So, for my birthday my boyfriend surprised me with plane tickets to Chicago and concert tickets to one of our favorite bands (Placebo). We're going the first weekend in November, and even though we won't be there for long at all, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of good places to eat or interesting things we should try to see. Neither of us have even been to Chicago before. And we really won't have much time to do anything (we're flying in Friday night and leaving Saturday around noon), but we'll probably have some time before the concert and the flight back to walk around and grab a bite to eat or something. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Posted by xnera (Member # 187) on :
Where's the concert going to be?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Where are you flying in/out, and where are you staying -- and where is the show?
With only a few hours, travel time will be your limiting factor.
Posted by Morydd (Member # 5004) on :
People who love this city tend to be... "passionate"... about it. So you'll probably get lots of good advice. Looks like the concert is at the Riv, which is fun. It's right near the Green Mill, so if you like jazz at all, it may be worth a stop after your concert. The Riv is right off of the "El" which makes it convienient to get most anywhere in the city.
Your best bet is probably (depending on where you're staying) to take the Red Line to Belmont, which is about 3 stops south (towards 95th/Dan Ryan) of the Riv (which is at Lawrence). There are quite a few interesting shops and several really good places to eat. There's a Giordanos a few blocks west, there's a great Indian buffet place just east of the El. If you're in that area at breakfast time you can get fantastic cinnamon rolls at Ann Sather's (also just east of the El at Belmont). For late night food there's Clarke's across the street from Ann Sather's.
The El is the best way to get around in my opinion, and cheap too. You can get a Visitor Pass at the airport for $5 good for unlimited rides for 24 hours. It's also good on CTA busses. The RTA has a very good site for finding how to get around on the bus/train. http://tripsweb.rtachicago.com/
If you've got time before you head to the airport on Saturday (or when you get in on Friday) there are some interesting things to see in Millenium Park as well.
Enjoy Chicago!
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
Yeah, if you could extend your trip by a day and go home Sunday, we Chicagoans could come up with all kinds of stuff for you to do and maybe even coordinate a mini-gathering.