Chicago!

I am back from my weekend in Chicago!! Veronica and I had soo much fun visiting our friend Olga (who lives in Mexico, but was there on business). We had all these plans to do touristy type things, but we honestly spent the whole weekend eating and shopping! Kind of my dream weekend :)

On the first night there (Friday) we joined Olga and some of her work friends at Kingston Mines, a blues club. The music was great and the atmosphere was also amazing! The place was large and had 2 stages with live music alternating on each. It was busy, but we never had to wait long for a drink (woohoo!).

The bars are open late in Chicago (I never could get a solid answer on when they close) and we ended up staying here until about 2:30am, which is 3:30am Toronto time! Considering I had been up at 6:00am for work that day I am surprised I survived!

We then went back to our hotel for a good sleep-in. We stayed at the Club Quarters on Wacker, which was amazingly cheap ($70 a night!) and very upscale and right on the river! The rooms are small, because they are designed for business travellers, but it was quite nice for us. Our view was great:

After sleeping in Sunday, we went in search of breakfast. Originally we wanted to go to this breakfast place called Wildberry, near the park, but it was an HOUR wait. Unable to wait that long for pancakes we backtracked down Michigan Ave and found a place called Sweetwater Tavern and Grill. The food there was very yummy and they even had gluten free options for Veronica.

After lunch, we got down to some serious shopping on The Magnificent Mile (Michigan Ave). It was exceedingly cold out so indoor activities were a must!

We totes should have bought these glasses

Olga and I decided that cupcakes for lunch were in order as well!

Mmm that cupcake was dang good! It took me two days to eat the whole thing!

Saturday night we ended up back at Sweetwater for dinner with Olga and her friends. We got there around 8:15pm, but weren't seated until 9:00pm due to a group refusing to leave even after paying their bill (don't they know about the importance of turning tables?). The staff were so apologetic for our long wait and brought us FOUR free appetizers! I loved this place. It was then another fun night full of too many drinks and fun conversation. Our group included people from the US, South Africa, England, Sweden, and us Canadians, so I am sure we raised a few eyebrows when we got ID'd (They ID everywhere there)

On Sunday the weather was a little nicer so we took a walk over to the Bean for some photos before doing more shopping.

Then we headed to Uno Pizzeria for some deep dish pizza! We were a little disappointed because their website had tons of Gluten Free options, but the actual restaurant we went to did not. Veronica had a salad, but I just wanted to warn people who go to Chicago and hope to get gluten free options there! The rest of us shared this gloriousness:

I actually managed two slices before admitting defeat!

Olga had to leave at 5:00pm to head back to her training centre for work outside of Chicago so we hugged her tightly goodbye and then returned to our hotel. Not really wanting to spend the evening in, Veronica and I decided to go to a comedy show. However the show was sold out (on a Sunday night!) and we ended up at this weird small Second City show that neither of us really enjoyed. We topped off our evening with a few drinks and nachos before retiring for the night.

Monday morning we decided to try Wildberry again and there was only a 25 minute wait so we decided to wait. We sure were glad we did!! I had this amazing caramel apple pecan french toast and Veronica had a egg dish with a side of gluten free honeycakes! They tasted so amazing that neither of us could believe they were gluten free.

Sidenote- I am shocked by the amount of food I ate in Chicago. I am usually a person that cleans their plate (I love food!) but I was seriously defeated by portion size time and time again in this city. Where DO Chicagoans pack it all??

We then went shopping (obviously) and went a little crazy at some President's Day sales before heading back to the airport to fly back to Toronto. We got pretty peeved off at United Airlines because they didn't have enough overhead for our carry-ons so they offered to check them. We have done this while flying before and they always bring the checked carry-ons to the gate when you land but THIS time we had to go to baggage claim! They didn't even warn us when we checked them that they would do that. Then they took FOREVER to unload our bags so we got o delayed arriving home.

But other than that we had an amazing time. I just hope Olga's work sends her somewhere warmer next time ;)