This road game happened to be in the great city of Chicago! My first time visiting the Windy City was not a disappointment, despite the Sharks' OT loss.
My flight out of San Jose was at 7:30am on Sunday. And it was pretty ok. It's not a short flight out to Chicago...like 4 hours. But luckily for this flight, I had an aisle seat...and, the two seats next to me went unfilled. So I had plenty of room. We got into O'Hare about 20 minutes early, which was nice. My first impressions of O'Hare were that a) its huge, and b) it would suck to have a short connection there. Its hella busy. I mean, it was busy mid day on a Sunday. I can't even imagine peak flying times. But for me, it was just another airport, as I followed the signs to ground transportation, and then caught a cab into Downtown.
I got us a room on Hotwire at the Palmer House Hilton hotel. It was pretty cheap, but rated as a 4 star, so I figured it would be ok. OK ended up being a huge understatement. This was a hugely classy hotel. It screamed high class. I almost felt out of place. But then I remembered I'm Q, and all was good. Anyways, since I had requested two beds, and they didn't have any availiable in the regular rooms, they upgraded me to a room on the Executive Floor. Oooo, I know! Anyways, the room was epic. Two queen beds and a couch that folded out into another bed; a desk/workspace for business; a lounge chair; a TV; and 2, yes two, bathrooms. Insanity. Here, look for yourself:
Anyways, Brandon and Dustin caught up with me soon after I checked in (they were coming from watching the Sharks in St. Louis). So we got our stuff into the room, changed into our Sharks jerseys, and went out in search of authentic Deep Dish Pizza!
Chicago, of course, is famous, among other things, for its deep dish pizza. So we headed over to the famous Pizzeria Uno for lunner. And, I have to say, the deep dish is no joke. Those things are HUGE! The three of us split a large pizza. A large had 8 slices. And we could not finish it. I'm not proud of this fact, but man, we were all stuffed! And it was delicious. Here is the fallen soldier:
After the pizza, we walked it off by wandering down the Magnificent Mile for a bit, then caught a cab out to the United Center for Sharks v. Blackhawks, and Jeremy Roenick Heritage Night!
First impressions of the United Center is that it is huge! They have three levels of seating, and standing at the bottom (where we went to watch warmups) its an impressive sight.
After warmups we trekked up to our seats, which you could see in that previous photo. We were under the M in Welcome, second to last row up top. Even though we were way up there, it wasn't a terrible view.
Anyways, a few things about watching a game in Chicago. First, their pregame pales in comparison to San Jose's. Our fans are much more boisterous when welcoming our team during introductions. Also, we have Metallica, they did not. But, their Star Spangled Banner is quite the event. In what is apparently a Chicago tradition, the fans cheer throughout the entire national anthem. The singer had quite the impressive tenor voice, which leant itself very nicely to all the cheering. It was a festive atmosphere for the national anthem, much more than it was for the introduction of the home team.
This was also, as I mentioned, Jeremy Roenick Heritage night. JR came out and was honored and dropped the ceremonial first puck. And throughout the night there were video tributes and highlights from his career. So that was pretty cool. We also happened to be right below Dan Rusanowsky and Jamie Baker calling the game for the Sharks home radio broadcast. We chatted with them briefly during the first intermission, so that was a nice surprise too!
The game was fun, close, tense...and then a disappointment when the Sharks lost in OT. It is definately a different experience being at a road game. I mean, when the Sharks scored, it was silent, except for the three of us jumping up and cheering. And, of course, when Chicago scored, the place erupted. Chicago's goal song was pretty annoying..probably because we heard it too many times. It's the chorus of "Chelsea Dagger." Look it up. Anyways, after the game, we caught a cab back to the hotel, changed out of our teal, and headed over to the Tilted Kilt, a bar down the street from the hotel. Dustin was meeting a friend who lives in Chicago, and Brandon and I felt like drinking.
First, the Tilted Kilt is an interesting bar. Its styled like an Irish Pub, but it employs hot chicks dressed like very skanky school chicks. The two didn't seem to relate to one another, not that I was complaining. Anyways, interestingly enough, this bar on this particular evening happened to be the host to some brand new bandwagon New England Patriots fans watching the 4th quarter of the Sunday Night game. How did I know they were bandwagon fans? Every single one of them had a Tom Brady jersey (which is sign one of a bandwagon fan), and every single jersey looked like it had never been worn before (sign two). But they were drunk and screaming in jubilation every time Tom Brady completed a pass, or looked at the camera, or, you know, existed. So that was pretty annoying and could not stand.
I had a few drinks, and started cheering for the Colts. This worked out well, since, as you probably know, the Colts battled back from 13 down to win in the final seconds. As the final TD was caught, i lept to my feet in to cheer, and the Pats fans were silent, and left with their tails between their legs. Dustin's friend Jackie instantly endeared herself to me by saying "I love when the Patriots lose because then you get to see the Belichick frown." Ah, I love it too. It made me feel better about the Sharks losing that night.
After the bar, we went to the hotel and went to sleep.
Monday morning we got to sleep in a bit, since apparently nothing in Chicago for tourists opens until 10. So we got up around 9, showered, went and got breakfast in the Executive Lounge, and checked out of the hotel. We dropped our bags at the bell desk, and started the 5 block walk up to the Willis Tower. Yes, the Sears Tower is now the Willis Tower.
The Willis Tower is 1450 ft. tall, and was the tallest building in the world until 1998. It is now the 5th tallest building in the world, which is still pretty tall. See:
Yeah, its up there. The elevator to get up to the skydeck on Floor 103 takes just about 1 minute, travelling at about 22 mph. At the top, on a clear day, you can see into four states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin). Now, it was not a clear day when we were there. There were clouds above us (well above us, visibility was ok, just wasn't sunny), so it was tough to tell what was what. But I'm pretty sure I could see into Wisconsin and Indiana...not sure about whether the land I saw in the distance was Michigan or not, but I'll pretend it was! Anyways, its an amazing view, especially of the city. It's a must do for Chicago first-timers.
Here's Soldier Field from the top:
Grant Park and Lake Michigan:
Across Downtown towards the John Hancock Center:
On the final side of the skydeck is the glass bottomed ledge! Basically its just an enclosed glass (or plexiglass or whatever) ledge that hangs out past the edge of the building and looks straight down 1400 ft. to the street. Its pretty intense. Here's me standing out over the edge:
Also, apparently I'm on YouTube!
Yeah, the glass bottomed ledge was pretty wicked. After the Willis tower, we walked back North and went to the Art Institute of Chicago.
This has to be the best museum I've ever been to. And we only had time for some of it! We did the impressionism and the American Art wings. I'll just post pictures of some of the more famous paintings I saw.
A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat:
Self-Portrait by Vincent VanGogh:
Stacks of Wheat (part of a series) by Claude Monet:
Nighthawks by Edward Hopper:
American Gothic by Grant Wood:
Simply amazing. I'll need to go back to Chicago just to see the rest of the museum. After the Art Institute, we went out to explore Milennium Park, and wandered out to the edge of Lake Michigan. Both provided some awesome views of the skyline.
After that, we went back to the hotel, grabbed our bags, and then grabbed a cab to O'Hare. We were early, it wasn't too crowded yet so we breezed through security, grabbed a bite to eat at Chili's, and then flew home.
All in all, Chicago is an awesome city. I mean, just look at all I was able to do in one and a half days! I really wanna go spend a few days out there this summer. Anyways, keep an eye on my facebook for even more pictures, and if you are ever thinking of heading out to Chicago, I definately recommend it!
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