OK, not really 45 minutes. It was actually more like 45 hours.
Let me take a step back. My other half spends a lot of time on the road for business and one of my favorite cities that he visits is Chicago. At the last minute, I decided to join him in the windy city for a couple nights of R&R. Because it was a last minute decision, I couldn’t clear my schedule entirely which mean it wasn’t all fun and games. Between conference calls and tying up a few loose ends with work, we were left with Thursday night and Friday afternoon/evening to enjoy the city. Luckily, it was plenty of time for a couple of great meals and a bit of touring. We got lucky with the weather – it was 65 degrees and sunny – so we took advantage and did a fair amount of walking.
Friday afternoon we decided to spend sometime exploring the Lincoln Park neighborhood. I hadn’t been in the neighborhood for in about a decade and it was more charming than I remembered. We had a late lunch at Summer House which was delicious and had an excellent wine list. The bartenders also made a variety of creative cocktails, which is always a selling point in my book.
After a delicious lunch, we explored the boutiques on Armitage and Halstead streets. There were many familiar names, Kiehls, Margaret O’Leary, Paper Source, Warby Parker, Intermix and Marine Layer (just to name a few).
Given its architectural history, it is no surprise that Chicago is a very design-focused city. I found a shop called Interior Define (www.interiordefine.com) that specializes in custom sofas at attainable prices. The product was beautiful and it came in about a million options.
On my next trip I can’t wait to explore Chicago’s design center and some of the other amazing local design spots.
After enjoying a day in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, we headed over to the free zoo to say hello to the lions. Then, we headed south to do a little window shopping on Michigan Avenue (no trip to Chicago is complete without a walk down the “Miracle Mile.”).
Our trip was capped off with a delicious dinner at Maude’s Liquor Bar, a French bistro in the West Loop. The wine list was superb and the food was excellent. There were several other amazing-looking, popular restaurants in this neighborhood and we will definitely make another trip the next time we are in town.
Image courtesy of Google
As it turned out, 45 hours was just enough time to whet our appetite for another trip. It certainly was not enough time to explore the amazing architecture and design that is happening in the city right now. Looks like I’ll have to make another trip soon.
