Chicago, IL – May 2011
Chicago! Home of the cubs, harsh winters, deep dish pizza and expensive real estate shoulder to shoulder with some of the most dangerous ghettos in the nation. We came for a half marathon but cancelled due to my headaches. The weather was unseasonably cold as well, and there was freezing rain the morning of the race – so we didn’t feel like we missed much!
As usual, we spent the majority of our time hiking around town and soaking up the atmosphere from ground-level. Our favorite experience was a food tour of the chicago “originals”. It included about 7 stops with notable inclusions of pizza house Duo (whose owner was the creator of the deep dish – not the guy at Uno), the cheezborger, cheezborger, cheezborger place made famous in Saturday night live skits, and a random bar for an authentic chicago dog. The best part was that they allowed beer samples at each restaurant, and the tour guide seemed impressed that I managed to down four pints in the span of the 3 hour tour!
We also enjoyed an evening strolling Chicago’s harbor area, and a visit to the Field Museum of Natural History. The Bodies exhibit was at the field museum and while interesting, really creeped us out. Most of the bodies on display were ethnically Asian, and there is a lot of controversy/conspiracy that they are mob victims or Falung Gong practitioners who once went missing in China. Also, the little fetuses and you children with their muscles splayed out on display were intense.