Greetings! It's Monday Morning , August 5th, 2013...
Ray and I are in our hotel Room At the Chicago Four Seasons on our last day of a wonderful weekend in the windy City to celebrate Ray's August 3rd Birthday!
WE arrived here on Friday afternoon, the 2nd.... dinner was at nearby "Le Colonial" vietnamese restaurant, at a table outside... beautiful evening. We like this restaurant, and have been to the one in San Francisco and in NYC. Classy setting with very tasty food.
8pm was the show at 2nd City Comedy. This one was called "A Clown Car named Desire"....
Staged skits, some funnier than others, some dumb. But pretty good comedians. I was hoping for a little improv, but that was not in the plan. We liked it, but were both pretty tired after a big week back home,
so we ditched the show at intermission and headed back to the room for some R & R.
Saturday was Ray's birthday, so I did my best to treat him like a king all day! And what a gorgeous day it was.... We hit it on a great weather weekend. Turns out this is "Lalapolousa" music fest weekend in Grant Park and over 250k souls are here for the big bash! Very noisy. You can check out the list of bands and the schedule online. Nobody we wanted to hear, and we hate big crowds, so we stayed away.
Breakfast involved a stroll around the neighborhood.... "Little Market" was our choice, with outdoor tables on a peaceful street. Ray had "poutine", a French Canadian dish , with french fries and gravy, this one enhanced by spare ribs. ( Hey, a man on his birthday!)
The city does a wonderful Chicago River Architectural boat cruise, which focuses on the buildings and their history. We did that mid morning .... did I mention the weather was absolutely Glorious all weekend?? Sunny and in the 70s.
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| Chicago River Architectural Cruise : The little flag in the foreground is the bow of our boat |
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| We highly recommend this cruise if its a beautiful day. We learned a lot about Chicago's history |
We relaxed in the afternoon in our 46th floor room with an amazing view of Lake Michigan. That's after Ray smoked his birthday cigar.... Then to the John Hancock building for the 96th floor Observatory. That's high!
Dinner was at a restaurant Ray chose called MK. Recently refurbished, it just reopened 3 days prior to our visit. Chic and elegant, with tasty decor and lighting, it made for a divine evening. The food and service were excellent. Ray had green grape gazpacho and steak with onions and pablanos. Mine was a
market salad and Gorgeous salmon with bok choy and shitakes. Then Panna cotta and macaroons.
Ray ordered an amazing wine: Araujo cabernet, 1999, from Napa. After lots to eat and drink, we strolled back to the hotel for a good rest.
Sunday morning we took a cab to The big park along the lake at the north end of town. It is North Pond, a nature preserve that extends for several miles there. Brunch at The restaurant ( North Pond) is wonderful!!! A must in Chicago on a beautiful day. We walked all around and took in the views.
An afternoon hop off bus tour gave us a good overview of the whole town, then a good relax and a massage at the hotel spa put us in a very good mood for dinner at a fantastic modern asian restaurant called EMBEYA. We loved this place. Probably our favorite of all!
Monday morning was a walk down the "Magnificent Mile" which is Michigan street, the main drag,
through Millenium Park to the Art Institute of Chicago. The big exhibit was "Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity"... all the big guys were there. There was also a fabulous Impressionist wing with a permanent collection said to be the best outside of Paris, and It was Grand!!! Super museum.
Our final event was lunch in the Italian restaurant at the museum on the 3rd floor with a huge glass wall looking onto the city. Neat!
We loved Chicago and want to go back for more. It was a great town to discover and start to explore!
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| The John Hancock Building with observatory at the top |
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| The Sears Tower.... now named after a British Insurance Co. |
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| Beautiful Walks along the River |
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| The City from The John Hancock Tower |
