Chicago entailed seeing friends, activities (mostly around Wrigleyville for some reason), and tons of eating. I was there from Wednesday night to Sunday morning. In that time I saw 3 comedy shows, 2 Cubs games, attended 1 beach, and ate 3 of the most heart-attack causing foods known to man. Let's see here...this is probably going to be in slightly random order as I recall it.
The comedy shows were all good. Ranging from plain good to incredibly good. TJ and Dave was some of the best improv I've ever seen. Crisis, a live musical game show was interesting to say the least. Matt Hope was involved with it, so you know it was lovable (also, Happy Birthday Matt Hope!). After Crisis, we went to a bar. I talked with what I thought was a friend of Matt's, which now turns out to be more like some girl Matt knows and isn't sure he likes. That's fine, because I'm not sure I like her very much either. I told her I was from Boston and she told me that she was thinking about moving to Boston, but that they didn't have a good theater scene. Alright...I mean, I guess. I think Boston has a pretty decent theater scene, including the A.R.T. but whatever I guess. I said as much to her, and she started listing what she said were the best cities for theater, "Chicago, Montreal, Seattle, some city in Georgia - not Atlanta but what's it called..." Alright then, I'm not an expert in the field, but I felt obliged to add New York into the mix; I'm pretty sure they have a decent theater scene. Broadway, you might have heard of it? Her response was "I mean, I guess, but they don't debut a lot of things in New York so I dunno." And that was the moment I stopped trusting anything she said. I pointed out to her that they debut lots of theater in New York, and that in addition to Broadway there is off-Broadway theater going on. She dismissed this skeptically. Alright then she can go be Chicago-centric if she wants. And I'm not ripping on Chicago, but I'm pretty sure if you asked just about anyone what the premier city for theater is in the country they would say New York. You're done. (Later she proceeded to hate on Carlsberg, which is excellent beer, but this only solidified my certainty that she had no idea what she was talking about - yes I'm well aware that taste is a highly personalized thing.)
The first Cubs game was relatively uneventful. No joke, it was 1-0. But Wrigley field was pretty exciting to visit. It is a classic ballpark. Its small and doesn't even have a jumbotron, which is an interesting choice. The second game, on Friday, was much more exciting. For starters Jonah very graciously took me because he was coincidentally in Chicago visiting family. Also, his family had box seats to the game, courtesy of Kraft Food, so the ticket, beer, food, and dessert was free. And I got to sit in a box! It was fantastic. Be jealous, it was that worth excellent. The only problem is that now other ballgames will pale in comparison with the luxury of box seats. Of course that excludes games where I get to see the Red Sox (this was a Cubs-Cardinals game). But if you ever get the chance to sit in a box I highly recommend you do it. For example if the choice is between box seats and a free Gogurt then take the seats.
Of course free beer meant free beer. And that afternoon I had to get myself home on the L train. In the face of adversity I successfully navigated the foreign Chicago public transportation system to arrive back at the apartment. I then went with Sam, Ashley, Mike, and Emily to a Boston bar to watch the Celtics beat the Magic and advance to the NBA finals. Woo! In the bar we met a woman who from New England who was there for a wedding. She was quite friendly and also quite drunk. She was also holding her four year old child quite precariously. I was nervous for his well-being. Maybe getting hammered at a bar isn't the best place to bring your small children. What do I know though, I'm not qualified to give out parenting tips. Also that night I lost track of time and food and accidentally didn't eat anything except some of Sam's nachos that night. Whoops.
Speaking of food, there are some Chicago delicacies that I should relate. Wednesday night, after TJ and Dave, I got pizza with Matt. One slice of mac n' cheese pizza and one slice of barbecue chicken bacon cheddar ranch pizza. If those sound incredibly disgusting, you are wrong. They are delicious. Additionally they were quite filling. I'd say they more than made up for the dinner I hadn't eaten before getting on the airplane.
Of course in Chicago I had to get deep dish pizza. Did that at Gino's. It was delicious, but heavy...kind of like I should have expected. It didn't sit incredibly well with Mike, but I should have expected that too. For interested parties, Mike's eating habits have not made a great improvement since his days of eating a pint of ice cream, a bag of M&M's and a can of whipped cream in one sitting.
Finally, I ate at Silver Palm and got a sandwich called the Three Little Piggies which Anthony Bourdain ate when he went there on his tv show. This Bourdain-approved sandwhich consists of double baked ham, a pork chop, and bacon topped with gruyere and a friend egg. I could feel my arteries clogging and my first heart attack impending. That was Saturday night. Sunday I literally didn't need to eat until 6 pm.
Earlier on Sunday (in between deep dish and my pig sandwich overload) Mike, Matt, Emily, and I went to a beach on the South Side of Chicago. We were literally the only white people there. Oh yeah. I think that's the first time that has ever happened to me. No, I didn't feel an overwhelming sense of alienation and role reversal that some people describe when that happens to them for the first time. I don't think I see the world through new, enlightened eyes. I did feel mildly awkward and out of place, and I feel that it was an interesting experience. It didn't help that I was wearing a yellow t-shit and boat shoes. But I am who I am, can't help it. I stuck my feet in Lake Michigan, then lay down to take a nap on my (well really Matt's) towel. I did eventually fall asleep, but I was not aided by the family right next to my head. The mother was reprimanding her son for yelling: "Jonathan! Stop yelling, the man is trying to sleep!" The only problem was that she was screaming this which didn't really help solve the noise problem. Matt Hope found this endlessly amusing and took my sunglasses to conceal his laughter. Mike threw pebbles at my head.
I had a few generalities based on my observations of Chicago.
-It is a damn attractive city; as it was explained to me - "Lots of attractive Swedish ancestors."
-No one in Chicago wears nice shoes. It is sneakers, sandals, or really whatever goes. So I guess it's attractive people in crappy shoes.
-Cubs games were aptly described as a huge beer garden where there happens to be a sporting event going on. I mean, people care about the game, but people really care about the Bud Light guy.
-Lake Michigan is not like the Atlantic. The South Side of Chicago is not like Cape Cod. I probably could have predicted this one, but now I know for certain.
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