Back in January, Manasi had asked if we would take her to Chicago for a concert – and you know how it is, it’s far away enough that you say yes and forget about it, and then when the weekend rolls along you have no idea what you had promised in the first place! Of course, that’s not me at all – I put things on my calendar right away, and always know exactly where we’re going and when and why – yeah, right!! So, of course, when Manasi reminded us that we had agreed to drive her and a friend to Chicago to a concert, it took us a teeny bit by surprise. Anyway, super Uber to Riis Park and back – and a whole 6 unplanned hours in Chicago for Ajey and me (or is it I? No, me is correct. Yes, almost sure it’s me. Or is it?)

We dropped the girls off at the concert about 4pm, our plan was to head to downtown and just let the evening roll. Right around the corner from Riis Park is a little strip mall, and our first stop of the day – B Dubs! Happy Hour at B Dubs!! Well, full disclosure – we went for the restrooms, we stayed for Happy Hour! One delicious strawberry margarita later, sure enough, happy happy! – a pint for Ajey, and incredibly fresh salsa and chips, and we were good to go! As we’re driving along, I’m trying to take pictures of the skyline – it’s quite hard to take a good picture from a moving car through the windshield – you get tons of construction and all the cars ahead of you, and maybe a small glimpse of the view – which is quite disappointing. With my heart set on taking a good picture, I talked Ajey into driving to the best spot to take skyline pictures – right by the Adler planetarium – across Lake Michigan, Chicago in its full glory.

Two things us poor country yokels always forget about the city – traffic and parking – horrendous and frustrating are 2 adjectives that spring to mind immediately! There was a soccer match at Soldier Field – must have been an important one, because the area was completely packed. Not to mention all the roadblocks and detours to redirect traffic! And here’s an idea for Google – since all these apps on my phone pretty much know everything that’s going on with my life – when I ask for directions, why not make useful suggestions like – “Looks like you’re heading towards Soldier Field, but there’s a huge event that you clearly don’t have tickets for, so do you still want to go there?” I think I would definitely appreciate that kind of heads-up! Anyway, we crawl to Adler Planetarium, and of course, there’s no parking – so there goes my idea of sitting on the grass and enjoying the view and the breeze! I did jump out of the car and grab a picture, so mission kind-of accomplished?

Then a drive along Lakeshore Drive – which again is probably not the best idea for a Saturday night – bumper to bumper traffic. I have to admit – I was not being a very good navigator, distracted by taking pictures of the lake and the Navy Pier ferris wheel and the traffic – I completely blame the happy juice – but we did make it to Michigan Avenue, and even found an amazing parking sport, right across from Tiffanys. Have I mentioned how much we love SpotHero? We had vague intentions of shopping, but first, the river beckons! Michigan Ave in the summer is probably one of my favorite places ever! The City always has some fun displays planned – remember the wildly popular Cows on Parade? – and the flower beds are a work of art! DuSable Bridge and Pioneer Court – never, ever ceases to take my breath away. Every single time we’ve walked here, it’s like we’re soaking in the grandeur of the majestic buildings for the very first time! If I had time to visit only one place in Chicago – this surely would take the top spot for me!

All that driving around and then the walking – and then all those people walking along carrying boxes of pizza – a slice of Giordano’s deep-dish seems like a wonderful idea right about now! When we got there – forget about sitting down, the wait for carry-out was over an hour long! No way I’m waiting an hour for pizza!! Next option – Nando’s chicken, right above the very tempting Nutella cafe. By the way, did you know that you can get customized jars of Nutella with your name on them? That did give me a pause – briefly considered standing in line to get one for Manasi, but no, no lines – so Nando’s it was! We were pleasantly surprised – we were seated on the ‘patio’, with an incredible view of the Wrigley building clock-tower! And for the record, although as a rule we’re not really those people – for the view, yes, we did sit on the same side of the booth! I mean, look how gorgeous, how can anyone turn their back to that!

We decided to walk to the other end of the Magnificent Mile – maybe get dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, maybe stop by a jazz bar? – it was truly relaxing to not have a plan, and not be in a rush to be somewhere. Away from the river, as we headed north, Michigan Ave’s shimmer seemed to have dimmed a bit. There were several vacant storefronts, and a lot of familiar names were missing – the one place that seemed to be booming was the new Starbucks Roastery! Closer to the John Hancock building, the Magnificent Mile was definitely looking a little worse-for-wear, not even tourists venturing this far north. Didn’t really feel like Cheesecake Factory at this time, so we were wandering looking for a cafe or a pub – and got a good laugh at an icecream shop with one of those signs showing cities of the world and how far they were – and all the arrows were pointed in totally random directions, like how is it possible for Paris, Rome and London to all be in different directions from this point in Chicago! Maybe somebody was making a point about the world being round? Who knows!

Our evening then took a bizarre, totally unexpected twist. A couple of blocks ahead, we noticed a large group of cyclists ride past – oh fun, must be like a city bike race or something like that. So we hurried on to cheer the riders. As we got closer – could it be? Is it possible? OH MY GOD!! They are all naked – as in, riding with no clothes on! Men, women of all ages – in their birthday suits – just riding a bike in the streets of Chicago on a warm June day. It truly was the single most shocking event of my life! We stood there, speechless, as an endless stream of bike riders in various states of undress passed by. As a fellow spectator said – it was like looking at the sun, it’s burning your eyes, but you can’t look away! Another lady kept urging me to take pictures – or nobody is going to believe you, she said – most other people were taking videos – but I just couldn’t. Still quite shocked, we finally walked away – all thoughts of dinner forgotten, back to our car to head back to Riis Park.

Apparently, it’s a huge thing – a a global movement – look it up, World Naked Bike Ride – coming soon to a city close to you!! It’s meant to promote green modes of transport and positive body image, as well as highlight the dangers bike riders face in the city. I don’t think I completely understand how any of these are achieved by riding a bike naked through the streets – I guess I’ll chalk it up to the long list of things I don’t understand. The city is always full of surprises – but this one really knocked me for a loop! After that big jolt, the ride home was pretty uneventful – a stop at Taco Bell for a quick bite, and then the boring drive home. And although we didn’t get a fancy ‘date’ dinner – it ended up being a wonderful, albeit, a little risqué day!

Oh, and the girls had a great time at the concert! Here’s a few pictures to end with: