I officially found my favorite U.S. city. Chicago. Hands down.

Not so stuck up as New York. Not so laid back as Seattle. Just perfectly in the middle. Granted, I was only there for 2 days, but you can tell a lot in 2 days.

It was a great quick trip.

Friday morning, we boarded our super super cheap Spirit Airlines flight hoping everything would go as planned. Alas, it did. No delays. No extra fees. No lost baggage. I’d say it went quite well.

We got on the blue line on the ‘L’ from the airport, which goes SUPER SUPER SUPER close to buildings (like a foot away in some places!!!), and I enjoyed the scenery.

Our incredible hotel (we got a SWEET deal on Hotwire) let us check in super early. We rested and headed out to enjoy the city!

The weather wasn’t bad… only around 32/33 degrees. But it felt extra cold when the wind blew…

Before we left, I said to Dyllan something along the lines of, “Sooo, we’re gonna freeze to death, right?”

And she goes, “Well, actually, I’m from north China, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine.”

After the first day in Chicago, she says, “Ok, so maybe I’m ready to be back in Houston… It’s cold.”

Haha. Ohhh cold weather. Actually, I mostly liked it… reminded me of Russia and how I loved the cold there….. that is, until we got to Detroit… but that’s another story…

So, anyway, first stop, Chicago deep dish pizza and Malnati’s. DELICIOUS.

After life-changing pizza and a delicious 312 Chicago beer, we made our way towards Millennium Park… where they have the famous giant “bean” thing… Probably more correctly known as the “Cloud Gate”?

Unfortunately, with the dark came cold. And my poor Texas shoes weren’t keeping my toes so warm.

So we headed to find coffee. And we found it. The best in Chicago. And maybe the best in the world. Intellegentsia. I forgot to get a picture. But it was awesome. I don’t usually drink black coffee, but this was so good, I finished nearly the whole thing. (I usually have about 1/4 of a cup and feel done).

While we were warming our toes over mouth-watering coffee, my cousin John met up with us. He gave us a quick evening tour around the nearby area.

Next, we headed to dinner. At a diner. With fresh squeezed orange juice from a ridiculous orange juice squeezing machine…

I made sure to order a Chicago style hot dog. It was good. But not life-changing like the pizza.

After dinner, we hit the theater… Improv theater. John’s been working in Chicago, but also taking improv classes just for the heck of it… So he found us what he claimed to be the best improv theater in Chicago. I forgot the name. But apparently a lot of celebs got their start here… like a majority of SNL folk. So that’s fun.

So the show we went to see was improv Shakespeare. Basically, the audience suggests a title, and 4 guys improv an entire Shakespearian play from it. When a girl shouted out “Boobs” for the title, we all sorta groaned. I was expecting crude and lame. But those guys did an EXCELLENT job forming a legit storyline with just the perfect amount of humor and crazy and tragedy. And naturally the Shakespearean style made for some funny analogies and sonnets and beat-around-the-bush-isms. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening there. I’d watch another again for sure when I visit again some day…

On the way out, we stopped to take pictures by Wrigley Field (the theater was like 10 steps away)

The next morning, Di and I got up and had breakfast in Logan Park at a super small but cool restaurant in an old hotel. It’s one of those obscure hole in the wall places that you’d never find unless it was recommended to you. Luckily, we had a recommendation. And it was delicious.

Something that struck me as a bit odd was that it seems like everyone around Chicago starts drinking REALLY early in the morning. Not in a “I’m a drunk” kind of way, just in a “it’s normal to have a drink with breakfast” kind of way. Which was still a little new for me. I almost ordered a mimosa to fit in, but then I thought to myself, “but it’s 10 in the morning!?!” And I drank water instead 😛

Afterwards, we explored the area a bit… Also, did I mention that Chicago has a TON of very cute guys! Especially the guy who served our breakfast… he was a looker for sure! Maybe I’ll decide to go to grad school there and find “love”. Haha. I’m halfway kidding.

Next stop, Wicker Park.

According to one source, it’s where the coolest people in Chicago hang out. According to another source, it’s where the weirdest people in Chicago hang out.

