Chicago was a blast!

When we arrived on Thursday night, Ryan and I headed to the John Hancock building to take in a night view of the city, which was very cool, then we went to an Irish pub to scope the place as a possibility for Saturday's events. We decided not to go there on Saturday, but the music live music on a Thursday night was very good!

On Friday, we got up early and started on a very long walk toward 'Little' Italy. We walked through Macy's, stopped for coffee and at the Sears tower for a day-time view of the city, took lots of city pictures, and then moved on toward our lunch-time destination. When we reached Little Italy about five hours after our trip began, we were exhausted and hungry. All I wanted for my birthday was a good Italian meal. Though 'Little' Italy was far less Italian than we expected (almost non-existent), we did find a fantastic Italian Restaurant called Francesca's on the corner of Taylor and Loomis. It was definitely worth the walk! After lunch, we took a cab back to the hotel and took a nap until Kristy arrived at about 5:30pm.

The three of us quickly got ready and took a cab far north in the city to the Riviera Theatre for the Great Big Sea concert, stopped by a sushi place for a light dinner and were about 45 minutes early for the show. It was a very old, slightly run-down theatre, and they had removed all the seats on the lower level. We were early enough to get a great view in the front of the second tier along the railing. The show was amazing! We all agreed that it was the best concert we've ever experienced, very engaging and always entertaining. Check out this post from Alan (the lead singer in the band) on his encounter in Chicago...you'll see why we love them so much, it is very typical of their style: Posted on Monday, March 19...post entitled: Tour Diary - March 17, 2007 - Highway to Minneapolis, MI
http://www.greatbigsea.com/theband/inthenews.aspx#c529ea8a-a564-43a1-bd66-0e146d8d38af:81551

We ended the night near our hotel, at Howl at the Moon and then got some pizza before turning in.

Saturday morning, we were up and out very early and found some "breakfast," finally at an Irish Pub, which consisted of green beers, french fries and sandwiched, fish or sausage at 9:00am. Not a breakfast I would have chosen, but we were limited on time and it was St. Patrick's Day after all, so we had to get to the festivities. We froze while we waited for the dyeing of the Chicago River, but it was worth the wait. We briefly met up with Ryan's friend Mike and his wife Amanda, who happened to be in Chicago for the same reasons we were...all the way from DC. We took some pictures before heading down to the parade.





The parade was also a cold, but fun experience, absolutely packed full of people for the most part. The Alexandria, VA St. Patrick's Day parade is still better, and much less crowded, but it was a fun time none-the-less. We went back to the hotel to warm up and pre-game a bit before going out. Mike and Amanda called at about 5:30pm, and we decided to meet them at the Kerryman for our first stop of the evening. We ended up at Celtic Crossing for the rest of the night, drinking and dancing until wee hours of the night.



Sunday we had brunch, did some window shopping and visited the Navy Pier before Kristy left for her flight back for Pittsburgh. Ryan and I continued window shopping (literally, as everything is closed on Sunday's) at some furniture stores, found an authentic Chicago pizza place for lunch/dinner and headed for the airport. Our flight was late getting out, and we got home at about 12:30am.

All-in-all, Chicago is a much larger city than I expected, but has a small city feel about it. I was impressed by how clean the streets and water were, but the subways were absolutely disgusting. The bars weren't that packed, and for the most part, the people were very nice. The windy-city is probably the most laid-back city I've ever been to, and we can't wait to go back!