communication breakdown

Chicago!

I'm a little behind in updates here because I've been so busy recently - but for me, that's a good problem to have. Last weekend I made the trip east to Chicago to meet up with a couple fraternity brothers and to see a soccer match at Soldier Field. There is a link to some pictures in the "Galleries" section. All in all, the trip was short but fun and well worth the time. The hotel was in a great location, right in the heart of downtown and about a block from the stadium. Parking was a little high ($21 a day), but hey, what are you gonna do? We were all pretty exhausted when we arrived Saturday night, so we basically just chilled out and talked for awhile so we could get an early start on Sunday...

We got up Sunday morning and decided to fit something in before the soccer match at 3 - the Shedd Aquarium seemed like the best choice. It's supposedly the largest indoor aquarium, and you can tell once you're in there - we were there for several hours and really didn't come close to exploring all of it. I hadn't been to an aquarium since my first semester in college (Tennessee Aquarium), so it was refreshing for a change.

We headed over to the stadium well over an hour early and it was pretty crazy over there - Adidas had an area roped off with activities and free stuff and all. This was one of the few soccer matches I've ever watched, and certainly the first live one; all in all, it was pretty fun. I have nothing against soccer, I've just never taken the time to get into it. Supposedly the idea for this exhibition tour was to allow the American fans a chance to see some big teams in-person before the real season begins in Europe. There were a lot of top-caliber players on the field and there were some exciting moments, although you did get the feeling that they weren't trying too hard. The game ended in a nil-nil tie and, not surprisingly, the fans responded in true American form by booing loudly - I guess they felt there wasn't enough of an effort to score goals. Luckily for them (and everyone, really) they played penalty kicks and Bayern won 4-2. My friend John was happy because he's a big Bayern fan. I didn't really care who won; it was fun either way.

We had heard from the Adidas folks that they were giving away jerseys after the game. So we made our way over there afterwards and found a straight-up mob waiting for jerseys. You'd think that if Adidas was going to promote that, they would have setup some kind of system to distribute the jerseys - but no, they just had a couple of people standing on one of the sidewalks trying to open up and distribute hundreds of boxes of jerseys. As you could imagine, this turned into all-out pandimonium, with one guy even getting (roughly) escorted away by a female security guard who he had called a fatass. Anyways, after some heavy pushing and maneuvering (reminiscent of a punk-rock concert), all three of us got jerseys. We expected these "jerseys" would be some pseudo-Tshirt-jersey thing, but no - they were real team jerseys. According to John they cost about $65, and I paid $50 for the event ticket, so the way I see it, I came out on top.

After the game we decided to roam the city and find a cool local place to eat. I was all about some Chicago-style pizza so we went looking in the hopes we'd find a hole-in-the-wall pizza joint within reasonable walking distance. After walking several blocks Greg looked down a side-street and saw this sign for a place called "Gino's Pizza" far in the distance. We figured we might as well check it out. After we got there we saw the line for getting in was wrapped around the building. We figured this either meant:
1) the place is really good; or
2) mob mentality took over and everyone just assumed it was good because the line was long.

We were contemplating leaving when we turned to a guy who came up behind us and asked him if he had eaten there, and if it was any good. According to him, this was the best pizza place in town! He said they freeze their pizzas and they are distributed around the nation. That was enough to convince us. It took us about 30-40 minutes to get in the building and then another 45 minutes before we had food at our table. But was it ever worth the wait! This was true Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, and it was probably the best I've ever had. This is why hole-in-the-wall restaurants will always destroy chains - you just can't take a classic recipe and mass produce it with random people across the nation. Gino's will definitely be on my hit list next time I return to Chicago.

We pretty much just roamed the city for the rest of the night, observing the nightlife and the downtown area. We did check out the Hancock Observatory for awhile to get some good aerial shots of the city, but the Observatory was horribly back-lit and the glare ruined just about every shot.

