Chicago Adventure: Navigating the Big City

Navigating a big city in itself can be a grand adventure, and our first tag-along on Tom's annual MBAA International Conference was just that.

Since Tom had stayed at the hotel several times before, we relied on him to get us from Chicago O'Hare to downtown Chicago, er, The Loop. We took the L, boarding an empty train car that filled to capacity with morning commuters on the 45-minute ride.

We exited the Monroe Blue Line station on Dearborn Street, momentarily turned around, until a fellow passenger pointed us around the corner and in the right direction to our hotel. We walked down Monroe Street quickly, our bags rolling and bumping along behind us.

Hopeful the elegant and historic Palmer House Hotel would accommodate an early check-in, we passed through the glass entrance doors and made our way to the marble registration desk. They were happy to assist, and we were in our room and unpacking by 10 a.m.

After a quick brunch in an eatery linked to the hotel, Tom walked us in the direction of Michigan Avenue and the Chicago Art Institute. A brisk wind made us return to the hotel for Sam's winter coat and the address of a nearby comic book store before we set off on our own. Tom needed to prepare for his first of two presentations that afternoon.

L train cars rumbled on the tracks overhead and we caught sight of a kippah-clad jeweler behind a case of uncut diamonds on the few blocks walk to Graham Cracker Comics on Madison Street. I filed a mental note of the location of nearby Pizano's Pizza, its signs touting deep-dish Chicago-style pizza. After a half-hour perusing Graham Cracker's impressive inventory, Sam selected several comic books and most likely lost his room key when pulling out his wallet to pay for them.

At Madison and Michigan, we found ourselves across from  Millennium Park. Sam wanted to see The Bean and the wall of faces, you know, where the projected faces of Chicagoans spit water out their mouths, creating a fountain people can walk through. How did he know about these public works of art? Sixth grade art class with Mrs. Hannu. We had fun taking photos from outside and underneath the reflective bean-shaped Cloud Gate as named by the artist. Crown Fountain, however, doesn't start flowing until May, but we had its massive glass brick walls all to ourselves to explore.

The cold made it easy to convince Sam to accompany me to the Chicago Art Institute. In fact, he suggested we hurry there. We discovered many treasures unknown to us (see Chicago Adventure: Art and More Art post). On our way back to the hotel, he spied a sign for Friends Ramen, an eatery we would try the next day.

But what and where for dinner? Deep-dish Chicago pizza, was on our list. We wandered into an  Italian warehouse style restaurant across from the hotel and decided it wasn't for us. We had something a bit more homey and traditional in mind. So, onward those few blocks again to Pizano's. Our waiter, "The Chach," was a true character, calling Sam either Samuel or Minnesota and referring to Tom as Dad, and he brought us an unsolicited deep-dish cookie sundae for Samuel's "birthday" and our "anniversary." The restaurant, too, is part of a colorful history that involves step-brothers vying for claims to the best, if not original, deep-dish Chicago pizza.