Good thing my flight was a code-share with United so I went to United and they were able to rebook me on a flight through LA tomorrow morning for just $150. Granted I had to go to the airport and stand in line for an hour, but at least I got a confirmed flight home and they were willing to actually help me.
But I have to say that United's O'hare counter is one of the worst organized I have ever been to. They only had one agent actually helping people. They did have a lot of people that helped to tag your baggage after you did the kiosk check-in, but they were defintely low end hired help that moved like slugs and weren't very helpful.
Thinking on that more, I have to say that Chicago as a whole just had generally average to bad customer service everywhere that I went except for their train stations. The guys in the booth at the train stations were actually helpful in explaining how their transit system worked and also explained the value of getting the multi-day passes. Wait, the Aloft O`Hare actually had a friendly staff and their shuttle drivers were friendly and were a great help in finding places to eat and explaining the train system.
At the Westin O'Hare, service was ok, not friendly, but at least corporate cordial. At the Four Points by Sheraton O`Hare, the front desk was almost rude and their shuttle drivers were rather brash. I found the same average courtesy (if you can even call it courtesy) at most of the restaurants, coffee shops, and stores that I went to--like many of them were just there to do their job and having to help you was just part of their job description. This really makes me appreciate the true customer orientation that I've experienced on most of the West Coast and especially in Hawaii.
Ok enough of my complaining and let's get back to a more fun topic--FOOD! I think I found my new favorite coffee drink, the Lite White Berry at Caribou Coffee. They describe it as espresso, steamed skim milk, white cocoa (is there such a thing?), and the berry flavor of your choice. I chose cherry (which I don't believe is actually a berry), but in any case it tastes yummy to me--better than Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's Black Forrest Latte. So this is where I'm at now, writing this entry, sipping my drink...
On Friday, I caught the train into the city with one of the girls from the AICPA Leadership Academy and stopped off at Cafe Descartes, a small coffee shop on Michigan Ave. The Mexican Mocha was what caught my eye here--basically a mocha with some cinnamon. I was expecting something with a little more of a rich and spicy chocolate taste, as you normally get with Mexican chocolate, but I was terribly disappointed. The coffee has a weak chocolate taste, hints of cinnamon, and a fairly bland coffee flavor--think Folgers or Yuban with old Hershey's syrup and a dash or two of cinnamon. Needless to say I was extremely disappointed--add to that the fact that the cinnamon scone I got from them was hard, dry, and overly crumbly, and I felt like I had dumped $9 down the tube.
At least I got some caffine into my system and I spent the next couple of hours wandering around Millennium Park. It was a slightly overcast day, with occasional drizzles, but overall a good summer day to be walking around, not too hot and not too humid. The Lurie Garden was pretty expansive, but not manicured very well, so really felt more like I was looking at a bunch of weeds. I think part of that is their choice of flowers to feature--definitely different that the "usuals", but because of that also not as appealing to the eye.
What I really did enjoy though was getting to catch a rehearsal of the Pirates of Penzance by the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion--part of the Grant Park Music Festival. I had previously seen this opera, but listening to it again reminded me how great of an opera this is to introduce children (and non-typical opera attendees) to opera. Everything is in English and the story line is fun and easy to follow. The Pavilion itself is also a very exciting structure to behold and has a nice lawn that has an overhead sound system to enable a lot of people to enjoy the performance.
I also have some good pictures of the key features that the Millenium Park is known for, like the gigantic metallic jelly bean-like sculpture on Chase Promenade, the water play area with the electronic image "spitting wall" (my name for it, not theirs), and the great monument and fountain at Wrigley Square. There was also a Family Fun Festival that appeared to be a regular summer event that had some fun activities (like a whole area of hula hoops!) for young kids, as well as a stage where they were singing songs and interacting with the kids.
The last part of the park that I enjoyed was a sampling of sculptures from the Art Institute of Chicago's exhibit: "A Conversation with Chicago: Contemporary Sculptures from China". Normally I'm not a modern art kind of guy, but these sculptures actually made me want to go and see the rest of the exhibit since they had so much personality--and could actually be understood without putting yourself into an altered state of mind. =P
On the way back to the hotel, I caught Matthew at the train station heading over to Hot Doug's, a gourmet hot dog shop (or as they call themselves, a "sausage superstore and encased meat emporium") so decided to join him for an afternoon snack. We caught the train to the Belmont stop and walked about a quarter-mile (at least--it looked closer on the map). As we approached the corner shop, we could see a line out the door and said, gee this must be a good place for it to still have a line at 2:15pm. Turning the corner on the shop, we found out that the line actually snaked back along the other side of the shop for over a block! Man these must be some good hot dogs.We asked the person in front of us, if these were really that good, and they said it was definitely worth the wait. They said that the line is pretty much always like this, and that they thought it would take us about 45 minutes to get to the front. Well, an hour later, we were still in line and we had only moved halfway down the block. Unfortunately Matthew had a plane to catch and I needed to switch hotels, so at that point we had to get out of line and go back to the hotel unfed. But man, if that may people are willing to wait in line for that long just to have some hot dogs, I guess I will have to make some time on my next trip to go there.
The whole gourmet hot dog thing, reminded me of Hank Haute Dogs in Hawaii. These guys just made the Top Ten New Hot Dog Places in Bon Appetit Magazine and I did get to try their hot dogs and foie gras fries (french fries fried in duck fat). Ok I know the duck fat doesn't sound appetizing, but if you've ever had good foie gras, you'll know why a foodie like Matthew and well-seasoned eater like myself would be willing to wait over an hour to try to get some. If we didn't have the flight and hotel to worry about, I'm sure we would have stayed in that line until we actually got to taste the food.
Ok now I've made myself hungry again, so I guess it's time to wrap up this entry and go and find my afternoon snack. Definitely not hot dogs, but maybe a good salad...trying to eat a little more healthy since it is summer and gotta watch the waistline so that I can enjoy the beach and summer picnics, without having to hold my stomach in the whole time. LOL
ciao for chow...
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