Chicago

In a New York fourteen hours, we found ourselves at Claire and Andy’s fabulous apartment building right on the River in a very up and coming area on the North side of Chicago. Emily soon joined us and after toasting Claire and Andy’s recent engagement with some bubbly we settled down for a nice relaxed evening of wine, food, and catching up. It was an incredibly balmy night and we were even able to sit out on the balcony and take in views of the city from our 13th floor perspective. Our luck with weather both in NYC and Chicago has been incredible.

The following morning Andy whipped up a batch of his signature “slow cooked” cheesy, buttery, yummy, eggs to fuel us up for our planned bike tour of the city with prideful Chicagoan guide trio Claire, Emily, and Andy. A quick stop at the Anderson’s (Claire’s parents) fabulous apartment (also on the River) to pick up bike’s for Caleb and me and we hit the bike path that runs along the lake. About 15 miles later we had pedaled to the South side of Chicago to check out Claire’s new school the University of Chicago’s GSB, whizzed through Grant Park, taken pictures of the giant bean in Millennium park, dodged cars under the el tracks, grabbed snacks at the Fox and Obel an awesome gourmet grocery store, and ridden to the MCA for a quick look at the future venue of Claire and Andy’s wedding. The ride was a great introduction to the city for Caleb who has never truly visited before this trip.

That evening Claire and Andy had an engagement party to attend so Caleb took Emily and me out on a date. Claire had recommended one of her favorite staples – Avec – which is a very small very popular restaurant. We had a slow start in gaining momentum for the evening and didn’t arrive at Avec until around 9. We were certainly ready to wait, but I’m not sure anyone is ever mentally prepared to wait 2 hours. Thankfully, the company was exceptional. We barely noticed the time until I would say about 10:30 when a table of 5 proceeded to chat casually for the next 30 minutes despite the fact that they had already paid the bill and their table had been completely cleared of all food and beverage. Our experience once we actually sat down was very pleasant, although by the time we finished dinner it was almost midnight and Claire and Andy were already back in the city waiting for us at a bar with Jenny and her fiancé Ryan. We met them at Emmit’s – a standard pub - for a final night cap before calling it a night. To my amazement – you can still smoke in bars in Chicago. Such a foreign concept to Bostonians (but certainly not Argentineans). Although, I was informed that that will change in January – no more smelly hair or clothes after a fun night out in Chicago.

Sunday morning Caleb and Andy began the day at 8:30 with a touch football game organized by some of Andy’s lawyer friends. In the meantime, Claire and I took our time waking up, did mathematical calculations to brew the perfect pot of Intelligentsia coffee (delicious Chicago brand), and skimmed through the wedding section of Emily Post’s book of etiquette.

After football and showers – Caleb and I were out the door with the Cubs game and the Chicago River architecture tour in mind. Getting to Wrigley proved to be a little more challenging than expected because large sections of the Red Line were closed for construction, but we of course were completely unaware. Also, Caleb is easily confused by time zones so what we had initially thought was a 2:20 start time for the game was actually a 1:20 start time. Luckily, the timing ended up being perfect and we had scalped standing room tickets and were comfortably leaning on a pole in Wrigley by the top of the third. 2 hot dogs, 1 pretzel, 1 bag of peanuts, 2 beers, and 8 runs later it was pretty evident that the Cubs would have another win under their belts. The signature sing-a-long to Take me Out to the Ball Game during the 7th inning stretch, was followed by news that the Braves had beat the Brewers, bringing the Cubs that much closer to the playoffs – which sparked a Tomahawk chop hand chant by every fan in the stadium as a sign of thanks.



We left the game at the beginning of the 8th (although to the credit of the Cubs fans, no one else really did) and made a quick stop at Bernie’s for a beer before hopping on the El (not as crowded as one would think after a baseball game – they definitely have something figured out that Boston does not) and heading to the Michigan Avenue Bridge to pick up our architecture boat tour. If a bike ride is a good intro to Chicago, the architecture tour is a good inside on Chicago’s history. You cover every inch of the River that intersects the city and can see the history of the city through its different architectural styles. We passed both Claire and her parents’ buildings on the tour!



We arrived back at Claire and Andy’s a little late due to a cab mishap (our cab driver didn’t know where we were going) and found a full – on gourmet dinner in the works. Pork chops with a fabulous mustard sauce, haricot vert and fennel salad, heirloom tomato and mozzarella salad, and a basmati, arugula, olive, and pine nut salad. Really really tasty. Claire and Andy also asked me to be in their wedding over dinner – which made it all the more special of an evening. Exciting stuff.





After clean up, the end of the Bears game, and some prepping for Claire’s first day of classes it was time to say goodbye and goodnight - the close to another fabulous visit to Chicago.