Chicago... finally!

Well.... after almost nine years, I finally returned to one of my favorite places on earth - CHICAGO! I lived there for almost three years after college. I lived in Hyde Park on the south side, and also lived off Southport in Lakeview on the north side. I loved this city for everything it has to offer.... the food, the mixing pot of cultures, the arts, the CUBS! Chicago, I have always said, is basically your typical small, midwestern town stuck in a big city. More times than not, the peeps of Chicago are friendly - get this: they actually SMILE. Unheard of in big cities. I love the smell of Chicago, too. Can't quite describe it except for it is a great combination of pee-filled subways, greek/mexican/italian food, and peanuts with a hint of rain.

My best friends from college, Michele, Lori, and Julie, all decided that since it was our 10-year graduation anniversary, we needed to meet for a reunion. Chicago was the perfect place. I flew into Indianapolis, and after lunch with some friends, we drove up to Chicago and met Julie at our hotel.
Now when I say Chicago is a small town, I mean they have the hospitality of a small town. EVERYWHERE we went, we were being GIVEN things - drinks, food, covers! People showered us with midwestern hospitality! It was fantastic. Case in point: We ate dinner the first night at my favorite mexican joint, Uncle Julio's Hacienda. The manager came to our table because he heard we Julie had a food allergy. He wanted to be sure she was taken care of, and she suggested he take care of us with free margaritas! Go figure - he brought them right over. Hilarious. We felt like superstars. Actually, we kept joking that we were kind of like the 'Sex and the City' girls - minus the sex. Oh, and on the way to dinner this night, we were walking by an art gallery that was having a grand opening... the doorman beckoned us in and offered us wine and hors d'oeuvers. Hospitality. The art was ok, too. Actually they had a gorgeous B/W photo of a dancer's shadow.... I loved it.

The next day was spent shopping and enjoying the Magnificent Mile. While I know there is SOOO much more to Chicago than the tourist trap of the MM, it was still fun just to walk the big city streets and just "BE" in the atmosphere. Filene's Basement, H & M's, Water Tower Place, Forever 21... a lot of great stores not our here.

Insert funny story here:
So we were walking the street and came upon this person spray painted silver with a bucket of money in front of her. Now, I have seen those amazing street perfomers who pose like mannequins for hours and will only move if you tip them. So we walked by this "lady" who was "performing" with a huge crowd around her. We were all waiting to see if she would move. She was AMAZING. She didn't BUDGE! She was as still a mannequin. So, Michele decided to tip her to see her move positions. Nothing. A few more minutes.... nothing. Five minutes.... nothing. We kept saying, "Is she even real? She has to be!" So Julie went up and touched her ear to see if she flinched - NOT REAL!! We paid $1 to watch a freakin' mannequin! The best part is a guy finally walked up in a silver suit and started preparing for the REAL show. We didn't stick around to see what IT was, but I thought he was ingenious for leaving his money pail. The dude made a buck for nothing! Ha. Tourists....













This was dinner on our second night. We ate Medi- terranean at Tizi Melloul's. It was a really fun atmosphere. Our maitre d', Stephen, was fantastic - our server, not so much. When Stephen asked how our night was, we told him we weren't thrilled with the server. He asked what could be done, we suggested he just make sure we were taken care of. He did. He brought us all champagne! Again, midwestern hospitality.
On our final day, we didn't leave the hotel room, except for breakfast. We went on four hour trek to find some good, quick, cheap breakfast, only to discover that on a rainy Sunday morning in Chicago, nothing is quick or cheap. We walked to a restaurant that had about 30 people waiting for five tables, so we hopped in a cab bound for one of my fav greasy spoons in Lincoln Park. Alas.... after 15 minutes in the cab, we discovered it was no longer there. So we continued to drive, finally stopping at the first restaurant we saw. After an hour long wait, we finally were seated in the corner with the air conditioning blowing directly on us. Now, if it were the normal 95 degrees summer day in Chicago, it would have been welcomed. BUT, it was a cold, rainy, 65 degree Washington-weather day in Chicago - no AC was needed, but alas we had it.

After a LONG bus ride - walk - then train ride back to the hotel, a nap was in order. We decided to stay in for our "last supper." What is the perfect last Chicago meal???
Yep! Giordano's deep dish pizza!! SOOOO good. Except, we were also hungry for Chinese. So we ordered both. That is the beauty of delivery.

Julie left the next morning to head back to Michigan, and Lori, Michele and I drove around for a little while to explore my old stomping grounds. We drove through Lakeview, Lincoln Park, down Belmont, Southport, Halstead, Clybourne, Sedgwick.... all my favorite neighborhoods and streets. It is amazing how after so much time I can still remember it like it was yesterday.

I spent the last few hours in Chicago by myself, reminiscing. I ate lunch one last time at Uncle Julio's (yes, it was THAT good), then headed to the airport. The music on my iPod on the train was very fitting - almost as if a soundtrack were playing. It was an instrumental song Rick wrote for me a while back, but I felt like I was watching myself in a movie - sitting on the train, remembering, watching the city go by...

I loved every minute of it. Now...back to reality. Thank you MJ, Jules, and LV for the memories!! I can't wait until next time....