DH and I went to Chicago for a mini-vacation a couple of weekends ago. Well, it was really 4 days, but hey, who's counting? Anyway, we had some good food, some good laughs, some good shopping and some good tours. The architecture of Chicago is truly interesting because of the great fire of 1870-something (sorry to those of you who are avid historians, but I didn't keep the actual date in mind). Apparently what happened afterward was that some forward-thinking city fathers, in order to make the city great once again, shortly after the fire invited several young architects with different ideas to rebuild. In short, you get lots of different styles. It was a truly magnificent place to see.
We had breakfast at Lou Mitchell's one morning because it is apparently a famous diner in Chicago and a "must do" for anyone visiting the city. Lots of politicians and celebrities go there and they have the pictures hanging on the wall to prove it. I can't say we were overly impressed with either the food or the atmosphere, but I got a picture of the sign, anyway.
This is a picture of the wallpaper that was in our hotel room bathroom. We stayed at The Blackstone on Michigan Avenue. It was really nice and had been recently renovated. Actually, our tour guide from the architecture tour we set up said that the saying "shady deals made in smoky rooms" (or the general phrasing like that) came from a presidential nomination in the late 19th century that took place at the hotel. Apparently one of the presidents (and I hesitate to say which one because I don't know for sure and don't want to slander anyone) was never on the actual ballot during the campaign nomination phase of things but through a shady deal struck in a smoke-filled room on one of the upper floors of The Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, he became the party nominee. Kind of cool, huh?
We stayed in room 1706. Strangely enough, I took pictures of our bathroom wallpaper, room number and a couple of shots of the lobby, but I never did take a picture of the hotel's exterior. Silly me.
This is the ceiling in the lobby - truly beautiful with all of the hand-carved detail.
The lobby staircase with the psychadelic carpet - I got dizzy a couple of time just looking at it!
This is the famous Sears Tower - we went up to the observation deck on the 103rd floor, but the pictures didn't turn out since it was night time and it was raining. It was cool to see fireworks below us over at the White Sox baseball stadium, though.
I thought it was cool to get the reflection of some of the other buildings across the Chicago river in this building - do I know what this building is? No, but I like the imagery.
A view of Lake Michigan from Grant Park, where we went to the Blues Festival on Saturday and Sunday.
This is a scale model of the city that you can see at the Architectural Institute on Michigan Avenue.
While we were at the Blues Festival (B.B. King was there - and it was a free concert, people!!!) A huge thunderstorm, complete with torrential rain and lightning moved over the city and everybody quickly walked/ran from the streets into the shelter of buildings and parking lots. It was actually quite memorable - even though I didn't take pictures of the rain itself since I didn't want to destroy my camera. Still, I got a couple of decent shots of the stormclouds moving toward us.
These pictures are of DH and I enjoying a famous Chicago-style deep dish pizza at Giordano's. It is a chain pizza place in Chicago, but still really good. We ordered a small pizza and still had too much for the two of us to eat.
Possibly the most exciting thing that happened while we were there was that we went to see a comedy show at The Second City comedy club. Not that the show wasn't truly funny and all, but guess who showed up, and sat RIGHT BEHIND US!?! I don't know if any of you watch reality t.v., but we watch Top Chef on Bravo. And Stephanie Izard (she's the one on the right), who won the 4th season recently, was at the show. I've officially had my first "celebrity" sighting and I think it was much better than if I had met some super-famous movie star. She was really friendly and let me make a total fool out of myself so that I could get a picture with her. I'm such a dork! But it was really super cool!
We had breakfast at Lou Mitchell's one morning because it is apparently a famous diner in Chicago and a "must do" for anyone visiting the city. Lots of politicians and celebrities go there and they have the pictures hanging on the wall to prove it. I can't say we were overly impressed with either the food or the atmosphere, but I got a picture of the sign, anyway.
This is a picture of the wallpaper that was in our hotel room bathroom. We stayed at The Blackstone on Michigan Avenue. It was really nice and had been recently renovated. Actually, our tour guide from the architecture tour we set up said that the saying "shady deals made in smoky rooms" (or the general phrasing like that) came from a presidential nomination in the late 19th century that took place at the hotel. Apparently one of the presidents (and I hesitate to say which one because I don't know for sure and don't want to slander anyone) was never on the actual ballot during the campaign nomination phase of things but through a shady deal struck in a smoke-filled room on one of the upper floors of The Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, he became the party nominee. Kind of cool, huh?
We stayed in room 1706. Strangely enough, I took pictures of our bathroom wallpaper, room number and a couple of shots of the lobby, but I never did take a picture of the hotel's exterior. Silly me.
This is the ceiling in the lobby - truly beautiful with all of the hand-carved detail.
The lobby staircase with the psychadelic carpet - I got dizzy a couple of time just looking at it!
This is the famous Sears Tower - we went up to the observation deck on the 103rd floor, but the pictures didn't turn out since it was night time and it was raining. It was cool to see fireworks below us over at the White Sox baseball stadium, though.
I thought it was cool to get the reflection of some of the other buildings across the Chicago river in this building - do I know what this building is? No, but I like the imagery.
A view of Lake Michigan from Grant Park, where we went to the Blues Festival on Saturday and Sunday.
This is a scale model of the city that you can see at the Architectural Institute on Michigan Avenue.
While we were at the Blues Festival (B.B. King was there - and it was a free concert, people!!!) A huge thunderstorm, complete with torrential rain and lightning moved over the city and everybody quickly walked/ran from the streets into the shelter of buildings and parking lots. It was actually quite memorable - even though I didn't take pictures of the rain itself since I didn't want to destroy my camera. Still, I got a couple of decent shots of the stormclouds moving toward us.
These pictures are of DH and I enjoying a famous Chicago-style deep dish pizza at Giordano's. It is a chain pizza place in Chicago, but still really good. We ordered a small pizza and still had too much for the two of us to eat.
Possibly the most exciting thing that happened while we were there was that we went to see a comedy show at The Second City comedy club. Not that the show wasn't truly funny and all, but guess who showed up, and sat RIGHT BEHIND US!?! I don't know if any of you watch reality t.v., but we watch Top Chef on Bravo. And Stephanie Izard (she's the one on the right), who won the 4th season recently, was at the show. I've officially had my first "celebrity" sighting and I think it was much better than if I had met some super-famous movie star. She was really friendly and let me make a total fool out of myself so that I could get a picture with her. I'm such a dork! But it was really super cool!
1 comment:
VERY cool! We're going next week...my parents live in Chicago. LOVE the city and miss it so much now that it costs a zillion dollars to fly. We only go about once a year now. :0(
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