The Windy City: Part I

Chicago has been our longest stopping point (and a much needed one after a whirling dervish of a first 3 weeks) so there is much to talk about. First off, Andy already gave you all his impressions of Wrigley, but mine were a little different so I'll share my thoughts too. If you've ever been to Fenway, just picture that but kind of flipped around. Tonsss of room in the areas behind first, third and home, but not much in the outfield other than some scattered bleachers and some really awesome bleachers posted up on building across the street in the outfield. Must be nice to walk up your apartment stairs and be at the game...I thought that was really cool. Definitely an old school atmosphere at Wrigley, the main scoreboard in center field is not electronic, and had a lot of numbers that Matt and I couldn't even figure out what they meant. We assumed they were starting pitchers' numbers for each of the games, but they were all wrong (i.e. John Lackey is not #6, who was pitching for Boston for that night). And, I was pretty dissapointed in the fan knowledge when I asked some kids behind us that boasted jerseys and all but didn't know either. Come on now, ya'll need to get your acts together out here in the Midwest.

Part of the park that I loved (which I guess Andy didn't see) was an open concourse that ran all the way around the park (except for the outfield). Hot dog/beer stands, seating, and an open view of the Chicago skyline (which, by the way, is the best I've seen of all the cities we've been to so far). It made for a really nice tour of the park. Granted, the poles that Andy mentioned are super annoying, but I'm kind of used to that from Fenway too.

So, after the game on Wednesday night, Matt, Aric, Andy and I went out on the town a little bit. We started off at a German spot (actually, the same company as the one we went to in Cincy but not as nice. No cornholin' here Brandon and Chad!) We put down a litre of their finest then moved along to another spot, the name of which escapes us both. We started off with some of the "Hawaiin Punch" shots we ran into in Cincy. The bartender actually thought it was great and named it "Ben's Special". Finally have my own drink! Anyways, we hung out there for a while, chatting with some other people in the bar then headed out. We hopped on the L (the elevated subway here). Aric and Matt both passed out on the train. We were tempted by some locals on the train to leave them there, but who knows what would have happened had we done that. So we got off the closest stop to Aric's, and it was probably the worst neighborhood ever. Literally. We eventually got a cab after being heckled and what not outside a convenience store and made it home safely.

The next morning, Al was flying in from Boston so Aric got the honor of waking up at 5:30 to drive and pick him up at Midway (mind you, we went to bed around 3? Quote of the night: Aric saying "I can't believe I have to go and pick up Al at the airport in 3 hours!) Once Al got here and got settled, we got some official Chicago deep dish and then took a tour around the U Chicago campus as Aric had to get some work done and go to class. Later on that night, we all went to Wicker Park to check out this ping pong bar that Aric had mentioned. We got there, and it was kind of dead but the ping pong tables were open so we threw back some Hamms and played some ping pong. Little did we know, this was apparently the place to be if you were a.) hipster or b.) wanted to watch the best table tennis you've ever seen in your life. Pretty much just like those youtube videos we all watch in amazement. At first there was just one European guy there who was a little older. I consider myself a decent ping pong player, and Aric beat me earlier in the night. This dude wrecked us both. That wasn't even the start of it though. I played another guy later on and somehow managed to get 12 points off of him, but I'm pretty sure he was being nice/warming up for the big guns we were about to see. A crew of asian dudes came in, and I'll just say it was some of the best entertainment we've seen on this trip. These dudes were NASTY! We've got a video somewhere, so we'll get it posted up here sooner or later.

So, the next day Andy, Alex, Matt and I headed uptown to see all the sights. We took the #6 bus and got off near the Buckingham Fountain, this huge fountain by the lake. Then we made our way to Millenium Park to see The Bean and lots of other cool sights and architecture feats they had there. After that we grabbed lunch at this diner type place down the street, where I tried the 7 saltines in a minute challenge and failed miserably, and then walked over to the Willis (a.k.a. Sears) Tower, the tallest building in the States and former tallest in the world. We forked over the $12 to go to the top and it was well worth it. After the 63 second elevator ride took us 103 stories up (yeah, its that fast), we were free to walk all around the top floor with clear views of Lake Michigan and all parts of the city. It was quite the place. One of the coolest features was these 4 completely plexi-glass boxes that stuck out of the side of the building where you could go in and look straight down at the street. That got the juices flowing for sure, and we got some pretty good photos. After that we went to a DSW because Andy had to get about 12 pairs of shoes. (Nahh, just 3) I ended up getting some sandals too, and then we headed back to Hyde Park (where Aric lives).

So, this post is getting uber long and there is still much to talk about. So, I'll leave it at this for now. Keep on the lookout for Part II soon.