While in South Bend for New Years, Adam and I decided to take a day trip to Chicago. At a little over an hour away this was the perfect training wheels trip for my New York trip later this year. He knew I would need practice timing stop lights and crossing the street like a normal city goer instead of the suburban girl I am running across the street like an Olympic sprinter trying to avoid oncoming cabs and tour buses. We left early in the morning, my bundled up like that kid in a Christmas Story after having gone through Ms. Paula's winter gear and layering everything he owned over everything I brought from home. Cold weather aside, we were on a mission: Michigan Ave. - The Magnificent Mile.
It became apparent that Magnificent was a blatant understatement as we passed j.crew, Banana Republic, Crate & Barrel and other various retail giants. Adam kept encouraging me to go in to any store I wanted, but as one enters their own holy land it quickly becomes apparent that these things can't be rushed. I needed to take time to absorb it all. The sights and sounds of traffic whizzing by, people pushing each other aside to reach their destination, vagrants asking for change on the sidewalk. Ahh, big city life. It was retail crack and I was addicted.
As we walked past Saks we passed through a groups of hippies, liberals, and English majors, protesting fur, or leather, whatever is the bigger offender at the moment chanting slogans like, "Animals are beat for leather, fur, and meat." All apparent English language blunders aside, I can now honestly attest to the fact that these people to exist and they do spend their Saturdays threatening passers by who still aren't entirely sure if their gloves are leather or not. Airing on the side of caution, I shoved my hands in my pockets and carried on.
Taking into consideration that this day trip was completely spontaneous, we faired pretty well overall. The only major travel mistake we made originated around lunch time. We passed several restaurants, but in our hurry to get to Navy Pier we passed every single one. I am a victim of an over-active imagination, if nothing else. The Navy Pier in my mind was filled with tourists. People fishing, kids eating hot dogs, families in line for the iconic ferris wheel. With temperatures in the 20's and snow on the ground the pier was empty. Suspiciously empty. Instead of braving the cold like I was insistant upon doing, half of the world's population was crammed into the indoor shops and resturants. Surely there would be a resurant inside. This was mistake #2. Plagued by hunger and annoyed by the crowds who were pushing their way through the narrow halls we walked in seach of a resturant comproable to everything we had passed up in the city. We walked, and walked, and walked, and continued to walk until we were finally ready to strangle each other. Being that we were in the Stained Glass Window exhibit and there was a large multicolored glass depiction of Jesus hovering over our heads, we supressed our anger and carried on. We finally settled on a McDonalds in the food court. Tired and defeated we could barely even hear each other over the noise of foreigners and children. Lesson learned: Don't visit Navy Pier in the winter. More importantly, don't go hungry.
We returned to Michigan Avenue and weaved in and out of stores like Sephora, the Lego Store, and Nine West. We traveled further down M Ave and found the H&M. Incase I needed further evidence regarding why I am not cut out for northern weather, I experienced the insane struggle of trying on clothing with 6 layers of clothing on. It made you think twice before trying anything on. Perfect for any traveller on a budget. We continued on to Tiffany's and browsed the diamonds and silver jewelry. Probably my favorite part of the day, as the fictional Holly Golightly says, "You're never alone in Tiffany's." I agree.
Nearing night we made our way down to the Hancock Building. Serious tourtist tip: Skip the Sears Tower. Lines are shorter at the Hancock Building and the observation floor is higher. It might have even been a little less expensive, but then again we had the military discount. I also bought our traditional Christmas ornament from the building's gift shop. I don't know what it looks like in the daylight, but the view from the top was perfect. The city was lit up and still maintained the post Christmas buzz. Very romantic.
To finish off the evening we made our way to one of Chicago's famous Pizza resturants. Almost every place we tried had a crazy wait, but it was well worth standing in the outside line in the cold for 45 minutes. It was without a doubt the best pizza I had ever had. We topped it off with a little Cannoli and called it a day. Walking back between the trees covered in lights and the peopel bustling about in the streets. It was without a doubt one of my favorite days ever.
