Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Chicago - July 2010


We decided to take advantage of the long July 4th weekend and celebrate our anniversary in Chicago.

Accommodation
Park Hyatt - Using Keith's points, we treated ourselves to this awesome hotel located on Michigan Avenue.  The rooms are very nice with remote controls to open and close the curtains!  They do a nice breakfast on the 8th floor overlooking the Water Tower and they also have a nice outside bar on the 8th floor.

Activities
We had our fair share of water activities.  We took a 3 hour kayaking tour along the Chicago river, learning about the architecture of the buildings.  It was really cool to see the buildings from that angle.  We also took a 2 hour architecture boat tour along the river.

Kayaking on Chicago River
We tasted all kinds of yummy food at the Taste of Chicago, located in Grant Park and also walked off some of the calories in the park.  And, we had to experience a true Chicago tradition by attending a Cubs game.  We could not get tickets at the stadium so opted to try out one of the rooftop places that borders the stadium -- it was a ton of fun.  We went to the Skybox on Sheffield, which we would definitely recommend.  The tickets include all food and drink so we decided to get our money's worth!  Unfortunately, we got too enticed by the food and beer that by the time we made it outside to the seats, there were none left so we had to stand for most of the game!

Cubs Game
Restaurants
Tru - A bit too modern for us but food was good.

Charlie Trotter's - Awesome food.  Nice atmosphere but a bit stuffy.

Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba - Food was very tasty.  Casual and fun atmosphere.