Last weekend Cathy had to go to Chicago and so, more than happily, I tagged along to enjoy myself in the windy city while she tended to some business. When I was younger I lived in Joliet for a while, and a lot of my family is native to Chicago, so this was like a much needed homecoming. It is by far my favorite city. Unfortunately my Brother and Sister-in-law were out of town for the weekend, we had hoped to maybe catch them, but either way Cat and I had a great time. We went to Michigan Ave, I went to Shedd Aquarium, and we both headed over to Chinatown for some much needed ethnic and cultural stimulation. Being paranoid that some crazy person was going to snatch our D-SLR’s, we didn’t take that many photos while we were there and took a much needed vacation from being behind the lens. Regardless, we still look a lot of photos, lol, so here are some of our favorites. :
I just plain love this photo.
While in Chicago we stayed at the Hilton, O’Hare. Quite honestly, we will probably never stay at this hotel again. Don’t get me wrong the service was wonderful and all but everything was outrageously expensive. We’re talking $3.75 for pop from the vending machine, $25/day for wifi (that should be free), $4.85 for OJ in the morning with your $21.99 buffet breakfast, $45/day for parking. I hold true to the idea that Rosemont is by far the best deal and best place to stay in Chicago (especially if you’re flying). Free parking, close to the metro, free wifi, and free breakfast. I’ll never stay anywhere else again. Despite all that we did have a killer view overlooking the airport every morning.
If you know Cat and I, we practically live on 4th street (metaphorically, actually we live across town), here in Bloomington which is ethnic food central. We go there for Ethiopian, Burmese, Thai, Moroccan, and anything else available. Chinatown was like Disneyland for us. The smells, the people, the questionably inexpensive Gucci wallets and Coach purses, the numerous shops filled with nothing but ginseng, odd sweets, and baby turtles.
We went to the smallest hole in the wall restaurant we could find with the least amount of touristy people and got some of the best food EVER. Fried squid tentacles (best I have ever had! MMMM!!!!!!), something like General Chicken with mayo on it (gross sounding I know but it was good, trust me), an enormous bowl of Hot and Sour. AWESOMENESS. I can’t remember nor pronounce the restaurant’s name though!
How cool is Chinatown with the Sears Tower in the background?
The ‘Original’ Tin Man, dancing on Michigan Ave.
The Komodo Dragon exhibit at Shedd Aquarium. He was all by himself.
I missed the sound of the Metro.
Lake Michigan made me feel like I was at the ocean. Ahhh… I sat on the rock wall by Shedd for an hour, just listening and remembered what my Dad said when we were in Quebec, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
Anyways, Cat and I had a fabulous time while we were up there and hope to go back again. If you are up there be sure to check out the restaurant Chez Colette, in Rosemont and to get their Raspberry Soufflé, it’s TO DIE FOR. As well I checked out Elephant and Castle for the first time and it was seriously good food!
On the day before we had to go, I walked up to Rush and Oak where currently sits a piano bar called Jili’s (if I recall), and stared at it for a long time. You see, back in the 20′s my great grandfather owned a french restaurant there called Julien’s. I’ve never walked up there to look at it before. After getting some directions from my Dad on the phone, I finally found it and sat and thought about what it meant to me, and tried to imagine what it might have looked like.
Chicago will always hold a special place in my heart, no matter what other places I find myself traveling to. The crazy traffic relaxes me somehow, the sound of the water takes me to another place, the wind smells of all kinds of wonderful and glorious food from all kinds of people from around the world, the shops excite me, the museums inspire me, and throughout the bustling chaos and noise, there’s a little piece, that my family used to call home.
Thanks for reading.-David.
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