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Myrna Marofsky
I'd forgotten how much I enjoy Chicago--that was until my husband and I took a long weekend there. We enjoyed a beautiful summer escape by staying right downtown Chicago. What a magnificent city! The downtown has invigorating urban energy, sophisticated culture, true ethnicity, alluring shopping, stunning boulevard gardens, spacious parks, outstanding food, and the best part—Chicago is a great walking city. I love the big city combined with Midwest charm. People are friendly, on the whole they seem happy, and for me, the diversity makes for fascinating people watching. We walked the downtown from north to south from breakfast to dinner. As a Travel Princess, all I needed was my well packed WisePack™ travel backpack purse, a neck wrap in case the air conditioning got to be too much, my Mini Tote/Shopper for the things I bought along the way, and my walking shoes. Oh now that was a problem. As usual I brought three pairs of the wrong shoes. After five blisters, I went into Nordstrom and bought the most comfortable pair of Naot shoes ever. Wore them out of the store and for the rest of the weekend. My husband thought they were really ugly, but I loved them. OK they are purple.
We stayed south on Michigan Avenue at a historic hotel that was recently renovated called The Blackstone. (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/chirh-the-blackstone-a-renaissance-hotel/)
Like many buildings in this city The Blackstone has a rich history of historic times when famous figures, Hollywood stars, presidents and royalty stayed there. Always avoiding a typical business hotel room, we like the appeal of a distinctive hotel. Unfortunately the renovator of The Blackstone lost track of the historic element after the lobby. While the original architecture remains true to the period, the modern design of the room interiors (think W hotel décor) left me cold and frankly amused. What a mismatch! No problem, we weren't there for very long and the beds were great for sleeping.
The best part of this weekend in Chicago was that we had no plans, no agenda, and because the weather was incredibly wonderful, all we wanted to do was be outside amidst the plantings and flowers that seemed to be everywhere. Even the mass of weekend tourists, didn't take away from our enjoyment. We had this attitude that whatever we did was what we were supposed to do. So we did whatever we felt like. Of course, we have been to Chicago many times, so the tourist stuff was old, once you've been to the Shedd Aquarium you don't need to go again, right??
Here are some recommended sites and restaurants that made this trip to Chicago wonderfully enjoyable.
ATTRACTIONS:
1. Millennium Park- (http://www.millenniumpark.org/)
This is a wonderful place for a stroll where you will see many dramatic structures, embrace elegant gardens, and feel amazing energy. It is almost a world of it's own. We played with the children running through the splashing water of Crown Fountain, sat and watched tourists from all over the world take their photos at the Cloud Gate sculpture on the AT&T plaza, and listened to a solo pianist play in the massive Jay Pritzker Pavillion, designed by the uniquely talented Frank Gehry. Then we casually made our way to the Park Grill (http://www.parkgrillchicago.com) for an outstanding lunch and fine beer. I highly recommend going on the web site for the Millennium Park before you get there, because you don't want to miss any of it. Plan on two to three hours…even more if you want a leisurely lunch. I must also mention that each night of the weekend there was a concert performance at the Pritzker Pavillion or a Dance band at smaller stage on the south end of the park. Music everywhere. Once evening we were enjoying the music of the dance band as strolled down Michigan Avenue back to our hotel. We glanced to our right into the lobby of an office building and saw the building's security guard at the door, dancing away with delight. She was enjoying her job that evening.
2. Grant Park—Because we were in Chicago on a summer weekend and stayed across the street from Grant Park we were privileged to view hundreds of marathon runners who completed their race at Grant Park. I think they have some race every weekend in the summer. We also, saw hundreds of valiant participants in the three-day walk for Breast Cancer wind up in Grant Park. All of this is to say, this park is a special place for the people of Chicago. Not only did we enjoy the view each morning as we left our hotel, but we spent a glorious evening at Buckingham Fountain waiting to see the fireworks off of Navy Pier. I noticed that Buckingham Fountain is going to be closed on September 2, 2008 for repair and conservation efforts, but hopefully it will only get better. I remember this as a favorite sight when I was a child and it still mesmerizes me. Of course I love fireworks too, so combined it made for an enchanting evening. Again, I recommend checking out the Chicago parks all through the city. They are really worth noting.
3. Chicago "First Lady"Architecture Tour—
(http://www.architecture.org/tours.aspx)
By pure accident we discovered a tourist attraction that was perfect. Strolling by the Chicago Architecture Foundation building we noticed that they offered various tours of the city. Because of the great weather, we checked out the river tour and it seemed interesting so we booked it for our last morning, figuring sitting for 90 minutes would be a good thing. Well it was great! The docent was extremely knowledgeable. His commentary made the buildings we had walked by day after day more vibrant and alive with tales of the period they represent, the architects who built them and the rebirth of the river. This is highly recommended if you love to learn new things. If we had known about all of the tours they offer, we would have done some of the walking ones as well.
