Chicago
On Sunday Kelly and I attended the Windy City wedding of one of my childhood friends, and we figured we would make a small vacation out of it. For the last few years (3 in a row? 4 in a row?) now I have come to the upper midwest in June and I must admit that it is the perfect summer climate. We walked around in casual clothes, spend 6-8 hours outside per day, and weren't hot for more than maybe 5 minutes on the whole trip. Here are a few thoughts on Chicago:
1. It's a very, very walkable city. If you get a hotel on or near the so-called "Magnificent Mile" you can walk to pretty much anywhere you want to go. If you want to go to Soldier Field and the Field Museum you can take a water taxi from the Navy Pier (which is right next to the Magnificent Mile), which is an enjoyable experience. And walking is very fun because the city is really very beautiful. Architecturally it is the most impressive American city that I know of.
2. Don't rent a car. We paid $45 PER NIGHT to park our car. Taxis would have saved us money. Also, Chicago has a very good public transportation system, and hey, if you're going to Chicago you've got to ride the L at least once! Traffic on one road (I think it's called Roosevelt) was horrendous, and the train would be a nice way to avoid it.
3. We had Chicago-style pizza and three places, the best (and apparently best-known) of which was Giordano's. It was really great. My favorite was the Spinach pizza, but I'm kind of a weird cat. We had to leave early and were unable to try a Chicago 'dog (Hot Doug's came highly recommended), but we did have an Italian Beef sandwich, which in my opinion was just the lesser brother of the Philly Cheesesteak.
4. We went on both an Architectural Cruise (much less snobby than it sounds; just a long boat ride) and a Segway Tour of the city. I recommend both. Also, Segways are really, really, really fun to ride. Really fun.
5. I think if I ever had to leave Austin, I would want to live in Chicago in June and July.
6. MOST IMPORTANTLY, Midway Airport had one of my new favorite things in the whole world: A small line marked "For Expert Travelers Only." Because we weeded out all the slow people, the "Expert Traveler" line went incredibly, incredibly fast. I think it took us 20 minutes to return our rental car, check our bags, go through security, and walk to our gate (which was the farthest gate at the very end of the terminal). I cannot emphasize how impressed I was by this idea. I also felt a weird sort of respect and brotherhood with everyone else in the "Expert Traveler" line. Anyways, you don't care... but this was a really great experience for me. It's like sitting at the very front of the plane (which I also did this trip!) so you don't have to wait on the discourteous folks who hold up the line for like ten minutes on the way out.
posted by J*Rob @ 7:27 AM
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