admittedly, i've been a little slack lately. but as your birthday present to me, i ask your forgiveness, but i'm back and posting. this past weekend, for my birthday i was in Chicago visiting friends. and, although, i don't normally post about travel - i figured i would today.
i hadn't (and still haven't) had much time to research chi-city before i got there for my short trip. what i did know was that it was a city full of rich history, great hip hop artists (or should i say GOOD?) and pretty fly architecture.
so, i dragged my friends on the 1 hour architecture tour. while self-aware of how geeky i was being, i wasn't embarassed enough to not do it or get super excited the entire time leading up to said tour. and, being a new yorker, i'm not really into "tours." if anything, i'll use frommer's and take myself on a self-guided tour, but pay to go on a tourist trap -- usually not my thing. but, i have to admit, the tour was AMAZING. if you go to chicago, you gotta take the architecture tour. see the picture above? well, i didn't take it, but i promise that you get that view but better for an entire hour. the architecture tour is on a boat that takes you down the river and through downtown chicago. you get a little history, a little urban planning, some architecture and really just a lot of interesting things to look at and consider. we got on the tour at 6:15 so the sun was just setting and everything was lit up and beautiful. we missed some things that are better seen in daylight, but it was okay because if we had taken it in daylight we would miss seeing everything lit up.
i also saw The Lion King - disney's traveling tour. not really a Chicago thing, but i gotta mention it because it was breathtaking. if you haven't yet, see it!
had chicago deep dish pizza and chicago style popcorn (caramel and cheese mix). it was good - i'm glad i went and had it, but, honestly, nothing i would run back for. new haven pizza still easily takes the cake for me. i ate the stuffed version at Giordano's which like i said was mediocre. i mean it was good, but nothing to write home about. what was interesting was that the crust was flakey, almost like pastry. the popcorn was good because it was super fresh and i'm used to eating the popcorn that comes in those big cans around christmas time... haha! as for other food, i ate at the Original Pancake House, would not recommend it. i was expecting so much more but got really bad corned beef hash and mediocre pancakes. they were more yeasty and acidic which was interesting, but i'm not really running back there.
as for nightlife, we went to a couple of bars. (met a really cute guy!) chicago didn't have the depth of establishments like new york does, but we went to a couple quality spots. i hear that midwestern men are more polite and generally less aggressive and grimey than east coast guys - and that stereotype certainly rang true that night. other highlights of the night: watching a girl be so drunk she literally just fell at my feet, getting hit on by some drunk lesbian who obviously was there with her girlfriend and dancing to N.O.R.E.
anyways, had an amazing time and felt like i got to do some Chicago things. i stuck to mostly downtown because that's where both my friends lived, but next time, i would like to explore some other areas. downtown was clean, but almost to the point of feeling sterile and contrived. nice, but i guess i like the gritty stuff.
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