<p>Last time I went to Buddy Guy’s Legends, Buddy himself came out to jam! The place went nuts!</p>
<p>Update thus far:</p>
<p>Traffic in Chicago-- just as bad as at home- looks familiar</p>
<p>DH got us upgraded to a lovely corner room on the executive floor (whatta guy!) </p>
<p>Dinner at Millers Pub-- people next to us at the bar just saw Constantine coming in before his show at a nearby theater (we didnt see him 
)</p>
<p>Theater- Billy Elliott - Show- great; people next to us who talked throughtout the show and the lady next to them whose phone screen glared as she texted frequently during the show-- not so great.</p>
<p>This morning- 9:30 Architecture boat tour. 9:30 on a Saturday morning? What was my H thinking?? But it was very interesting. Lunch at Atwood Cafe. Yumm. (Thanks for all these recommendations!)</p>
<p>Tonight- Second City and dinner at Perennial-- and a cc meet-up! Cant wait!</p>
<p>^^^^ love the update.</p>
<p>Southjerseychessmom,
So, I did my part with Notre Dame. RU working on the weather here in CHicago (which is suppoed to dry out and warm up after we leave) and the Atlanta Braves, who need to cinch the wildcard spot?</p>
<p>Hey, Jym626, many thanks for the ND victory, good job! </p>
<p>Did the yucky weather ruin the Architectural boat Tour for you? I haven’t done this, but those Trip Advisor, and yelpers, rate that as one of the best activities in Chicago, so I’m saving it for a nice spring/ summer day.</p>
<p>What section of the city are you staying in? Am sure that executive level at any place if VERY nice! </p>
<p>Hope your Braves make it? Or did they last night? Admitting my lack of baseball knowledge</p>
<p>Happy to help, SouthJerseyChessMom.
No, Braves didnt make it last night and the window of opportunity is severely narrowing.</p>
<p>As per post #1- we are at the Plamer House downtown. Weather is clear today, but we fly out at noon. Off to the health club for a little exercise.</p>
<p>It did start to rain a bit at the end of the boat tour, and it was a bit chilly, but it was very very enjoyable. THe docent said the driver was going a little fast so she skipped a few things (like mentioning the dirigible landing station on the top of one of the bldgs) but I highly recommend it.</p>
<p>Second city was hysterical, and dinner was fun. Small portions of very interesting presentations, but the company was the best part. Yay for a cc meet-up!! Lovely folks.</p>
<p>Hey southjerseychessmom!! Braves clinched the wildcard!! THANKS!!!</p>
<p>Back at ya’- what a weekend you had. I checked out every restaurant, and the Palmer House , too!
So Jym care to share your restaurant reviews, for those inquiring minds?</p>
<p>Congrats! So Jym care to share your restaurant reviews, for the inquiring minds ? I checked out all the restaurants you mentioned, and would love to know your opinion.</p>
<p>If you saw the game, that 8th inning was quite exciting.</p>
<p>Jym</p>
<pre><code> I pm’d you but I had the wrong weekend. The weather is beautiful today. Come back soon.
</code></pre>
<p>DS was also in Chicago last weekend, a field trip for a class he is taking on Chicago Architecture. They were lucky to take the boat tour on Friday.</p>
<p>I was glad to see Geja’s mentioned; DH and I got engaged there 30 years ago. It would be fun to go back.</p>
<p>Geja’s was our first date; we used to go every year on the anniversary of the day we met. Our last visit was a few years back; it certainly is better than the other fondue restaurants but more expensive and less food than we remember from the past. If you want to experience it without eating or spending a lot, you can do a cheese/chocolate menu for about $22/pp; makes a nice late evening stop. It’s also still quite crowded unless you get one of the curtained booths. But no more cigarette smoke! Now you only come home smelling of fondue oil. Kind of like when you’ve been making latkes…</p>
<p>We enjoyed a special occasion dinner at Perennial last year (we used to live down the block and still think of it as the 24-hour Jeff’s Laugh-In). Another place slightly off the beaten path is Graham Elliott - well worth a visit. There’s a new restaurant near the train stations called Prairie Fire - stellar backgrounds on the co-chef/owners. I like it much better than their North Shore place Prairie Grass. We had pre-theater dinner at the Atwood Cafe last year and enjoyed the food and ambiance.</p>
<p>We’ve stayed at the Palmer House in the executive rooms a couple times when we’ve gone in from the suburbs for Thanksgiving - the best part is two bathrooms! (I think they converted small singles into large doubles.) The lobby is beautiful and so historic.</p>
<p>I’ll do any boat tour on any nice day - the view from the water is just so great! And Garrett’s - I think Gene Siskal once rated them best cheese and caramel corn - I had to go searching for them last time since they are now on a side street off Michigan Avenue (the Loop location is easier to find).</p>
<p>While searching for Chicago restaurants participating with restaurants.com, for son and his girlfriend to use this weekend, I was quite happy to see Geja’s listed.
Often the restaurants who participate are less than stellar. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, Geja’s limits the use Sun-thru Thursday so they couldn’t go.
I’m new to restaurant .com , and have redeemed them two times. FYI- I bought many $25 coupons for $2 by putting in the code
- they run that deal regularly.
It such a treat to have $25 deducted, and my son is very happy to receive them via email from me.</p>
<p>Well, I can attest to a few hours of jym’s time in Chicago and say they were a lot of fun… fun enough that we were able to temporarily forget about the rain. Funny thing was, when we left our house to head down to the city to meet them, the sun was peeking through often enough that I had hope the tide would change. But within four miles of Second City, I had to turn on the windshield wipers. </p>
<p>Thankfully the rain let up just long enough that our walk from Second City to the restaurant and then, back to our cars, was dry. Sorry to say jym, but by the time we got out of the city and were closer to home, the sky was clear! However, it didn’t stay that way long… it did end up raining quite heavily after midnight.</p>
<p>H and I were downtown this weekend! Sorry we missed you!</p>
<p>Maybe we need a girls or girls and boys meetup in Chi-town?</p>
<p>I’m going to Chicago this weekend! </p>
<p>It’s trade show time … I’ll be out in Rosemont. This is my TENTH trip to this trade show and I have yet to get downtown. </p>
<p>I lived in the far northwest suburbs 30 years ago after college and still have friends in the area – but if there’s a meetup this weekend, I will see if I can get there!</p>
<p>I will have to plan another trip back to Chicago soon (weather permitting!) I’d love to do a Chicago meet-up, momofthreeboys!</p>
<p>Thank you to cottonwood for you kindness. Even though our trip was last week, your info is very helpful and I hope to be back soon!</p>
<p>It was such a true delight to meet up with teriwtt and her DH. The company, the comedy and the food were all great. Perennial was very trendy and fun. Interesting, creative dishes and very attractive presentations. Service was spot on too.</p>
<p>The bread at Atwood cafe was wonderfully moist and flavorful! The dish that my H ordered was missing the sauce, and apparently the cook must have done this on all the orders of this entree as we saw several plates all going back and coming back with the sauce. Mine was very flavorful (I had a soup/ grilled apple, bacon and cheese sandwich combo and a spiced tea as it was cold and rainy out and it was excellent).</p>
<p>The rain was not a big deal. At least it wasnt 10 below with a foot of snow on the ground. Glad DH got to see the Packers win on Sunday. Topped off a great weekend!</p>
<p>PG- - sorry we missed you!!
CNP- have a great visit this weekend.
Marilyn- Thanks for all the tips!!</p>
<p>We live in the western suburbs of Chicago and I would be very happy to meet with CC’ers even though our son is out of college and recently started work in California. I’m one of the “I could quit anytime I want” crowd!</p>