short Chicago trip report
 

Wow, Chicago is a great, great city. I really enjoyed it, even though we arrived at about 1pm Sunday and left for the airport around 6pm Monday. In that time we managed to walk around the Gold Coast area, Mag. Mile, Millenium Park, and the Art Institute (didn’t spend enough time there, it’s so huge we’ll have to revisit next time). Had lunch at Giordano’s which was awesome. Wish we had more days in town so we could have tried Lou Malnati’s and some others. Had dinner/drinks at the Pump Room; we stayed at the Ambassador East which was very nice, and a steal at $129! Had breakfast at the Original Pancake House, good. Then a bloody mary and picture taking up at the Signature Lounge in the Hancock building. Amazing views. Took the Architectural Boat Cruise (thru architecture.org), which was very interesting. I don’t consider myself an “architecture buff” by any means, but it’s very informative and really a great way to see the city. Tried the local Goose Island brew (honkers ale), definitely liked that too.

All in all, we had a great time, but it was way too short. I think we made the most of our limited time, but it really made me want to schedule another (longer) visit sometime!

Thanks to all the Chi-town peeps who gave me advice. I used it all, and none of it steered me wrong.

I grew up and lived all my life in the East, with frequent childhood trips to New York (my mom's from there), and i'll always love NY, but Chicago really made a believer out of me!

oh yea, call me a typical tourist, but that freakin "bean" is really cool!

Glad you had some views and some decent weather. I'm going again next week and hope your good weather repeats itself then.

Go Bears!

yea i think it was sunny/70 on sunday, and partly cloudy/65 on monday. certainly couldn't complain.

I live here and I love the BEAN!

TLF, you managed to cover ALOT in a short time. Glad it was a good trip, and even the locals love the bean!

I LOVE the Bean. The whole park is cool! Went back a second time this summer just to see it fully polished!

thanks swalter. yea i do feel like we saw/did a lot in our short time. yet i'm still bummed we didn't get to try and italian beef sandwich, or a chicago hot dog.... but we only were there for a few meals.