This is about the time Jay asked me where I got my Stalin jacket...
This is Jay's building! He lives on the very top floor overlooking the city skyline!
Looking outside Jay's window. Isn't it amazing? I could lay on his couch and look down at the street for hours. It was very cool.
Sears Tower from Jay's apartment!
After breakfast Jay took us to his hostel. Before he started living in Chicago full time he would stay in a hostel not far from the business school. He made a huge impact there revamping their marketing and eventually introduced the hostel idea to about 10 other Booth students who came in just for weekends also.
After the hostel we headed to find the outside art pieces in Chicago which meant we were heading to the bean!!! On the way we passed these very cool head sculptures. They looked full and huge from the side but from straight on they were actually very narrow. It was a very cool effect.
Then we headed to the Bean! It was top on my site seeing Chicago list and it did not disappoint. I loved it!! It's funny because after I got home I kept talking about it and a lot of my friends had no idea what I was talking about. Apparently it's not as well known as I thought but it was the only thing on my list to see for some reason.
I think the skyline reflection in it is just amazing!
After the family peeled me away from the bean we headed to the river to take an architecture cruise. I wasn't sure what to think about it at first. I'm not a huge history buff so I wasn't sure if it would keep my attention or not. It turned out to be amazing. One of the favorite things that we did. Our guide was fantastic. She was funny, and quirky, and extremely intelligent. If you go, ask for Sarah! It was nice to get off our feet for an hour and soak in all the sights along the river that we would have missed otherwise.
Those bottom layers are a parking deck and the whole building is nicknamed the corncob.
Gleacher Center! This is where Jay had most of his classes!
We ended the day with a tour of Gleacher center and then cheering the wolfpack on to a victory over Villanova. Because of our victory over Villanova Derrick is threatening to put me on a plane back to Chicago so we can all be in the same place for this weeks game.
After the game we capped of our night and our Chicago trip with a long trip down memory lane. My Dad went to podiatry school in Chicago. Coincidently, his first year he lived in a dorm that was directly across the street from Jay's hostel. Pretty cool! On the last night, Jay wanted to drive us around outside the city to see parts of Chicago that we hadn't seen yet so the mission was to find the two places that dad lived, besides to dorm his first year.
For the first house, Dad could remember the street name and that it was behind Wrigley field. Seriously...he lived right behind left field. That one we found with very little problem!
The next one took a lot more of a hunt. It was years and years ago and the city has changed so much! My Dad hasn't been back there for 30 years so I'm impressed we found it at all! I rely so much on my GPS I find it hard to go anywhere without it so color me impressed when we pulled up to the Wyndham Apartments!
We were able to follow a resident in and see the lobby. It was as extravagant and odd as Mom had described :)
It was very cool to see where Dad was pre-kids. I'm sure most people are like this but it's hard to imagine your parents before they had kids. They had a whole life before we came along! It's funny to think that our kids won't know anything about the life Derrick and I have now and our lives are going to change so much when we have kids. Maybe we'll be taking our kids down memory lane like this one day....though we might avoid Derrick's college apartment...safety first! :)
Chicago was awesome! I'd love to go back with Derrick and spend a little more time seeing the sights and getting some shopping in. Jay isn't sure how much longer he'll be there but I think he'll soak up the city life while he's there!
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