More Chicago

We’re still figuring out how our phones share photos with each other, the laptops and various other technology so here are a few more pictures from Chicago.

The first day, we went for a walk along the newly constructed Riverwalk. We remarked at how clean it was! Considering we just got back from a walk and Doug picked up two bags of garbage in our neighborhood, Chicago was VERY clean.

Even though it isn’t St. Patrick’s Day, the river still had a greenish tint to it. I think it might be permamently green. We enjoyed all the big building and wondered what they were. Most of them didn’t have names on them.

Except this one…which we saw every time we walked out of our hotel.

Our hotel is that little modern 12 story building in the midst of everything. It was a very convenient place to stay!

Our first night, we walked to Andy’s Jazz Club. This band plays every Tuesday from 9:30 until 1am. We wondered what else they did for jobs that they could be out playing until 1am in the middle of the week. The music was great and whatever else they do must leave them plenty of time to practice because it was amazing.

You can’t go to Chicago without visiting “The Bean” in Millenium Park.

This Tiffany-glass dome was in an old city building of some sort.

Another view from the Architecture Tour

Super groovy 1960’s era architecture. Notice all the cars backed in on the lower levels. The tour guide was quick to point out that it was all valet parking and also you can check YouTube for videos of cars going over the edge.

Mmmm…. Cuban Food!  Looks a lot like Mexican food!

Doug bought a White Sox shirt. Since the White Sox were playing at the Twins over Easter weekend, perhaps some people on our flight thought he was flying in for the games. The 1 hour, 20 minute flight to Chicago really is the way to go.

Look at the Zebra!

Sue is trying to re-teach me how to upload photos from google to the blog.

Chicago Spring Break

We had a fun Spring Break trip to Chicago. Chicago lived up to its nickname “The Windy City”. It was 50 and windy the whole time – almost a little too cold to be outside a lot – but we had a good time!

In November, we decided to go to Chicago when we discovered there were Hamilton tickets available. They are going for crazy high prices on StubHub, etc. but we got them for face-value. It’s so incredibly popular that the next available ticket is for September. Doug has listened to Hamilton a lot, read the 700 page biography and probably owns the score so he was particularly excited to see it.

It certainly lived up to its hype and then some. It was simply amazing!

Our other big thing was the Chicago Architecture Boat tour. We held out and lucked out on a little mid-afternoon sunshine so it was perfect. We enjoyed seeing the buildings from the water and the very knowledgeable guide pointed out a lot of interesting features we wouldn’t notice or even be able to see walking down the street.

The “Willis Tower” (formerly known as the Sears Tower) and its more attractive neighbor.

View from where the river meets the harbor. The building with the tower on top is named (in 20 foot letters) after a certain president who likes to put his names on buildings.

Of course we found some delicious food as well. This is a ramen shop not far from our hotel. I had chicken ramen while Doug went more classic.

We met with the Zacharias family who were also Spring Breaking in Chicago for a little classic Chicago deep-dish pizza. It’s always fun to see them!

We lucked out and found a delicious, probably family-run “Pan Latin” restaurant as well. We enjoyed some Cuban specialties! Yum yum!!