Yup, you guessed it, I didn't make it to my 10am workshop...way too tired. I did make it to a workshop at 1:30pm; however, the speaker didn't show up so I had to rush to my second choice workshop as it was way across the conference center. This was followed by one more workshop at 2:45pm...then the conference was over! I met up with Rita and Tammy and grabbed a taxi to head to
Gino's East for dinner, known for their deep dish pizzas and graffiti-laden surroundings. It was 5:30pm and there was a line outside, but we only waited about 15 minutes before being seated. We ordered a pizza with half "four cheese" and half "cheese and spinach". Boy was it cheesy! I could only eat about a slice and a half of it. It was very delish.
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| deep dish, nom nom |
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| of course we must top a super cheesy pizza with more cheese |
Afterwards, we headed to a bar that was recommended by Rita's friend, called the
Watershed. The taxi driver who took us in that direction was crazy...he drove too fast and missed a turn he needed to take, then drove like a maniac to get back on track, almost running over a woman crossing the street. Tammy had already told the driver to slow down, but once he almost hit that woman, we all screamed at him to stop the car. Rita threw a $10 bill into the front seat and we jumped out as he peeled away. I hadn't had a taxi ride like that ever, not even in other countries where you may expect that kind of driving!
We walked over to Watershed, located under a champagne bar so it was a bit hard to find. There was a line...since we were still pretty full from pizza and there wasn't any live music, we decided to go find a piano bar. I found one on Google Maps, but when we got there, it looked a bit seedy, so we kept walking and found a club to check out. It ended up not being that interesting as the dance floor was super small, plus we weren't really dressed to be at a club, so we left.
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| we passed by a Weber Grill restaurant, how odd |
We ended up walking to
Navy Pier to look for the spiked ice cream that we didn't get the other night. There wasn't any, but there were alcoholic coffee drinks, so Rita and Tammy got some, and I got a hot chocolate. We found a table outside to sit down and enjoy our warm drinks in the cold night...it happened to be located in the perfect spot to experience the Saturday night fireworks. If you wanted, you could purchase tickets on a boat that went out into the harbor for a grander view.
Navy Pier was also home to the
Smith Museum, exhibiting stained glass windows. They were very beautiful, including some pieces from
Louis Comfort Tiffany.
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| isn't there a window tint like this at Home Depot? |
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| someone had a bad dream |
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| perfect for the holidays |
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| Tiffany piece |
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| another Tiffany, the colors are gorgeous |
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| another Tiffany, the detail is really nice |
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| a lot of work! |
At the end of the night, we took a taxi back to the Hyatt and called it a night. On the way back to the hotel, we passed by the "Occupy Chicago" group camped out at
Millennium Park. There were a lot of police surrounding the area. I now know that the silver coffee bean (aka
Cloud Gate) is in this park...I saw it in the movie "
Source Code".
We woke up the next morning to check out of the hotel and grabbed a little bit of breakfast at the hotel cafe before taking a taxi to the
Willis Tower (used to be the Sears Tower) to do the touristy thing and experience the
Sky Deck, located on the 103rd floor of the building with glass ledges that hang out over the street. People who are afraid of heights may not like the idea! We got there about half an hour after it opened, and it was a good idea, as the lines got really long when we left over an hour later. My ears popped twice on the elevator. I tried not to think about if the elevator cable would snap, especially when the car would sway from side to side.
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| Willis Tower |
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| nickname |
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| spectacular views from the 103rd floor |
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| skyscrapers galore |
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| proof we were there |
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| there were four ledges you could walk out on |
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| is this freaky? |
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| I know I'm not going to fall |
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| hanging out on the ledge |
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| this machine stunk so bad |
Shopping was on our list, so we took a taxi back to the Magnificent Mile to peruse stores like Forever 21, H&M, and Zara. All three of us were able to find some nice apparel to take home in the limited amount of time we had. Lunch was at a cafeteria-like restaurant called "
foodlife" located at
Water Tower Place, which happened to be the seven story shopping mall I had gone to many years ago with my guyfriends! (we had crammed into the glass elevator and took it straight from the 7th floor to ground floor, screaming all the way down)
We took a taxi back to the Hyatt, grabbed our suitcases from the bell desk, then Rita and Tammy left for the airport. My flight wasn't for another three hours, so I just relaxed in the hotel lounge area until it was time to go. My taxi was a Prius and had a very nice driver. He told me interesting information about the Prius taxis, such as how they're only given to drivers with clean driving records. So if you're looking for a safe taxi, hail a Prius! He also commented on how shiny my hair was when the sun hit it, that it looked like a Pantene commercial. Yup, he got a big tip. :)
I didn't get upgraded on the way back, but I wasn't surprised. I was but a lowly Premier Executive catching a Sunday night flight at United's home hub. Too many business people take the Sunday night flights to get where they want to go before the work week starts. I had an aisle exit row seat anyway, which was comfortable in its own right, but as I was so tired, I had wished I booked a window seat to rest my head. Then things start to unfold: the lady at the window seat asked me if I would be willing to swap seats with her husband who's sitting in the aisle seat kitty corner to us, but in regular economy class, not Economy Plus. I refused, saying it was not Economy Plus, otherwise I would. The lady was a bit miffed to know it was regular economy as her husband swapped his original seat (the middle seat of the exit row) to the aisle seat as the gate agent said that it was in Economy Plus, which was clearly untrue. The lady told me that she was a 1K member, so I told her that she should talk to someone right away to get the middle seat back for him. She disappeared to talk to someone and then came back, telling the husband to return to the exit row. He took the window and she took the middle. She asked him if he was okay with the window, so at that point, I offered to give him my aisle seat as that was a win-win swap. He was happy and I was happy. Then to top it off, an agent came to the exit row and asked for the lady, saying that she got upgraded. The lady gave the first class seat to her husband and she moved to the aisle. Unfortunately, the middle didn't stay empty for long as a gentleman ended up sitting there, who kept intruding into my space with his crossed leg and reading newspapers with his arms wide open, ugh. Oh well, gotta take the bad with the good...overall, I've done really well with the complimentary upgrades.
Next blog entry will be about my impromptu trip to Penn State to watch a football game between the Fighting Illini at Nittany Lions amidst a freak snowstorm, how fun! :P
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