the 'business' trip begins
The hostel was cool, but it was quite noisy in the morning, so I gave up trying to sleep after a four-hour slumber. Dick (business manager), who had spent the night at a friend’s place, picked up Rich (marketing manager) and his wife Sarah from the airport when they arrived that morning. He then picked me up and we checked at the Fairfield Inn & Suites on South Cicero Avenue.
After dropping off our luggage and settling into our rooms, the four of us headed back out to tour the town. At Navy Pier, we ate and browsed some of the shops before embarking a fabulous architectural boat tour of the city. Chicago has some wonderful buildings, and the canal system provides so many great perspectives from which to admire them.
After the tour, we walked for miles (lots of them) along Lake Michigan, stopping at the Hancock building to enjoy a live jazz band and shopping in some stores before going to the Skydeck of the Sears Tower. Dick’s friend suggested a part of town to get dinner, but it turned out to be all pubs, so we hopped in a cab and drove until 11 pm when we found Select Cut Steak House. The Dick, Rich, and I each ordered 16oz (~454g) steaks and Sarah had a 10-ouncer (~283g). After dinner, we went to the bars for a few hours and crashed around 3:00am.
