Chicago
Never seen the musical but here is my review of the city.
Thursday
After my trip to Bosnia I took my customary trip somewhere. This time it was to visit Colin since he was being transferred soon after. I didn’t leave until noon that day but I kick myself now for not getting on the earlier flight. Had I got there in time I would have gone to the Bulls game. That night was the game that went into 3 OTs. Yeah, but watching it in a Chicago bar was still pretty exhilarating. So my flight was pretty nice, I flew first class. The weather was also pretty nice; it had just rained so you needed a light jacket. I took a transit van down to my hotel. I was staying at a Hilton Garden Inn. Got checked in and made my pilgrimage to HRC and HRC Hotel. I found a nice Italian restaurant and watched the game in the bar there. I had eggplant and some cheese I can’t pronounce pizza. I called my mother to let her know that I had arrived safely; I told her I was going to go out for a walk. She cautioned me, I told her she probably didn’t want to know that I walk around Budapest and Sarajevo by myself. She then muttered some obscenities and changed the subject. That was it for Thursday.
Friday
Woke up and went to the gym. Checked out. We were staying in a different room under Colin’s name later on in the day. So off to explore the Magnificent mile. I headed to the Art Institute of Chicago; this is the museum Ferris Bueller visited in his biopic pic. The museum was really cool, it was 4 floors of paintings, sculpture, artifacts, and other cool shit. As an added bonus, that morning I shaved so I looked 12 and they gave me a student discount without asking. So I ordered the audio tour along with it so they didn’t really lose too much money. I had lunch there, some bourgy organic meal, I felt great after it. I toured around the museum for about an hour more. One of the nicest things about the museum was they allowed picture taking. If you turn off your flash you are allowed to go berserker with your camera. After the museum I went down to Millennial Park. That is where Obama had his speech. It also has some other artsy sculptures and that big mirror orb thing. After that I went back to the hotel and waited for Ian and Colin. I had some sort of Panini that the boys accused me of making the room smell like ass. I would have likened it more to petunias but to each his own. After they got settled we went to Sears’s tower to get some night shots. The city is pretty damn illuminated at night, unfortunately so is the actual viewing deck, so we only got glary photos. But we lucked out in the visitors center because they photo shopped our asses all over the Windy City. Colin had been there before so he was our go to tour coordinator. We ended up going to Paizanos sp?, it was very tasty. We had a deep dish pepperoni and a thin crust bbq, awesome for the first, barf on the second. The Clark boys love them some thin crust bbq. We then ordered a deep dish dessert pizza, (oh shit, sound the music), that thing was so good. Afterwards we just went back to the room.
Saturday
Saturday was an action packed day for us. We had a Cubs game at noon. The Clark boys will sleep all day if you let them. We finally got up and some rocking Dunkin Donuts. Then we made our way out to Wrigley Field. My dad is a major cardinals fan and was ragging on me for going to a cubs game. There were many anti-cardinals t-shirts there for sale. The game was good we had seats pretty close to the field on the first base side. We had a few beers and being in the sun everyone was a little inebriated. The game was pretty good. The cubs won. After that we went to a local brewery and got some food. We then went back to our room and just chilled before the blue man group. We were going to try and get a seat at espn or some place for the bulls Celtics game but every place was packed. Ian before our eyes turned into grumpy bear. We ended up going to chipotle, wear grumpy bear continued. Wah wah weh weh. So after a while we got on the sub way to the theatre. Again we had pretty good seat. BMG was an excellent show, really funny, good music; they even let you have drinks. One contact popped out in my head. That sucked so I could only see half the show, not really only my left eye was a little fuzzy. After that we went well Im not sure where we went, I cant seem to remember, so Im just going to say we went home. On the way I home I remember a soldier and guy were getting into a heated word exchange. Both had been drinking.
Sunday
Different day, Clark boys zzz’ing away. I had a flight about 230 I think, well we decided to get one last pizza, but deep dishes take at least 45 minutes. I don’t know why, they are only served in a deep dish, its not as if the toppings section is think. That part is just as thin as thin crust; the only thing that is long is the crust wall. Still good, but I just don’t understand the wait. If they are busy that’s one thing, but just baking it that long. Im confused. So we got finished and I wasn’t too worried about time, but Ian insisted on making a trek to the Jordan statue. Okay, take a few photos with The One and then we would be on our way only probably was we took lots of photos then the interstate was backed up. So I got to Ohare with 44 minutes before my flight. The chick behind the counter said flight closed 45 minutes and that I would have to make the next flight. Well I asked about the 30 minute rule for luggage and she said at ORD the time is 45. Well luckily since Im EP, I got to check in at the first class counter and I think this is the only reason they allowed it. Had I had to check in with the rest of cattle class I would have been tornillo-ed. But, I smiled and I had shaved so she let me go. She said she couldn’t guarantee my luggage would get there, but I wasn’t worried, it doesn’t take that long for luggage to get x rayed. After a flight to dallas and then to Tucson I was home.
All and all, not a bad trip to the windy city,
Yachoob
