#4 ILLINOIS, 36 Hours in Chicago

I’m a huge fan of the 36 Hour Travel Articles that appear in the New York Times. I religiously clip and file them appropriately in case I find myself in say, Galena, IL (which I did last Sept.) or Accra, Ghana (you never know, it’s a sister city of Chicago, after all!). In fact I have file cabinet of travel articles awaiting the bizarre and quite possible moment when I unearth a bargain airfare to Timbuktu or someone inquires “Hey Elaine – What do you know about ____, ever been there?” But I digress… I’m writing about Chicago. So there we are albeit 22 hours later than planned and this is my very own 36 Hours in Chicago. I don’t presume to recommend that anyone else should duplicate this itinerary; in fact it’s doubtful I will myself.

3:30 PM: Take CTA Blue Line from O’Hare to Downtown Chicago ($2)

5:00 PM: Check into Palmer House Hilton and enjoy complimentary light repast in Executive Lounge

6:30 PM: Bundle up and walk the snowy, icy mile to Navy Pier, be careful to negotiate “Falling Ice”. Admire Museum of Modern Ice featuring Paintings Below Zero by G. Halloran in Millennium Park and rubberneck at hot shot ice skaters. Get lost, retrace steps and eventually end up at desired location.

7:30 PM: Get some culture with Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s presentation of Othello staring Derrick Lee Weeden, a talented actor known to me from his 20 seasons at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. CST performs in a newly built space designed like London’s Globe Theater and is by far the best part of otherwise schlocky Navy Pier. Remain mesmerized for three hours.

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10:00 AM: Visit Chicago Cultural Center to view Chicago’s Landmark photo display, pledging to tour the sites when weather is more hospitable and browse Visitor Center. Just miss free entertainment in the lobby. (A previous visit had the same unfortunate timing or perhaps fortunate depending on who or what is there.)

11:00 AM: Browse the shelves at Prairie Avenue Books, a treasure trove of architecture books. A perfect place to elucidate yourself in this architecture laden city.

12:30 PM: Grab a burger at Bennigan’s on Michigan Avenue directly across from the Art Institute of Chicago. I can’t in good faith recommend this chain restaurant but hey – it was just fine, it was freezing outside, we were hungry and we stumbled into it happily and enjoyed our meal.

1:30 PM: Visit the American Gallery of the Art Institute of Chicago making sure to view the stoic pair with pitchfork: Grant Wood’s American Gothic. Admission is free in February rendering our brief walk through practically guilt free. Resolve to return to fully appreciate the 250,000+ artworks when in a more artistic frame of mind.

3:00 PM: Walk north through Millennium Park marveling at the Frank Gehry designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, get ejected by parka clad security force. Admire reflections in the Cloud Gate aka Bean and note the Ice Art is morphing into a new design as the temperature flirts with above freezing levels. Window shop and surreptitiously watch other tourists along the Magnificent Mile ending up at the Chicago Water Tower, one of the few remaining structures from pre-Great Fire 1871.

7:00 PM: Cap off your Chicago Experience with a dinner at the Asian Fusion restaurant, Le Lan (http://www.lelanrestaurant.com/) . This one I enthusiastically recommend! The food, décor and service were all remarkable. I especially enjoyed the Soba Noodle Salad and we were amazed at the chocolate bread pudding as proved by our fork duel for the last crumb. Le Lan is definitely on my list for return visit.