It was a Saturday, so I’m sure we got a fair mixture of both.

We walked around just a bit and stopped into one of the strange stores. This particular one said “5 cents sale” on the window. Naturally, we were really curious.

It was a shoe store. A couple of funny things happened in this shoe store.

What they didn’t tell you until you came inside was that the 5 cent sale was if you buy one pair of shoes at normal price, you get another pair for 5 cents. What they didn’t tell you even after you came inside was that a normal price for shoes was $200-300. YIKES.

I tried to politely hide my surprise when I saw a few price tags because the guy helping us was really excited about “helping us shop”.

He asked what size I was and I told him. He goes to the section with my shoe size and flamboyantly pulls out a boot that goes all the way up to mid-thigh. He excitedly told me how he would wear this boot if it fit him and how it’s the best one they have. He said I could wear it with a super short skirt and look really sexy… Number one, I don’t ever wear boots, and if I do, they’re no where near that high. Number two, I don’t generally  ever go for the mini skirt look. Number three, I never spend $300 on shoes much less 50. I laughed and said, “Here’s the thing, I’m actually from Texas, so I’d have no use for that.”

Finally we managed to get out of there and met up with John.

He was taking us on a long walk to a peninsula that juts a little ways into Lake Michigan with a great view of the city.

On the way, we passed some crazy Polish sculptures tha tlook like headless guys wandering around…

After our peninsula trek, we had a snack and went on a walk along the Chicago River and the Magic Mile… Wait, I think it’s the Magnificent Mile… There’s a lot of shopping and famous buildings…

Oh, and did I mention that Chicago has the tiniest subway escalators ever? So funny.

Last, but not least, we took a quick stroll around Linkin Park. And then John took us to his neck of the woods to grab dinner at a super authentic Russian restaurant. Really, it was Central Asian, but the food was legit russian and 75% of the people there were speaking Russian. It was awesome.

I had блинчики blinchiki (tiny crepe-like pancake) and вареники vareniki (pictured above). It was delicious. They also had borsch and pelmeni on the menu. So that was exciting.

After dinner, we meant to go to a bar for a drink, but somehow we ended up chatting in McDonald’s instead. Go figure. 😛

Meanwhile, throughout our conversation, there’s a guy at a table near us who I kept noticing… He had several jackets strewn about his bench. He didn’t look terribly dirty, but he didn’t look terribly clean either. I was trying to figure out what his story when I noticed he was sucking on condiments. Ketchup, honey, mustard, relish, ranch. The whole time we were there, he was just suckin that stuff down. I saw that he also had a cup of tea with him. I was pretty confused about the whole thing. But I felt bad for him. I mean, something isn’t quite right if you’re just sucking on condiment packages.

As we left, I said to him, “Would you like some real food?”

He said, “What do you mean?”

And I said, “Well, I noticed you were just sucking on condiments there… Would you like a burger or something to eat?”

He looked at me silently for a second. He sure looked like he could use a burger. And he said, “Welllll…. No, you’re a young girl, I don’t want to take your money.”

And I said, “Well, if you’re hungry, I would love to buy you something.”

He agreed. I asked if there was anything in particular that he wanted and he said sorta quietly, “Well, I guess a chicken burger.”

I hope I got the right kind, cuz that McDonald’s menu had like at least 5 different kinds of chicken burgers.

The whole thing was super weird. Even as I stood in line to buy his food, I felt really weird. What if he doesn’t need it? What if he’s just crazy? What if he just sits in McDonald’s until someone buys him something? What if he’s on some bizarro diet of just condiments for dinner? What if he’s high and craving weird stuff?

But then I thought to myself, anyone who’s just sucking on condiments, could probably use a burger, regardless of other issues.

So, I gave a guy a chicken burger. And it was weird. But then I checked my phone and I have this random verse of the day thing (that I used to scoff at, but it’s actually become a huge encouragement) that said …

“³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

– Matthew 25:35-40

And then I didn’t feel weird any more. I wished I could buy a burger for everyone on the streets (and buses/subway) of Chicago.

And we headed back to our incredible hotel for our last night’s sleep. We had an early Amtrak train to Ann Arbor in the morning…

To be continued…..