Spring Break 2006

We came up with the idea to spend 2-3 days in Chicago over spring break once I knew for sure that I wouldn’t have to work that week. I mean, what better way to spend the middle of the week than going to Chicago? I’ve been before, but this was going to be T’s first trip there so we had to do some touristy things.

Tuesday
The trip started with our train ride from Holland, MI to Chicago – even though I’ve been to Chicago, all of my previous trips there were either in a car or on a charter bus full of drunken college kids (ah, those were the times!) so to save a bit on gas/parking/and having to navigate the streets of downtown Chicago we decided to let Amtrak do the driving for us! We did, however encounter some “mechanical issues” (something with the automatic switches at crossings) so we ended up arriving in Chicago about 2 hours late. To say the Mrs. Patience didn’t do to well at the end when we were at a standstill about 30 minutes outside of the city would be an understatement. That and she was suffering from a wicked head cold and was not feeling 100% as we left. The one bright spot of the train ride was the excellent coffee they had available – Green Mountain – if only we could buy it in Grand Rapids!

We arrived in Chicago and made it to the hotel – Millenium Knickerbocker right off the Magnificent Mile – to check in and figure out what to do with ourselves. We headed over to the Water Tower Place for a quick bite to eat and we were off for a little shopping on the Mile. Didn’t buy anything of real substance – but we were both amazed at the number of women wearing fur! Guess it’s a downtown Chicago thing.

For dinner we decided to head over to Rush St and see what we could find – both of us were in the mood for Italian and we happened upon this small restaurant that turned out to be quite possibly the best Italian dinner I’ve ever had! Papa Milano (951 N State St, Chicago IL 60610) evidently is a local landmark…small, nice atmosphere, and the food was unbelievable! I had the lasagna and T had the chicken marsala (she made some comment about wanting to swim in the sauce and I came close to licking my plate the red sauce was so good), and desert was on the house! Highly recommend at stop there the next time anyone is in Chicago.

Wednesday
This was our big “tourist” day as we went to the Museum of Science & Industry to see the Bodyworlds 2 exhibit. Since there was no photography allowed in the exhibit we don’t have any pics to share (unless I scan the postcards we bought) but you can appreciate it visually by poking around the website.

The exhibit was awesome – all of the hyperbole in the world won’t come close to doing it justice – and educational. We were both in that little kid “wow” mode for the two hours that it took us to make it through the exhibit. Some things that stood out:

The individual body parts that compared normal, healthy tissue to the diseased version, such as the knee arthritis, cirrhotic liver, lung tumors, the joint replacements, there was a comparison of a normal person to an obese person (cross section lengthwise) that was jaw dropping.

The whole body specimens were breathtaking – it was often hard to believe that they were real human bodies and not artificial, that’s how real they look following the preservation process. The ones on display in this exhibit that I/we liked the best: baseball swing, exploded man, ballerina, and the figure skaters.

Bottom line – if you get a chance to see it, it is WELL worth the money (and for all you Oregon people according the website it will be in Portland June 7 – Oct 7, 2007 – GO)

After Bodyworlds we made our way through the rest of the Museum and spent a good bit of time in the U-505 exhibit (a real, restored German U-boat from WWII), even taking the on-board tour.

With this being our last night in Chicago I knew I had to take T to get some authentic Chicago style pizza, so off to Gino’s East (on Superior) we went. Great food, great beer (for me at least T still wasn’t 100%) – Goose Island Honkers Ale, which might be the best ale I’ve had since Mirror Pond– and T signed her name on the wall. Ok, so did I, even put “Miami Evans Scholars” under my name…what can I say I was feeling nostalgic!

Thursday
Last day in the Windy City…T was quite the trooper. Despite how she was feeling she said she was up for the walk from the hotel to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Spent a couple of hours taking in all of the great works… “Nighthawks”, “American Gothic”, “Paris Street, Rainy Day”, “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte”, and many of the works of Georgia O’Keefe jumped out at us. We had a leisurely walk back to the hotel – with a stop at Chipotle for lunch, even took some with us for later! – and then made our way to Union Station for the train home.

Both of us in front of the Art Institute - ok, I didn't really trust the homeless guy to take one of both of us. He did, however point out to T the sign showing the start of Route 66:

Over all, great time - most of that may have been the company, because even though the cold had almost beaten her into submission, there is no one else I'd rather hang out with than T, in Chicago, Grand Rapids, or anywhere else!!

Now just need to try and enjoy the last days of spring break while trying to accomplish things around the house, and getting my pig training back on track.