Long Story Short

Things I learned in Chicago


Someone from a town with a population under 200 can get lost within two blocks of downtown Chicago.

You don't get change if you put a $20 into a public transit ticket machine.

What you thought was an underground redline can suddenly turn into the L train.

Stores are open after 8pm.

Hotels double as night clubs.

People really do wear high heels everywhere- and walk miles in them every day as far as I can tell.

There is a trend for women to wear knee-high high-heeled brown toned boots on the outside of jeans. 

You can get deep dish pizza at any hour- don't make the mistake of ordering a big pizza if it's for two people. 

Pizzeria Uno is the coolest place to eat deep dish pizza, as long as John Diaz is your server- he's awesome!  And you can purchase their deep dish pans to take home and attempt your own pizza.  We bought two sizes- yes we were that impressed with their pizza and service!

Giordano's pizza has more cheese than Uno on their deep dish pie, but they call it 'stuffed' even though technically there is no second crust layer (I looked up what a stuffed deep dish should be and it should have a second crust with cheese or something 'stuffed' in it).

Most of the people are friendly.  But I didn't talk to everyone so I can't vouch for the entire population, and was told by a questionably attired man blocking an intersection that he was 'not a hood-e-lem' even though I didn't ask him if he was or not.  I just assumed he was telling the truth on that impromptu information and continued on my way.

Protests are difficult to hear.  We walked right past a protest in front of the Chicago Tribune and it took us ten minutes to try to figure out what the group was chanting before we decided to move on- still only figured out the first half of the chant and context helped 'tell the truth.......(something something)" is what we think they were shouting at the building.

The local news is worth watching when you visit a different town.  We learned of crazed nude demonstrations on the trains, a family who conducted an impromptu dance on top of their SUV in an intersection downtown, and the cast of Chicago Fire came to honor the real fire department of Chicago. 

Al's Italian Beef is way better than Portillo's.  I've heard there is a debate regarding the two sandwich shops, but based on flavor, atmosphere, homemade ingredients, and quality of product- Al's has Portillo's beat by a landslide.  Not to mention Portillo's is like eating at a circus while being herded like cattle and listening to a girl holler out order numbers. 

Gloves are not a suggestion in November- even if there's no snow wear gloves.

The wind is serious.

Staying on the 35th floor of a hotel is amazing.  I swear I could feel the building swaying in the wind.

Rain does not ruin an Architecture River Tour. 

I was too distracted with city sights to actually work on editing anything.