CHICAGO!

Chicago was breathtaking. Toby and I loved it and are planning on going back to see everything we missed this trip.

I got in Friday at 5:00 and after taking an 1 hour cab ride from the airport to downtown we finally checked into our hotel, which was 1 block off of Michigan Ave (Magnificent Mile). The hotel was nice, but the lobby was a little crazy...it was very retro, with neon lights and crazy accessories, techno music playing in the background, and two gay clerks at the desk. I was wondering what type of hotel I booked-it was a Marriott-who would of thought they would have designed their lobby like a gay bar...Toby was a bit worried, but our room was a normal hotel room. That night we went walking down Michigan Ave and had some deep dish pizza a Giordano's. We had to wait about an hour, but it was worth it, sharing a Greek salad, appetizer, and a cheesy, meaty deep dish pizza. Toby and I could not even eat half of a small!!

Saturday was busy busy, but awesome. We started at 8:00 am out walking down Michigan Ave to Lake Michigan where tons of people were out waking and jogging. I loved the contrast between the city skyline and the lake. We then got to see the grand opening the American Girl store and walked around. I had one of these dolls growing up, so it was good to reminisce and see all the new things they had out for little girls (made me want to have one of my own...). We then took the Chicago Double Decker tour which was well worth the $60(for both of us). We got commentary of the architecture and city history while they drove us to various spots around the city. We were allowed to get off at any stop and walk around and just catch another bus. We ended up doing this tour from 9-5. We saw the Sears's Tower, Millennium Park (loved the cloud!), Theater District (where we had the Chicago dog!), the Art Museum, Soldier's Field, Navy Pier, Lake Michigan, Chicago River, and of course the Magnificent Mile. One of my favorite parts of Chicago was all the buildings, the architecture was beautiful and I loved the contrast of different styles. My favorite buildings were the Chicago Tribune building, the wave building, and Marina City building (corn). I loved walking everywhere, everything seemed so close and so accessible. We ended up picking up tickets to see Wicked that night (Toby's great spontaneous idea!), so we made a quick pit stop at the hotel to drop off our stuff and change and then off to dinner! We ate more deep dish pizza at Due's and it was of course delicious, Toby and I still were unable to finish a small even without appetizers! We then walked our way down to the Oriental Theater and saw Wicked. We both loved it! Then we walked back to our hotel, finally getting to rest at 11:00 pm. It was a perfect day in Chicago.

Sunday morning we only had time to walk down Michigan Ave to the Chicago River where I took yet again more pictures. We then had to head to the airport and leave Chicago behind. In our next trip we plan to hit the Museums (art, aquarium, planetarium, and field museums) and to actually make it up the Sears building, walk through Grants Park, take the Double Decker ethnic tour of Greek town, Little Italy, and China Town, and an architectural tour. We still have a lot to see!

I loved Chicago and can't wait to go back! Check out my flickr site and facebook (you don't have to have an account to see and there are more pictures on that site!)for my pictures!