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Published: July 22nd 2011
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After our delayed flight to Chicago, we did not get to our accommodation until after 6 o'clock so we decided to just eat local that night.
We were staying in the suburbs just out of the city, Logan Square, so it was good to eat and drink at local hangouts. The first bar we visited was called Col's and despite being a little sleazy looking it was a nice spot to chat to the locals and get a good feeling about Chicago. We ate the best burgers of our trip at the Revolution Brewery just down the road and this place was heaving with locals but we had to drag ourselves away just after 12 as we had a big weekend in front of us.
The next day we went to the Taste of Chicago festival at Grant Park and after having a walk around the city we had to satisfy our hunger. As you can tell by the photo of Bonn with the huge turkey drumstick and corn cob we were well satisfied with the food. There were also bands and street performers to keep everybody entertained. As the temperature was hitting the high 30s, the council had
buses placed throughout the park for people to sit in and escape the heat of the day. These were used often as we walked around.
Take me out to the ball game was next on the agenda. We did not know that the game we were going to at Wrigley field was in fact a local derby with the Chicago Whitesox taking on the Chicago Cubs. As we had no allegience to either team we decided to buy the cap of whichever team won. During the game we were chatting to a mad baseball fan and he informed us that the rivalry is based on north side versus south side of Chicago. As we are from the northern beaches in Sydney we ended up quietly cheering for the north side team (the cubs). In the end we had nothing to worry about as the Cubs won 3-1 so Danny was able to buy a Cubs cap on the way out.
That night we went to one of the restaurants we had on our list when we started organizing our trip. People unfamiliar with Anthony Bourdain's show No Reservations - Anthony is a high class chef that travels to
different cities throughout the world and gives a no holds barred review of the local food and drink situations. The place that we headed to was the Silver Palm for the reviewed delicacy called the Three Little Pigs. This is a sandwich made up of a fried pork chop, a handful of ham and bacon topped with cheese and an egg. As we had seen the size of this sandwich on the show we ordered one to share. This was simply delicious and it was a good idea to just share one, Dan was a little disapointed because I made him get roast veggie with it and he thought that was sacralige.
With our bellies bulging and satisfied with our win at the baseball we headed back for a good night sleep as tomorrow was Independence Day.
Don't you just love days that pan out nothing like you expected - that is exactly what happened on Independence Day.
We had organized our day so that we got somewhere early to enjoy the fireworks. First on our list was Navy Pier. Well this ended up being the only place we visited as we ended up having too much
fun. Navy Pier on 4th of July is like a cross between a street party and a concert all with fair ground attractions.
We strolled along the promenade and found a beer garden at the end with live music playing, good rock music such as the killers, beers were brought and before we had even settled in we met two Chicago girls who were friends with the band and a couple of hours of beers and dancing and singing later they had to leave and we continued our strolling.
Ended up getting tickets to see the fireworks by boat from the top deck, no frills type of deal but we did not mind. We were not sure what to expect as only the Navy Pier were providing fireworks as Chicago City Council cancelled theirs as they are broke??
The fireworks were great but even more so was the gorgeous skyline, looking over Chicago from the water as the sun went down.
Was a very good day and night. Completely not what we had planned but these are usually the best.
After a good night sleep we headed in to pick up our convertible to head
off on our road trip along Route 66.
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