Chicago Vacation - 2006

Today in Chicago, it rained early so we slept in. Late morning we started hearing lights and sirens. We watched the firetrucks from the window then realized they were stopping in front of our hotel. Five fire trucks ended up in front of the hotel, and then a news crew arrived. We started to worry, then the firemen announced with a loud speaker that there was a fire confined to the 22nd floor and it was in control. The elevators were locked so we walked down the stairs from the 8th floor. The buses had to detour around that block so we had to walk several blocks to get to where buses were running, and then couldn't find the bus that we needed. So, we ended up walking all the way to the Wrigley Building. We stopped in the Billy Goat, a dingy little bar and grill underground that local celebrities have frequented (like Mike Royko). We shopped at the malls on the Magnificent Mile. The malls have several floors and lots of shops - mostly clothing and chains. After we spent some time in the malls, we went across the street to Finelle's Basement (which is actually upstairs) - it is a large multi-level store with designer clothes at good prices. Then it was early evening so we headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe for a beer and to look around, then went on the Gino's East for pizza. There was a long line, in the parking garage next to the restaurant. We finally got in and got our deep dish pizza. It was good. The hotel fire was on the 10 pm news. They reported that the fire was in a linen closet on the 22nd floor. Click here for the news report.