Chicago May 3 and 4

Millennium Park - the bean

Whirlwind two days in Chicago.  We left Cleveland in lots of wind and rain and literally blew into the Windy City.  We stayed in a motel out by O'Hare because of the difficulties of parking the Aliner in the city.  No trouble though, as we were able to come and go easily on the CTA blue line in about 40 minutes.  We got an early start and went up to the 93rd floor (for Gregory - in a high speed elevator in 42 seconds) of the Hancock building for great views of Chicago and surrounding states.  Walked the Magnificent Mile, had a drink in the Billy Goat Tavern (home of  "cheeseburger, cheeseburger") and heard about the Cubbies curse from locals.  We took the architectural boat tour through the downtown area and loved it.

Chicago is a beautiful city with wide, landscaped avenues, numerous  bridges  and many distinctive buildings.  Millennium Park is a fun space right on Lake Michigan that has something for everyone- beaches in the summer, rock climbing, skating, Cloud Gate (aka "The Bean"), and some outdoor art that is really fun.  We meet Maryanne Kennedy for dinner that night and had a wonderful meal.  Maryanne treated us like visiting royalty!  She provided an after dark tour of Chicago before chauffeuring us home. Chicago is just as nice at night as in the day.

with the owner of the
Billy Goat Tavern

Day two we saw Cubs v Phillies at Wrigley Field (Phils lost in 13 innings). What a great ball park. We sat in the second row of the first upper deck - these were great seats.  We were able to easily buy tickets to this game.  In Philly you couldn't have gotten tickets to a game the year after the World Series win for love or money, not so in Chicago, we paid less than face value.  Strange! We were probably the only folks to leave Wrigley in the 8th inning to go to the Art Institute but we did.  Another great Chicago experience.  The AI has a wonderful impressionist collection which we enjoyed, but they also have a new modern art wing. We saw the Andy Warhol collection which I liked a lot.  Another wonderful Dinner in town (Millers Pub), blue line home - heading west in the morning.  More Chicago photos to come.