Axel had arranged for our traditional strawberries and champagne to be waiting for us in our room. It’s the sweetest thing and always a bit of a surprise J
We had an amazing evening out on the town. We started with drinks and dinner atNoMi. NoMi (short for North Michigan Avenue) is located in the Park Hyatt with a great view of Michigan Avenue. We could see all the way to the lake from our table. The service was excellent.
They had a primary menu and also a pre-theater prix fixe menu. It was such a deal! I had the pre-theater menu with the same amount of food as Axel at half the price! NoMi is one we will definitely be going back to! http://www.nomirestaurant.com/gallery/nomi/home.html?icamp=nomirestaurantredirect
After dinner, we were off to Wicked. For those who have not seen this hilarious comic tragedy, it is a must-do when it comes to your city. After the show, we considered going out to the RedHead a fun piano bar, but as is par for the course - opted for sleep instead. After moving and unpacking for weeks in Newport, we just wanted to relax…
Saturday, was the day of Adam and Ashlyn’s wedding. I should start by explaining that I forgot the invitation with the directions, etc… the only information I had was the town where the reception was located. The reception - not the actual wedding. After calling everyone who I knew was invited to see if they still had theirs (most couldn’t make it), I remembered a mutual friend who’s number I didn’t have. But I did see her in FL at ACPA and had been on my cell
phone with here there. Thank god Verizon saves my phone records online! Score one for big brother! I finally got in touch with Mitsu, got directions and we only got lost twice on our way to the wedding.
Adam and Ashlyn's Wedding was beautiful. Ashlyn’s father surprised her by singing a ballad during the ceremony. The reception was awesome too. We sat with Mitsu and her friend TJ who lives in Chicago and another friend of Adam’s from grad school. We loved meeting Adam’s family and putting faces to names. We also loved seeing two friends who we were so close to us in Missouri be so happy together.
We spent Sunday palling around Chicago with our new friends from the wedding. TJ played gracious host and shuttled us all around the city. He would pull the car up in front of a site and circle the block while we took pictures. My favorite is the Chicago Bean. It is so obscure and cute and large and neat all at once. I want a giant bean for our yard!
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