Sunday 10/19/08

Chi-Town

It is a glorious morning in downtown Chicago. John pops into the corner bakery next door and grabs some really good coffee and a couple bagels for breakfast while Mary becomes beautiful. We spend the morning just wandering through parks and then up the Miracle Mile past all the big stores. The Vikes are in town today for a noon start against the Bears and most of the folks we see are wearing number 54 Jerseys and heading for Soldier Field. We keep a low profile.

Just before noon we think we should find a place for lunch with a TV, so stop at the Weber Grille on State Street and grab a table in the bar. Apparently Mr. Weber of the grill fame was a Chicago fellow and this place cooks on commercial style Weber grills in an open kitchen. John has a BBQ beef brisket sandwich and Mary has a nice black bean soup and we both hit the bloody Mary bar for a little Sunday treat. The bloody bar has chucks of grilled sausage and smoked cheese so Mary supplements her soup with a snack. We watch the first quarter of a back and forth game, maintaining our low profile.

After a little break and the rest of the first half in our room we head down Monroe Street to catch the afternoon matinee of Jersey Boys. We’ve heard good things and grabbed a couple of great seats (8th row center aisle) from the box office Saturday night. The play is terrific with great music and solid performances and there is a rousing standing ovation at the end. Very fun!

Back to our room to catch the scores (stupid Vikings) and some quiet time. John thinks he is coming down with something so we stay close for dinner at the Italian Village. This is old school Chicago Italian. John gets a plate of sausages smothered in onions, peppers and red sauce with a side of mostaccioli, and Mary gets the Italian Sausage sandwich with the same sort of stuff on it. These are huge servings and neither of us can finish everything. We stumble back to our hotel for more baseball, football and early snoozing.