Alright—I lied. Sorry.

Today’s post is not about San Diego. It’s about Chicago, the windy city of the Midwest.

I’m sorry—I don’t even have an excuse. My reasoning is that I just found an apartment building online in Chicago that looks beautiful, with windows overlooking the skyline and everything. I’m so excited about someday maybe possible living there, I couldn’t not write about Chicago. So here goes . . .

To do

• Museum Campus—consisting of the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum. Enough said. If you ever loved science, animals, or history, go here.
• Art Institute of Chicago Museum, situated right next to Millennium Park downtown. It features art from the best of artists, like Monet, Renoir, Picasso, and Van Gogh, as well as Greek statues, suits of armor, ancient Chinese pottery, a children’s section, and more. It’s also just a beautiful building: white with wood floors and echo-y.
• Millennium Park: features giant metal sculptures, including  Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate a.k.a. the bean. In summer, the giant Crown Fountain features a video image of faces spouting real water. Kids and adults can play in the fountain.
• The Magnificent Mile: known particularly for shopping. Michigan Avenue is incredible. The traffic is like New York’s, and the clothes are couture. It also features a whole lineup of incredible restaurants. It also has its own information association.
• Wrigley Field: I haven’t been here yet. I’m very loyal to a rival team (I won’t tell you which, so you can’t hate me for it). But I plan to suck it up and do go here, because really, Wrigley Field is awesome.
• Architectural tours: You can even tour the city and learn about its architecture by KAYAK.  You go down the waterfront with Cloud9 Living to learn about Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, Mies van der Rohe, and others. Now that’s a unique view.
• Museum of Science and Industry: Right now they have Body Worlds and a space exhibit. They also have a U-505 Submarine, which I think you can tour. I went here as a 12-year-old, and I still remember it.
• Broadway:  the next-best thing to New York’s Broadway (except maybe London’s).
• Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower): 1,450 feet tall and 110 stories high. It is the tallest building in the western hemisphere. If you want to miss some of the crowds, check out the John Hancock Building. It’s still one of the highest in Chicago, and you can see 4 states on a clear day.
• Lake Shore Drive: Where the rich and famous live. It’s fun to explore.

Celebrate:

• St. Patrick’s Day: Chicago is very Irish. The city hosts a grand parade, dyes the Chicago River green, and then parties all night long.
• Blues Festival: The largest free blues festival in the world, and the biggest of Chicago’s music festivals. It takes place in Grant Park annually. According to Explore Chicago, over  500,000 attend.  Ray Charles, B.B. King, the late Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy and the late Koko Taylor have all played at it in the past.
• Taste of Chicago: Also free, and takes place in Grant Park, at the lakefront. This year, 59 restaurants serve six items for $2 or less. It’s going on now, as write this.
• Fourth of July at Navy Pier: Fireworks and music. It’s also the only place you can legally enjoy fireworks on Independence Day.
  

 To eat

• Gibson’s Bar & Steakhouse. I ate my second steak here. It was incredible. It changed my life. I now am a steak-lover.
• Everest: located on the 40^th floor of the Chicago stock Exchange Building. And it has a renowned chef.
• Gino’s East. Some of the best pizza you’ll ever taste. EVER. It’s deep-dish Chicago style, covered in sauce and delicious.
• Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant and Bakery: Located at the start of Route 66, which runs south and then west across the country. This is their 86^th year in business. The food must be good.
• Charlie Trotter’s Restaurant: This restaurant is in all the travel/food books. It is regarded “as one of the finest restaurants in the world,” according to the website. Chef Trotter also runs Trotter’s To Go, a gourmet retail shop.
• The original Uno’s Pizzeria is in Chicago. Worth checking out.
• Chicago-style hot dogs. Yellow mustard, chopped white onions, sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices or wedges, pickled sport peppers. and celery salt. No ketchup. Don’t even think about asking for it.

Next up: San Diego (really!)