4/2/2023 - Day 1 Chicago - Part 2

 First off, I LOVE this town!  I just want to say that - I think I love Chicago more than any other city I’ve ever been to.  Now, I Adore my Richmond.  London is DIVINE!  Paris… umm… Paris needs a redo.

But CHICAGO!  It’s the most amazing, blissful, beautiful wonderful place!  Just… with windburn.  😀

So - Once we managed to extract ourselves from our Hotel Room (we ate some leftover pizza I’d packed from Papa John’s for lunch) and got moving about 12:30 because my blog post had imploded…. Twice….

We started walking over to Wrigley Field…. Because…. We CAN!  It’s only 1.2 miles away and OMG this CITY was MADE FOR WALKING! 

And the BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS! 

AND SO MANY different Ethnic types of Restaurants we find ourselves seeing all along the way!  (ok… and many of them bars….)

And NOT a Restaurant…

So this brings us to the PURPOSE of our arriving EARLY on SUNDAY!  THE CUBS!  (vs. Milwaukee Brewers…. Notice the overwhelming excitement in Clover’s eyes….. This will play out later…. Sometime mid-third inning)

With AWESOME Seats!

<again…. Notice Clover’s OVERWHELMING Excitement!  Thank you Anika 😂>

The seats really DID Fill… just, we were on the early side… arriving a half hour before the game…. And everyone was still downstairs getting beer & Nachos…. ORRRR CHEDDAR & CARAMEL POPCORN!

The players greet

And there’s little kids they bring out before the start of the first Inning - and they were *SO SWEET* with those little guys.

AND THE FIRST WARMUP PITCH!

So….. we started well (2:2 after 2nd inning…), but it went downhill from there.  Due to UNFORESEEN complications with Stakeholder Buy-In… we absconded after 5th Inning when we were down 3:4…. Which was a good time, because the game ended at 5:9… NOT in our favor.  BUT!  Anika & I got our OFFICIAL MLB CHICAGO CUBS Gear!

So… Anika & I got what we wanted… and Clover got what they needed.  (NOT LIKE THAT!  OMG what do you think I am?! Srsly - the tickets were only $20 each... totally got our $ worth)

ANNNDDDD…. Walked back 1.2 miles to Versey…. Dropped off Cubs Gear…

Then walked another mile down to Lincoln Park….

Where these guys are being honored….

And these two discovered Sticky Green Balls to Play With (troublesome things, children)

Where we first discovered the Conservancy FULL of beautiful flowers… Not unlike Ginter… but not LIKE Ginter either.  It’s WONDERFUL!

Here are a selection of the Botanicals - in no particular order

AND THEN,... we stopped into the Zoo… because… it was there… and Lincoln Park Zoo is FREE to ANYONE.  (we’re going back…. We’ve got an agenda that includes the Polar Bears, which we haven’t ever seen)

Park closes at 5pm, so we had all of 20 minutes to get a taste… errr…. Not taste…

WATCH THIS MONKEY:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/7NzdhwGkt5pxJab98

OK... So we went out to dinner.... Korean BBQ... it was wonderful....

With Green lipped Mussels…. THAT’S YOUR MUSSELS FROM NZ NATASHA!!!

AND Anika just about killed herself by trying to eat an ENTIRE RED CHILI off her dish… omg… I really thought she was going to throw up.  That really scared me!

So HERE I am… been working on this BLOG WAYAAYYYYYYY Too long tonight.  I need to get to bed, so I am SOOOO Out of here!  Good Night Folks!  Tomorrow…. Rainy Day in The Windy City!