Sunday, May 08, 2011

Mags and Brie Take Chicago!



This weekend my good friends from college, Mags and Brie, came to visit us in Chicago. Margaret was originally supposed to come back in February, but rescheduled for May (and what we thought would be a nicer weekend-weather wise). Friday night we just hung out at the apartment and caught up.

Saturday we woke up early to head to our first destination, Hot Doug's. Our friend Kedar also drove down to join us for the day. Typically we wouldn't be eating encased meats for breakfast but 1) Hot Doug's had limited hours, 2) The later in the day you go, the longer the line, and 3) We had to go early to get to our other planned events. We got to meet Doug himself and he didn't even flinch when Brie ordered a Vegetarian Dog. Of course there was a line (even at 10:00 in the morning, a half hour before they opened), but we made some friends in line and the food was well worth the wait. They had quite the selection of specialty sausages!!With grease filled bellies we walked to the train station and made it downtown and to Navy Pier in enough time for what we thought would be a peaceful, relaxing, arhitectural boat tour (like the one Tom and I took a few years ago when we came to visit Chicago with friends). Wrong. I bought the tickets through Groupon a month or so ago and figured that all architectural boat tours were pretty much the same. Wrong again. We were on a "speed boat" that decided to take us on not one but TWO speeding adventures up and down Lake Michigan in 55 degree rainy weather before heading to the river for the architecture tour. And our tourguide was one of those kids that tried real hard to be funny, but was just bad. We bundled up and went along for the ride and were just thankful to grab some hot chocolate as soon as we got off the boat!We had originally planned to check out a Polish Festival that was going on in Millenium Park, but it was misting and FREEZING and we all decided we should head somewhere indoors for a little bit. So what better thing to do then go enjoy some deep dish pizza?! We decided on the Original Pizzeria UNO, because Tom and I have recently had Lou Malnati's and Gino's East, plus we couldn't really remember what Pizzeria UNO tasted like...because the last time we were there we were enjoying quite a few pre-dinner drinks with friends while we waited for a table. After stuffing ourselves again, we tried to walk around on Michigan Ave, but again, it was just too cold and rainy, so we headed back to the apartment. Our friend Jess came over and we spent Saturday night reminiscing and laughing until we practically cried (let's just say we're thankful that we didn't have digital cameras and facebook when we were in college). Sunday morning we went to Bakin' and Eggs for breakfast. There are seriously so many brunch places in Chicago! And so far they all seem to be really, really good! Bailey loved having her new friends here, and it was so great to catch up with them again!

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