48 Hours in Chicago

Walking along Michigan Avenue in the beautiful 75 degree summer weather was my favorite part of the trip. There are people everywhere, gorgeous skylines, and shopping/restaurants galore.

Oak Street Beach along Lake Michigan is a great place to catch a few rays & people watch on a beach in the shadow of skyscrapers. Quite a unique experience.

Seeing Madonna @ United Center was the highlight of our trip. She's awesome in concert, and don't miss a chance to see her.

The Chicago Marshall Field's is famous for their Frango chocolate Mints. A great gift for any chocolate lover. (Some hotels in the area put them on your pillow every night!)

Chicago is world famous for their deep dish pizza. Don't miss it. We loved Giordiano's, but I hear Lou Malnati's is the best.

Art museums! We would have loved to visit them all, but we only had time for one. The Art Institute was perfect. Pay the extra for the special exhibit. Well worth it.

Quick Tips:

It goes without saying that you need to see Chicago from a skyscraper. The 2 big ones are Sears Tower & Hancock Tower. Sears Tower is much more commercialized, and there's usually a 45 minute (or more) wait during tourist season. Pick one to visit. I felt going to both was unnecessary. (P.S. Most tourist shops around town have "buy 2, get 1" coupons for Sears Tower.)

Food at nicer restaurants can be pretty expensive in Chicago. Be prepared to pay separately for sides with your steaks at area steakhouses.

Be prepared for all the HONKING. Chicago people honk more than anywhere I've ever been! It's startling if you're not used to it.

Best Way To Get Around:

This is the easiest city to get a cab in that I've ever been to. They are everywhere, and prices are reasonable. We never felt we got overcharged. It's about to get from O'Hare to downtown Chicago.

Traffic in the city didn't seem too bad, but I-55 seemed to be crowded at all times of the day, east and west.

The "L" (for "elevated") trains run all over town, and I hear they have an excellent bus system, but we never got a chance to ride either of them.

I loved this hotel. A beautiful modern lobby, a nice room, great overall service, a small Starbucks in the lobby, awesome location, and a great award-winning restaurant/bar (Grill on the Alley - this place was still hopping until the wee hours of the morning).

The Westin is located right in the heart of Chicago. Facing Magnificient Mile, it's down the street from Oak Street Beach, a few blocks from Rush & Division (great restaurants & nightlife), and across the street from Hancock Tower & Water Tower Place. Anywhere else in the city you may want to go is only a few dollars cab ride away!

As for the room, the Heavenly Beds & Baths program lives up to its name. The beds were covered in luxurious white pillows & duvets, and the complimentary shampoo, etc. did indeed smell heavenly. The room was average-sized, but the amenities were all first class - Sony Playstation, mini-bar, daily newspaper delivery, High Speed Internet ($13/day), and turn down service (with Frango mints!) every night.

We got our room for $125/night through their website. If you find a rate lower than their website, they will match it - 10%, so shop around!

A tip: Before you go, become a member of the Starwood Preferred Guest program. You get priority service at the front desk, and possibly a room upgrade.

Giordano's is a chain of pizza restaurants located all over Chicago. Prior to visiting Chicago, I had checked out the top pizza places near our hotel. Giordano's was in the top three on citysearch. We were not disappointed.

Visiting this particular location in the middle of a Saturday afternoon, we were greeted by a 30-minute wait. However, during the wait, we were able to:
- Go to the bar and order our drinks.
- Order our pizzas (only) at the counter. Since the "Famous Deep Dish Stuffed Pizzas" take 35-45 minutes to cook, we'd be waiting anyway!

The interior of the split-level restaurant is casual and family-oriented. Not only did the restaurant offer their famous pizzas (their thin-crust pizza is supposed to be excellent too), but an array of pastas, sandwiches, appetizers, and salads as well.

Once we were seated, a waiter came to take the rest of our order (a friend ordered a sandwich), and then our individual stuffed pizzas ($4.95 each + 50 cents for each additional topping) came out with the sandwich a few minutes later. The individual stuffed pizzas are a great deal, especially in a group of different tastes; however, they are only available during lunch hours (11-3).

The individual pizzas looked too big to finish, but all three of us finished every bite of ours - they were that good! Each stuffed pizza is about an inch thick, with lots of gooey mozzarella cheese and whatever ingredients you specified inside. There is a thin coating of marinara on the top of the pizza, but the cheese is definitely the main ingredient. I ordered pineapple and Canadian bacon (which came sliced, not cubed - the way I like it). The pizza seemed to get better and better with every bite.

Overall, excellent pizza. I can't imagine there being any better pizza in Chicago. And, if you want to Mail Order one to try it out - you can do that on their website!

The Signature Room is a restaurant and lounge/bar on the 95th (restaurant)/96th (lounge) floors of the Hancock Building. Now, the Hancock Observatory is on the 94th floor. You do the math.

To get to the Hancock Observatory, you will pay $9.75 for adults, $7.75 for seniors 62+, $6 for kids 5 to 12, and free for kids 4 and under. To get into the Signature Room Lounge - it's FREE (with a one drink minimum).

We arrived around two on a Saturday, and found the long line to go to the Signature Room Lounge (separate elevator and waiting area than the observatory), but it only took about 20 minutes to get on the elevator. The elevator was nonstop and took less than a minute to get to the top. [Note: If you are going to eat at the Signature Room Grille, you have priority and can skip to the front of the line]

Once you are in the lounge, you are overlooking the grille below, and the view of Chicago through the windows is breathtaking.

Since it was Saturday afternoon, the lounge was fairly crowded, and we were seated in the middle, away from the windows (I saw one guy slip a waiter some cash to get a seat by the windows).

With the one drink minimum, you will need to buy a drink - a soft drink is $5, beer is $6.50, champagne is $9, and specialty martinis and drinks are $10-12. We each ordered a specialty martini, which was very yummy, but small.

With our table in the middle of the room, we could see out the windows, but only towards one side of the building - not really well enough to take any decent pictures. We got up and looked out the window, but I kind of felt I was invading other people's space.

After finishing our drinks, we decided to walk around, and found the other side of the Signature Room (through the hallway)! This is where you should go!! There was much more space with tables and a large bar in the middle. You could easily walk around, and the people were very friendly about letting you get close to the windows (which there were a lot more of - with three sides of the building to look out of). The atmosphere was much more casual and it was really sunny. Much better!

Also, the Hancock Observatory (94th floor) is only open (daily) from 9am to 11pm, whereas the Signature Room Lounge (96th floor) is open Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 4pm to 12am and Friday to Sat 4pm to 1am.