The Bean and the Spitting Faces

  Chicago, Illinois, United States
Sunday, June 28, 2009

Day 30 - Minneapolis, MN to Madison, WI to Chicago, IL

Overslept purposefully this morning. When Bri couldn’t even keep her eyes open after multiple alarms, she allowed us to sleep in. The hotel compensated for its outdated rooms and furniture with the best free breakfast we’ve encountered so far. Bri decided that Midwesterners have their priorities… We had toast, English muffins, yogurt, a banana, a grapefruit (Bri’s favorite), cheese eggs, potatoes, and a variety of condiments for our bread items. There were even waffle and omelet stations, but we passed. Ultimately, we left two hours later than our originally scheduled departure. Oops.

Things we did on the way to Chicago:
-    Christen immediately got grumpy in the car about leaving so late and therefore being forced to skip most of planned Madison stop. She had been looking forward to seeing Madison.
-    Missed the Wisconsin sign. Turned around and went all the way back because we have missed too many signs already.

Welcome to Wisconsin!

-    Bri saw Wisconsin cheese signs and started to talk lovingly about cheese curds. She went on and on and on about cheese curds until she began to drool a little from the corners of her mouth.
-    Stopped at the Cheese Chalet to buy cheese curds. Got to sample cheese in many different forms, such as cheese balls and string cheese.

The Cheese Chalet

-    Bri was delighted with the cheese curd purchase, but sad that they didn’t “squeak”…(??????????) She says, “It’s a cheese curd thing. You’d know if you’d had them.”
-    Christen thought that the cheese curds were way overrated. She didn’t get it. At all.
-    Arrived in Madison over two hours late and found our pre-selected lunch location, Electric Earth.
-    Found the Electric Earth to be delightful. The people were super nice, they were environmentally friendly, and they had slips of paper at the register with words for you to meditate on for the day. Bri drew "transformation". Christen drew “power”. Bwa-hahahahahaha. Bri rolled her eyes.
-    Ordered a delicious smoothie made of mango, strawberry, peach, apple juice, orange juice, and honey. Yum! Also split a veggie sandwich on homemade bread.
-    Tried to drive to the lake to eat our lunch, but there was tons of roadwork and we were, again, short on time. The whole area around the University of Wisconsin seemed to be under construction, but what we saw of the campus was really gorgeous. Ate our lunch in the car while continuing our drive.
-    Freaked out. The drive into Chicago was more stressful than any other inner-city drive so far. Their on-ramps were entirely too short, the people were mean, the traffic was INCREDIBLE, there was roadwork, there were tolls… It was awful.

Things we did in Chicago:
-    Found the Marriott-Medical District and met up with the Robster (aka Robie, Bri’s mother)!
-    Found the Marriott to be very nice. It was definitely a comforter-on, and they had Bath & Body Works toiletries for us.
-    However, there was only one towel in the bathroom. Robie said that she had seen a maid down the hall when we came in, so Christen went to check it out. Christen saw the cart but didn’t see a maid, so she grabbed two towels and took off, flip-flopping down the hall. She didn’t start running until she heard a maid yelling, “La toalla! La toalla!” Bri was not amused when Christen ran into the room and shut the door, out of breath. She tried to go apologize to the maid, but Christen wouldn’t let her out.
-    Yet again, we encountered Internet problems in the supposed “nice” hotel. Although there was no charge this time, we couldn’t get it to work. After three calls to the main desk, we were redirected to the actual Internet provider, who did resolve our issues.
-    Our lovely friend, Maggie, who lives in Chicago, suggested Giordano’s deep dish Chicago pizza for dinner. Christen was thrilled, because this was exactly what she had in our book as our pre-selected dinner spot.
-    The Chicago El professional, Robie, guided us to the stop where we were to meet Maggie. That Robie, all she needs is a ride from the airport to the hotel on the El, and she’s got it mastered.
-    Met Maggie’s boyfriend, the delightful Dan. He’s a hugger, and we decided that he is definitely a keeper! We all three give him a 10+!
-    The wait for Giordano’s was 45 minutes. We were very upset until Maggie informed us that we could pre-order our pizza, and it would be ready for us when we got a table. Who knew it took 45 minutes for a deep dish pizza to cook??
-    Robie asked Maggie and Dan where Fisherman’s Wharf is located, as this was where she stayed the last time she was in Chicago. This truly stumped all of us, especially Maggie and Dan, the Chicago natives.

Deep Dish Chicago Pizza at Giordano's

-    Had a spinach and cheese pie. Delicious! Even Christen, the big eater that she is, couldn’t eat more than a piece and a half. That stuff was like a brick!
-    While discussing tomorrow’s plans, Christen stated that we would NOT be visiting the tourist trap known as Navy Pier. It was at that point that Robie exclaimed, “OH! Navy Pier! Not Fisherman’s Wharf!” We all had a very good laugh.

The Bean

-    Maggie and Dan played tour guides and took us to Millennium Park to see the “the Bean” (officially named “Cloud Gate”, but we like to call it “the Bean” like everyone else). Our tour guides showed us all around, explaining the crazy art and sculptures of Millennium Park and pointing out sights in the night skyline around us. We really liked the spitting faces fountain. It consists of two digital screens, each a few stories tall, which face each other. Real people’s faces show on the screens. They smile at you, and then when you least expect it, they spit water into a pool between them. SO WEIRD. But we loved it. (Make sure you watch the video above!)
-    Passed a few sculptures on loan from China. Bri, our own expert on China, jokingly began giving us her own on-the-spot explanation of one sculpture. This prompted people to eavesdrop, as if she really knew what she was talking about. One eavesdropping teenager was listening so intently that Christen started stating very loudly that Bri did not know what she was talking about, yet this did not prevent the teen from running and telling her entire family exactly what Bri said about the sculpture, word for word. As we passed by, we heard her saying very seriously, “and the pig represents prosperity…”
-    Determined that Chicago is stunning at night. Christen fell in love with the Wrigley building, named after the Wrigley who invented her favorite gum (Wrigley’s Extra Spearmint). Dan informed us that this is actually how Wrigley Field got its name as well. Very interesting! We had no idea!
-    When traveling back to our hotel, we realized that our train’s line must end in a not-so-rosy-locale. Our company was a bit sketchy, but our stop was just fine. We must have been the last stop that was not questionable.
-    Saw a cotton-tailed bunny hopping in the middle of the city during our walk to the hotel from the El station. We are still scratching our heads on that one.
-    Fell asleep very quickly. We were worn out!