4. Ethinic Fairs and Cultural Festivals—I can't even begin to list all of the festivals Chicago has to offer. From city parks to neighborhoods, ethnic, jazz, art, dance, film, you name it festivals abound. Chicago is a happy place. We happened upon an Italian Family festival complete with Dean Martin's daughter, Deeana, singing "Volarie," and an Ecuadorian festival of hundreds of folks. I recommend checking these out before you go to Chicago for two reasons. First you might enjoy them and second you might want to avoid them as the crowds can be overwhelming.
DINING:
Let me begin by saying that food in Chicago is fabulous. You really have to work to get an awful meal. My method for choosing a restaurant includes many steps…I check the web before I go, I read the "Where" magazine in the hotel room, I use my Iphone application called "LocalEats" and sometimes I use guide books. BUT, the best way is usually to get a recommendation from someone who you believe might have tastes like you or like what you are looking for. For me, that turned out to be the saleswoman at Nordstorm, in the men's department. Why? because she really had patience with my husband and found him clothes that fit his age, and his body. That told me that she understood us. So I asked her where she would go for great Italian food. She recommended several places and we picked one we could get into. As we were enjoying our meal, she and her friend were seated next to us. She said, "It sounded so good, we decided to come too." So here are the four places we enjoyed on this last trip.
1. Francesca on Taylor —
(http://www.miafrancesca.com/restaurants/taylor)
This restaurant is located in Little Italy and has that old world charm. The menu appears to change daily as it was hand written with many fresh items. While a small place, we got in easily because there was an Italian street fair going on outside with food at every booth. The wine list was just right..length and price and the food was outstanding. I've never had a better Caprese salad!
2. Yolk—
(http://www.yolk-online.com)
Once again we got this recommendation first hand, from the hostess at the hotel's restaurant. She knew we didn't want to eat breakfast there so she told us to go down the street south on Michigan where the "real" people eat breakfast. We walked about a mile to find a 35 minute wait for this small place. People were waiting out front, enjoying coffee. I thought this must be worth the wait. So we did. Nothing wrong with a great view of Grant Park, runners, bikers, and casual strollers. Well let me tell you this was an amazing place. Yummy is all I have to say. I could have enjoyed everything on the menu. The portions were huge but we didn't want to waste anything so we ate till we were bloated knowing there would be no lunch that day. This is a fantastic place with a terrific lunch menu too.
3. Mercat--
(http://www.mercatchicago.com)
Now this restaurant stretched our taste buds beyond belief. Shockingly it was located right in The Blackstone. We were a bit suspicious, but it kept coming up in all the searches as one of the "best" new restaurants in the city. We also were hungry and not sure that a Tapas restaurant would fit the bill, especially one that features Catalonian food from Barcelona. Little did we know that the food would be "to die for" and was prepared by a celebrity chief, ala Iron Chef quality. We decided to continue the free and easy style of the weekend and put our meal in the hands of our server. We told him what kinds of foods we like and he put it all together into a scrumptious assortment of taste experiences. One outstanding item after another. With their special Sangia, it was a royal feast. Sitting next to us was one of the chef's with his date. We couldn't help but comment on the vast array of food he had coming to his table. He told us that he wanted his date to enjoy the things he loved to prepare, then he told us about the restaurant and his role in the kitchen. What a delightful evening it was. Another highly, highly recommended treat. Just be a bit daring….like bacon wrapped figs, stuffed with almonds as an appetizer. Because it was in our hotel and because we loved it so much, we had breakfast there one morning which was not as eventful as the dinner, but enjoyable.
4. Oysy Sushi—
(http://www.oysysushi.com/oysy.html)
The last place from this weekend is a wonderful sushi place just off of Michigan avenue near Nordstrom. We were tired, hungry and needed a great lunch before heading to the airport. I peaked in as we walked by and saw happy eaters so we went in. WOW!! This was not ordinary sushi. The combinations, as well as the presentation made for a special treat. We ordered so much food we couldn't finish and felt disappointed until I suggested we take it to the airport with us and have it for a treat before we board the plane. Now there was a snack beyond belief. Enjoy this place if you can.
SHOPPING:
This may amaze many people, but we didn't do any shopping. Not even window shopping. As it turns out Minneapolis has many of the same stores as Chicago's Michigan avenue and not as crowded. I seems like finding a unique retailer is hard to come by in this economy. It is all about the big names. Other than some great purchases for my husband at Nordstrom, only because we were together, not that there isn't a Nordstrom in Minneapolis, and some comfy shoes, oh and a few toys for the kids, our bags were the same weight as they were when we left home.
So our trip ended with a $2 train ride to O'Hare airport which was the biggest deal of the trip. Other than a bit of a detour for train repairs, this was a fast easy way to get through the awful traffic that surrounds the city. It was a very special weekend of fun, food, and delights. I encourage you to take a quick trip to Chicago. It is a fun way to enjoy a big city without a lot of work. Just bring good walking shoes, a great travel backpack purse, like a WisePack™ and a tote bag and you will be set.
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