The Windy City

This weekend Matt and I drove to Chicago to see Wicked at the Oriental Theater. The Oriental is such a wonderful theater. While waiting for the play to begin we learned that the Oriental used to be a movie theater. The carvings and artwork were just beautiful. The play Wicked was also great. I loved the stage set up, but GaLinda (with a ga) and Elphaba really stole the show. Erin Mackey the actress who plays Galinda especially. The play tied in a lot of “missing” information. And without giving out too many spoilers there was only one thing I felt was left unsettled and two things I wish were different. That is really good for me, because normally I can find quite a few issues.

The play also had a happy ending for me because I was able to purchase a pin to add to the collection and now I have so many I don’t have room in my jar so I’ll be making something for them this winter while I hibernate.

On Saturday night after the play we stopped off for some good ol’ Chicago Style Pizza at Pizzeria Due, the second restaurant owned by Ike Sewell, the man credited with creating the deep dish pizza. The place was packed so genius me decided we should eat outside so we’d get seated right away. Yeah we and the other five couples realized quickly why you don’t eat outside after dark in September in Chicago. It’s not the windy city for nothing. And yes I understand that’s not why Chicago is called the Windy City; but it should be. (Click here for the real reason Chicago is the windy city) Anyway, back to Pizzeria Due. The pizza was ok. Not the best I’ve had, but it ranked up there. It was fun to eat at a place we had seen highlighted on the History Channels – American Eats.

Sunday before heading home we stopped at the Adler Planetarium. In our previous trip we did the Art Institute of Chicago, Field Museum, Navy Pier, and Shedd Aquarium.We haven’t done the Planetarium yet because we have one locally and I just wasn’t sure if it would be worth it. But I’m glad we went. There were a ton of exhibits, most of which were hands on so we got to be big kids. Our show Black Holes wasn’t that great, or the 3D Milky Way show, but I loved the Atwood Sphere and how to make a crater exhibits. Plus they had an actual meteorite from mars on display which we got to touch. Matt enjoyed the Mars rover display where you get to control its movements. I was also able to stop at the gift shop and add another pin to my ever growing collection. The Adler Planetarium is an over looked stop in Chicago. If you’re in the area make time to stop in and see the Gemini XII, it’s worth the money.

When we go to Chicago we normally stay in the outskirts of town and ride the train in but since we were only going to be there one night and had a play to get to we decided to stay on the Magnificent Mile, boy was that mistake.

We stayed at the Allerton Hotel on the corner of Huron and Michigan Ave. The hotel was very lovely. The décor was amazing. The room was small but we were expecting that since they openly tell guest. Actually the room was bigger than I expected it to be so that is a plus. I would have given our stay five stars hands down if it wasn’t for the incident that happened as we were leaving. We had booked a package deal that included the $45 parking fee, but as we were leaving the attendant tried to charge us for parking. I explained we had purchased the package but when I showed him our bill it wasn’t listed in the details so he insisted we pay for parking again. And stupid me forgot to show the information I printed at home which showed it was a package purchase. So anyway here we are in the streets of Chicago arguing with the parking security over forty-five bucks, but at that point it was the principle of the matter. So finally he gets snippy with us and barks that his manager will deal with us and figure it out later. Like we were some kind of liars trying to jip them out of forty-five dollars. This incident ruined my whole Allerton experience and almost my whole day. I hope he felt like a fool when he figured out we had paid for parking.

I understand Matt and I may look young but it drives me nuts when people treat us like we’re some kind of hooligans or something. Just because we’re young doesn’t mean we’re irresponsible thieves. So needless to say we won’t be returning there.

Overall Chicago was great and Wicked made it all worth it.