A casual 5-day trip turned into 6 when we missed our return trip from O'hare, but it seems Chicago wasn't ready to see us leave. Our trip began with a 5am lyft ride to Austin's Bergstrom Airport followed by a 6hr delay (Thanks Hurricane Dorian). When we landed, we took the amazing rail system (The CTA) to my buddy, Aditya's house. The weather was gorgeous! According to my friends, summer is the best time to visit the city. It was between 60's and 70's (F) which made wandering about the city a pleasure.
We took the architecture river tour and sipped adult beverages like Pharaoh cruising the Nile. In addition to staying with friends, we also stayed in a cool 100yr old mansion with 9 bedrooms of which we rented a spacious room with a king bed. The house was owned by a young entrepreneur who was restoring the old house to modern day glory.
We walked a lot. Despite having abandoned our diets, I managed to come back lighter than when I had left. We dined on fabulous Chicago cuisine, most notably Chicken and Waffles at the River Roast Cafe on our last morning in the city. Speaking of that morning, we were scheduled to leave on Saturday afternoon; however, our plans were delayed as our super ridiculous airline, Spirit, had sold our seats to other guests since we checked in later. We were furious, but could only watch helplessly as our plane took off without us. We decided to make the best of the situation and catch the train back into town for one more night of fun before re-boarding our flight the next day.
We found lodging for the evening, said our prayers, and enjoyed the night as best we could. In the morning, since we would be traveling all afternoon, we took the train into downtown for morning mass in Chicago's lovely St John Cantius Cathedral. It was an ornate, very orthodox, Latin Mass. From there we wandered downtown where we discovered my favorite last meal of the chicken and waffles by the river.
Chicago is beautiful in the summer! Glorious buildings, old art-deco construction, Navy Pier, the River walk, and so many parks! I loved the famous Millennium Park with the chrome metallic 'Do-nut' or 'Bean' as locals call it. We enjoyed Logan circle, another lovely neighborhood, and caught a festival in Wicker Park. We also got to hang out and bar hop in Wicker with my long time friend and brother, Sean, of whom I used to hold when he was a baby.
We had sunshine with some welcomed cloud cover on most of our days, but we got some light rain on our last which seemed to reflect the mood of our parting from the city. All in all, it was a great trip and I can't wait to come back and visit.
We took the architecture river tour and sipped adult beverages like Pharaoh cruising the Nile. In addition to staying with friends, we also stayed in a cool 100yr old mansion with 9 bedrooms of which we rented a spacious room with a king bed. The house was owned by a young entrepreneur who was restoring the old house to modern day glory.
We walked a lot. Despite having abandoned our diets, I managed to come back lighter than when I had left. We dined on fabulous Chicago cuisine, most notably Chicken and Waffles at the River Roast Cafe on our last morning in the city. Speaking of that morning, we were scheduled to leave on Saturday afternoon; however, our plans were delayed as our super ridiculous airline, Spirit, had sold our seats to other guests since we checked in later. We were furious, but could only watch helplessly as our plane took off without us. We decided to make the best of the situation and catch the train back into town for one more night of fun before re-boarding our flight the next day.
We found lodging for the evening, said our prayers, and enjoyed the night as best we could. In the morning, since we would be traveling all afternoon, we took the train into downtown for morning mass in Chicago's lovely St John Cantius Cathedral. It was an ornate, very orthodox, Latin Mass. From there we wandered downtown where we discovered my favorite last meal of the chicken and waffles by the river.
Chicago is beautiful in the summer! Glorious buildings, old art-deco construction, Navy Pier, the River walk, and so many parks! I loved the famous Millennium Park with the chrome metallic 'Do-nut' or 'Bean' as locals call it. We enjoyed Logan circle, another lovely neighborhood, and caught a festival in Wicker Park. We also got to hang out and bar hop in Wicker with my long time friend and brother, Sean, of whom I used to hold when he was a baby.
We had sunshine with some welcomed cloud cover on most of our days, but we got some light rain on our last which seemed to reflect the mood of our parting from the city. All in all, it was a great trip and I can't wait to come back and visit.
RSS Feed
