Chicago Getaway

Mark and I wanted to take a mini-vacation this summer. We went to Chicago this past weekend to re-trace some of the journey we took on a Kitchen Art tour two years ago and to just get out of Lafayette for a little bit. We began the trip with a stop in Chicago's Little Italy. It's kind of sad to see UIC taking over this neighborhood. In fact, the little bakery we hoped to re-visit -- the one where they fill the cannoli's as you order them -- was gone. So sad. But we did take a minute to visit Joe DiMaggio in his little park across from the Italian American Sports Museum.


We visited a true Italian market and then ate an outstanding lunch at Rosa's Restaurant. Mark got the most delicious Chicken Parmasan sandwich either of us had ever tasted. And my pasta was soooo good. Not to mention the cannoli I had for dessert -- definitely recommend this restaurant!

Our next stop was Sam's Wines and Spirits. Mark found out that Sam's is apparently the only place in the entire US to import a specific beer -- Krusovice -- a kind of beer that he really enjoyed when he visited the Czech Republic. And wouldn't you know it? He got the last and only case of it left in the entire giant warehouse. Thus his happy face below.

Next, we were off to Old Town to shop at The Spice House and Old Town Oil. These are two more places we learned about on the Kitchen Art tour. The Spice House -- you can smell it a block away! It's kind of overwhelming. But they have a huge variety and if you bring them recipes for different spice mixtures, they can help you put it together. And Old Town Oil is really cool, too. They have about 20 kinds of olive oils and about 15 kinds of balsamic vinegars. You choose what you like and they bottle it 'fresh' for you. You can see the olive oil dispensers below. We got a tuscan olive oil and used it in a salad dressing tonight -- so yummy!

We got an awesome deal on a great hotel -- $82 for a room at the Palmer House Hilton! Thank you, hotwire. The Palmer House is just 1.5 blocks from Michigan Avenue and the Art Institute. It was a very convenient location. After we checked in, we walked to the Wrigley Building and down the steps to the river to take an architectural boat tour. Our 90 minute cruise took us both on the river and on the lake. Here's a photo looking up at the Sears Tower (now known as the Willis Tower). See those square boxes jutting out from the side of the building? Those are the new glass-bottom observation decks. We could see people standing in them! Not for the faint of heart and definitely not for me!

I love this next photo. We had a gorgeous day to go on this boat tour. You can see some of the sky and buildings reflected in this blue glass building. We learned that they use this kind of glass to better reflect the river water.

Here's a view of the city from Lake Michigan. The sun was starting to set while we were cruising the lake. There were tons of sailboats out on the lake last Friday.

Another thing we learned on the boat tour -- Chicago has a canal and lock system just like the Panama Canal. Seriously! The Chicago River is actually two feet lower than the level of Lake Michigan. The canal brings you up to lake level when leaving the river and returns you to river level when leaving the lake. We had to wait in line to go through the Chicago Harbor Lock, along with lots of smaller boats. It was a neat experience. We also learned how the city of Chicago reversed the flow of the Chicago River to keep the lake and connecting waters cleaner. Very cool! In the photo below, you can see the canal lock beginning to close as we return to the river.

This is a photo of the boat we toured on. It was packed with people and we definitely recommend this if you're in Chicago.

By the time our boat tour ended we were very hungry and headed off to Lou Malnati's for pizza. Of course, they were packed and we had to wait about 40 minutes for a table. The nice thing is, because they do mostly deep dish pizzas that take about 40 minutes to bake, they let you pre-order your pizza before you get a table. I had these shipped to Mark two years ago for his birthday and we were really looking forward to returning for another Malnati's pizza -- it did not disappoint!

We weren't exactly sure how far it was back to the hotel so we took a cab to Millenium Park, which was just a few blocks from the hotel. It was a beautiful evening to be outside and we were in good company! The park was full of people enjoying the nice summer evening. Here is one of my favorite photos -- the night skyline reflecting in 'the Bean' sculpture. Can you see the moon?

We also had a good time watching kids of all ages running through the water/video sculpture. And then we had the idea to take silouhette (sp?) photos. These are two of my favorites! And this shows why we titled our blog the 'antics' of Ailors. : )

On Saturday morning, we were off to Shedd Aquarium. It had been nearly 12 years since I had been there and Mark hadn't been since he was 12 years old! It was very crowded -- note to self: go on a week day. Here is one of my favorites at Shedd -- the little, or not so little, Beluga whale.

We took a break from the crowds and sat on the outdoor patio for a little while to enjoy the harbor views. Mark found a sailboat that he would like to have.

We both really enjoyed these leafy sea horses. So unique! I could have watched them for hours.

Mark made two new friends in the Amazon Rising section of Shedd. Cute little fellas, aren't they?

The last stop of our trip was in Bridgeview, IL for a Chicago Fire Major League Soccer game. They were playing Real Salt Lake that night. We both love watching soccer but had never been to an MLS game. Our first choice would have been to see the LA Galaxy and David Beckham when they come to Chicago on August 19 but it wasn't feasible to go to a Wednesday night game. This turned out to be really fun. We donned our Fire gear, inflated our free noisemakers, grabbed a hot dog and were ready for the game!

It was kind of sad that they don't get very many fans. Hopefully, MLS teams will continue to grow in popularity. The fans that were there were really into the game which made it fun.

The game ended with the Chicago Fire winning with a score of 1-0. The funny thing is that when the goal was scored, we weren't watching the game because the 'prize patrol' was in our section throwing free t-shirts to the crowd and we were trying to catch them. We didn't get a shirt AND, we missed the only goal of the game. Oh well! Thank goodness for instant replay screens.

Overall, we had a great weekend and were glad for good weather, safe travels, hotel deals and pizza discounts. It was truly a fun getaway!