I have the best time traveling with Tony. He spends time researching our destination city and creating itineraries packed with local flair for us to enjoy. We decided to take our vacation-2- year anniversary celebration to Chicago this year. Tony discovered a walking-food-tasting-architectural tour called "Chicago Food Planet". This tour encompasses some of my favorite activities so I anticipated it would be a pretty great trip, and it surpassed my expectations. I would recommend this tasty way of discovering Chicago to locals or any first-time visitors to the city. Here are some highlights from my camera.
Fresh, spinach deep dish *Rated heart healthy
Fresh, spinach deep dish *Rated heart healthy
My favorite place was Old Town Oil- this unique store sells Extra Virgin Olive Oil and aged Balsamic Vinegar in a variety of exotic flavors. For example, I paired cilantro evoo with white jalapeno balsamic vinegar. Sounds too weird? It was delicious. How about blood orange evoo with 18 year balsamic olive oil- it made the perfect salad dressing on it's own. Or Walnut evoo with red apple balsamic vinegar? Yum!
We also ate some chocolate, tea, pastrami sandwiches on the tour- but I have no photos to prove it. Now, for some architectural highlights. We saw the original Playboy Mansion on State Street, that great street.
Okay- the photo above was from google images- you see Chicago in the summer has stunning manicured flowers, ivy and plants, but my camera did not get the whole image and I wanted you to see the entirety of the house. Our guide informed us that the condo, diagonally to the mansion, had real estate that faced both the lake and the mansion. The properties that faced the mansion were in demand so the old men could watch the bunnies as they sunbathed.
Now I am a sucker for door hardware. This kind {need to know the name/style, it looks very Dorthy Draper to me} is in my top 3.
The ivy in it's full glory
A look through Lincoln park
This made me think how much Buster would like to walk the streets of Chicago with us
Now to Wrigley Field for a game- grab yourself a hot dog while you're there.
We also ate some chocolate, tea, pastrami sandwiches on the tour- but I have no photos to prove it. Now, for some architectural highlights. We saw the original Playboy Mansion on State Street, that great street.
Okay- the photo above was from google images- you see Chicago in the summer has stunning manicured flowers, ivy and plants, but my camera did not get the whole image and I wanted you to see the entirety of the house. Our guide informed us that the condo, diagonally to the mansion, had real estate that faced both the lake and the mansion. The properties that faced the mansion were in demand so the old men could watch the bunnies as they sunbathed.
Now I am a sucker for door hardware. This kind {need to know the name/style, it looks very Dorthy Draper to me} is in my top 3.
The ivy in it's full glory
A look through Lincoln park
This made me think how much Buster would like to walk the streets of Chicago with us
Now to Wrigley Field for a game- grab yourself a hot dog while you're there.
Did you notice the bleachers on top of the row houses? How clever!
A few more pictures to come, but I'll save them for one more post of that great city. I already have an itinerary in my mind of things to do on my next visit.
A few more pictures to come, but I'll save them for one more post of that great city. I already have an itinerary in my mind of things to do on my next visit.
3 comments:
awesome pictures. we're going to chicago in september for u2. i'm afraid we won't be there long enough to do anything but wait in line and lose our hearing at the concert but seeing as we're only 5 hours from this great windy city we will have to check out some of your suggestions. looks great!
It was great to meet you on Friday! I love the Dorothy Draper nod and the ivy covered buildings. Great pictures! Oh, and that pizza looked amazing!
Just found your blog today, and zoned in on the Chicago stuff. Did I spy a pic of Bella Bacino's? It was only a few doors down from our hotel when Aaron and I were on our honeymoon, and we loved it so much, we ate lunch there twice. So yummy, and the wine crate walls in the back room were beautiful!
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