The next day was interesting to say the least. We started out in the morning by checking out the Field Museum. To me this was disappointing - I'm not really into checking out stuffed animals or learning about the nature of soil. There was some cool stuff in the Egyptian section from an old tomb, but for the most part, this type of museum just isn't my bag. We left after awhile because Greg wanted to check out the Science Museum. Oh, boy was that a bad idea. First off, it led to our first excursion on the El, which actually wasn't bad. It wasn't my first experience with mass transit, so they're all pretty much the same. One thing I did notice is that there were a bunch of people roaming the cars trying to sell stuff, which I never saw when I rode MARTA in Atlanta. Oh well...

So Greg supposedly knows how to get to the Science Museum, so he takes us to this stop on the El and we get off. Immediately my common sense radar goes off - we appear to be in the middle of a rundown area of town. Why would a Science Museum be out here? He assures me that the directions are right and that we just have to walk a block or two east. So we start walking - and I start getting more worried. We're walking through a very, very bad area of town. There are shady characters everywhere. People are staring at us. And we're certainly the only white people around. There are certain places where you're just not welcome and you know better than to go - this was one of those places. I wanted to get right back on the El but I trusted Greg that we'd be there soon - unfortunately this was not entirely correct. After walking about 5-6 blocks we realized we'd have to walk another 3 miles to get there. That's when I decided I wasn't going a step further - the other guys agreed and we headed back to the El. I'm just glad we all got back there in one piece. So much for the Science Museum....

Next stop was Wrigley Field. Unfortunately the Cubbies weren't in town, but we did want to see the stadium and take some pictures. We caught lunch in a local bar and then headed back home. Apparently our timing was just right, because during the time we were at Wrigley/lunch, there was some kind of major trouble with the El. I never found out what was the cause, but when we got back to the train station there were a lot of pissed Chicagoans who had been waiting there over an hour, I believe. A train showed up about 5 minutes after we got there, and we were told it was the last train going back into town - thank God we were there at the right time! The trip back was crazy because, at each stop, there were a ton of people who had been waiting forever for a train, and all of them tried to pack onto this one. We definitely got up close and personal with some locals on that ride back. By the time we got back it was about time for me to leave - I couldn't afford to miss another work day so I left Monday early evening.

From the little I saw of it, here are my general impressions of the city:

Pros:

1. It's big. I like big cities. Everything you need is there.
2. It has a pulse, especially at night. Walking around downtown was, for the most part, a lot of fun. Plenty of street musicians and pedestrians - it just felt alive.
3. They drive like I do. After a year in Minneapolis, driving into Chicago was a great relief - finally, other people who drive 90mph everywhere! It felt like being back home in Atlanta again, except even more intense. In ATL they drive fast with their 6-lane highways. In Chicago they drive even faster with 4-lane highways. It was definitely more dangerous but aggressive driving is what I crave.
4. The weather was great, which never hurts.

Cons:

1. The homeless population! My goodness - I'm used to living near a large one from being in downtown Atlanta, but that was nothing compared to Chicago! As we strolled around Sunday night in downtown, I swear we got accosted by panhandlers at least every half-block. And on the El coming back from Wrigley, this guy showed up in our car smelling disgusting, screaming that he was homeless and begging for money. But he didn't just beg - he did it repeatedly. For about five minutes he kept yelling (to a completely crowded car) "please give me some money... please... please...". Everyone was silent and most people just tried to ignore him, but in the confined spaces, it's pretty hard. It was the most uncomfortable and annoying experience I've had in a while. I don't like aggressive homeless people who try to make you feel like you're evil for not helping out their lazy selves... and they were everywhere in Chicago.

2. The typical Chicago personality is a little abrasive for my tastes. I'm used to Southern Hospitality and such, and you're not going to find anything approximating that over there. It's like they're basically saying "I'm from Chicago, which makes me better than you, whether you live here or not." Mind you, nobody was particularly rude to us or anything - but you can just tell on their faces, they are not normally cheerful people.

Wow! I just started writing, and this is what came out. That's enough for now - looking forward to a return trip soon!

Posted by sdishman at July 31, 2004 4:55 PM

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