When I planned this trip, I really wanted to spend an equal amount of time in each city, but knew that I'd have to pay for accommodation in Chicago and decided to give up a day or two to save money. In hindsight, this was a terrible plan.
Like I haven't said it enough, I love Chicago. It was the city that whet my interest in architecture and every time I go back I remember why I love buildings. It's got a lot going on and people are nice and helpful and it doesn't feel pretentious or snotty in a way other big cities can sometimes feel, especially in the more tony areas of town. (The snootiness is for the suburbs.)
I arrived ahead of schedule and easily caught the train into the city (why anyone would pay for a taxi is beyond me). I realised partway through the ride that the store I wanted to hit was on the way to the hostel, so I got off and dragged my suitcase the 5 blocks to The Boring Store. Meant to be unassuming and, well, boring, The Boring Store is the front for 826 Chicago (sibling to the aforementioned 826 New York. I must figure out how to get to the Seattle chapter, and would really, really love anyone who can facilitate a tour of all the chapters. I'm especially interested in the robot supply store in Detroit/Ann Arbor) and is a spy supply store. Less involved than the Brooklyn shop, it has a wide array of spy-related articles. I headed on to the hostel and checked in and all that, and called my friend to figure out a plan for the next few days, as I was only supposed to be at the hostel for the one night. Problems at work changed the plan and that's when I started to worry. With a promise from him to get to work on an alternate plan, I went on my cryfest at the TraveLodge just in case and called him back at our appointed time, only to discover he'd managed to find a place for me. Then he said, "Where are you? The hostel?" I said I was and he said he'd meet me there in 20 minutes, which was a bit surprising since I thought he was on his way home. He was, but goes by the hostel on his way to his second train. We headed for a drink and a bite to eat at the Billy Goat Tavern, made famous on SNL with the whole cheezborger, cheezborger thing. I learned later that there are a couple of them around the city and this one wasn't the original; good thing, because it was a little sad. A variety of ageing men sat on the stools around the bar, singing along to classic rock hits, trying to talk up the bottle blonde waitress. I had a cheeseburger (but none of that "cheezborger, cheezborger" stuff, which disappointed my friend) and a pint of the house lager and caught up with Jason for a couple of hours. He had to get home for his ridiculously early commute, so he walked me back to the hostel. It was relatively early, dark but not late, so I walked up Michigan to Wacker (my favourite street, only because of the vast number of amazing buildings built on it) and took night shots of the well-lit towers along the river. By the time I made it back to the hostel it was more than time to go to bed.
The breakfast at hostels is usually pretty dismal and this one was no exception (really, the only one I've ever been happy with was in Paris near Montmartre because we had pain au chocolat and mocha for breakfast). After wandering around the Bean in Millennium Park and admiring Frank Gehry's bandshell, I dragged my suitcase (OK, fine, it was on wheels, so it wasn't that hard to drag, but it was noisy and heavy up stairs) to the Art Institute because I had a boat tour at 11am and the Coast Guard won't let you take much on the boat. Problem was the AIC doesn't open until 10:30 and people were crazy about the Hopper show and started lining up around 10am. I got in, went right to the bag check, and then rushed down to the river to catch the tour. It was a two-hour tour and showcased some of the best buildings in the city. Afterwards I went back to the AIC to collect my bag and confirm plans with my friend before heading back to and over the river to Gino's East for deep dish pizza. This was the one day that the weather was moderately warm (read: sort of hot), so I drank my body weight in lemonade before I ate. After lunch I headed off to the hotel, checked in, and promptly fell asleep. I was supposed to explore the neighbourhood and buy records at Reckless. Oops. Jason popped in after work and we hung out for a few hours and watched the weather get kind of crappy. After he left I went for a walk and looked at the booze collection at Walgreen's. I stayed up watching the cake decorating show on the Food Network while drinking Cherry Coke. Good times.
In the morning Jason came in for the continental breakfast (since, because he made the booking, he was technically registered in the room), which was honestly the most kick-ass continental breakfast in history. Waffles, eggs and sausage, bacon, bagels, toast, cereal (a selection of), fruit, yogurt cups, muffins, donuts, a variety of juices, coffee... It was shocking. Since it was raining we discussed at length what we should do while we walked to the record store to look for soul 7"s (for him) and used CDs (for me). We checked out and decided to visit the Chicago History Museum, which wound up being really fun and interesting (not surprisingly; I love museums), and perfect for the weather. Jason's knowledge of the city supplemented the information nicely, drawing links to stuff that wasn't made in the exhibits. We were both interested in the dioramas (I love dioramas and hadn't realised it until we had a lengthy discussion on why dioramas are awesome) and not so interested in the Catholic Chicago exhibit. After a run through the gift shop, we headed downtown. Despite asking for two days off (which he was approved for last month), Jason had to work one of those days (to learn how to do another person's job since she quit and her last day was the day he had off and he found out at 3pm on the day I got into town) and had to go into work after he dropped me off at the hostel after the museum to do damage control because his supervisor is sort of crazy and incompetent and sent him a nasty email midday. With the later afternoon and evening unexpectantly free, I booked a spot on the Chicago Architecture Foundation's Happy Hour tour of historic skyscrapers, despite the declining weather, mainly because of the guarantee that a drink awaited me at the end. The people in my group initially seemed pretty dull: all couples, all but one quite a bit older, the younger couple with a baby. As it turned out, they were all pretty interesting and funny, and we all made sure the baby stroller could get into each of the buildings (our team motto was "no one left behind or on the street"). I was surprised how much I actually knew about the buildings already; wish this could benefit me some measurable way. At the end we went to a bar and had a drink (one included in the cost of the walk) and chatted. I sat beside the younger couple and they were really interesting and fun. She's from Texas, he's from Germany, and they live in Scotland. They were really interested when I said I finished library school and asked lots of questions about Vancouver, since they're always on the lookout for new places to visit. I liked them because their baby slept soundly while they drank beer in a noisy pub. By the time we left, the weather had improved and I decided to go on a search for a Chicago hotdog.
Chicago hotdogs are special. As the Chicago History Museum said in their special exhibit on the Chicago Hotdog, there are a number of things found on an authentic Chicago hotdog:
- poppy seed bun
- weiner (obviously)
- onions
- green relish (the brighter, the better)
- mustard
- tomatoes
- hot peppers
- a pickle
- a dusting of celery salt
I walked along State Street to the other side of the river, kitty corner to the Hard Rock Cafe, to Portillo's, which offers one of the best hotdogs in the city (though the next time I go I've got a date to go to Hot Doug's). It's really, really hard to eat a hotdog with all that stuff on it, so I had to eat some of it in stages. It's no Japadog, but it was still good.
In the morning I had time to kill, since I didn't have to leave for the airport until after 1pm. I wanted to go to the Marshall Fields building (I just can't call it Macy's, even though it is Macy's now. It will always be Marshall Fields to me) and was pleased to discover they still sell Frango chocolates there. I bought a ridiculous amount of chocolate and wandered through some other stores before trying to find lunch. The only place near the El station I could see that wasn't a Dunkin' Donuts was the Italian Village, one of the oldest restaurants in the city. It's a little posh, but still affordable, so I figured I'd give it a try. I suspect the waiter was an ass because he spoke very little to me; I chose to ignore that and enjoy my lunch. Everyone else doted on me, so I guess I just looked poor to the waiter and he thought he wouldn't get a tip. Whatever. I headed out to the airport and held back tears as the plane lifted off. I love Chicago.
Favourite buildings from this trip (replacing 311 South Wacker Drive):
1) River City
2) Tribune Tower
3) Two Prudential Plaza
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