Chi City, Chi City
I'm comin' home again
Do you think about me now and then?
I'm back from my whirlwind trip to Chicago! It was brilliant, fun, exhausting and wonderful all at once. I left Hong Kong on an 11:50 am flight Friday, May 4, checking in at the Hong Kong station in Central before boarding the Airport Express, then flying through security and immigration in a record twelve minutes. Guess this is a good time to travel! We boarded quickly - as with all Cathay flights, each seat had a little coat hook, a color TV with remote, and tray tables which when lowered revealed an individual outlet for charging your iphone/ipod/laptop computer - then we were off! I proceeded to read two books on my Kindle, which meant I did not slept more than three hours on this flight. I knew this was not a good idea, considering we were landing at 1:30 pm and I had a full day of activities packed ahead of me, but I was too engrossed in my novels to care.
Upon landing, I hopped on the good ole' L (blue line and then the orange line) to my law school friend's apartment in the South Loop. She would be coming to the wedding as well, and graciously let me crash in her second bedroom. I met up with another very good friend from law school who was staying at the Intercontinental Hotel on Michigan Ave. I hadn't seen her in a year and was so excited to catch up. From there we proceeded to Spiaggia, where the rehearsal dinner was held. We had tasty drinks, yummy hors d'ouvres and best of all, got to catch up with old friends.
For Saturday, I was on a mission to cram as much into my day as possible, and to indulge in the many items that I cannot get in Hong Kong. I met up with two law school friends for a delicious and filling brunch at Bongo Room. I had the breakfast burrito and a delicious stack of pretzel and white chocolate hotcakes. Ah, how I've missed a really good brunch. I then proceeded to pick up items of all and sundry: mixed nuts, Trader Joe's Australian strawberry licorice, Gap underwear, body wash, sour candy... shirt and jeans and sunglasses at Anthropologie.
The wedding was held at the Elizabeth Notabaert Nature Museum. The ceremony was outside and made all the more memorable by a few honking Canadian geese that kept flying overhead. One of the geese did such an elaborate trumpeting call and neck waggle at the beginning of the ceremony that I thought it was planned! It turns out that goose had a nest directly overlooking the proceedings. The reception was beautiful, with glass votives and large green hydrangeas, purple tulips, purple and pink snapdragons and fragrant, white silky peonies in glass jars scattered all over the tables. The father of the bride gave Hong Kong a shout-out in his welcome speech - for farthest distance traveled, woot woot! The dance floor was lit up with green and purple paper lanterns and kept packed with steady, good beats all night long. The bride and groom looked radiant.
Sunday morning found me packing and preparing for my departure. The heavens had cooperated beautifully for the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, and by Sunday mid-morning was seeking its vengeance for exhibiting such good behavior the few days before. The rain was pouring down in sheets at one point, which, along with the fact that many of my good law school friends had already left the city, prompted me to give up on trying to lug my bags to the brunch. I opted instead to have a quick cozy lunch at a restaurant in my friend's building, and headed to the airport shortly thereafter.
It's not Chicago without a travel delay. My flight remained on time (to my surprise) until about 20 minutes before boarding time. "Due to inclement weather," we ended up being delayed for two hours. I consoled myself with the thought that at least it was a nonstop flight and I did not have to worry about making any connections. As when all good things come to an end, the flight home seemed to stretch endlessly, despite the fact that I was able to fit in a few naps and watched the entire fourth season of Parks & Recreation.
When I finally got home on Monday night at 11:30 pm HK time (Monday 10:30 am Chicago time), I could only marvel at how I had traveled around the world in three days. 48 hours in Chi City and nearly 41 hours in transit - what an experience!
I'm comin' home again
Do you think about me now and then?
I'm back from my whirlwind trip to Chicago! It was brilliant, fun, exhausting and wonderful all at once. I left Hong Kong on an 11:50 am flight Friday, May 4, checking in at the Hong Kong station in Central before boarding the Airport Express, then flying through security and immigration in a record twelve minutes. Guess this is a good time to travel! We boarded quickly - as with all Cathay flights, each seat had a little coat hook, a color TV with remote, and tray tables which when lowered revealed an individual outlet for charging your iphone/ipod/laptop computer - then we were off! I proceeded to read two books on my Kindle, which meant I did not slept more than three hours on this flight. I knew this was not a good idea, considering we were landing at 1:30 pm and I had a full day of activities packed ahead of me, but I was too engrossed in my novels to care.
Upon landing, I hopped on the good ole' L (blue line and then the orange line) to my law school friend's apartment in the South Loop. She would be coming to the wedding as well, and graciously let me crash in her second bedroom. I met up with another very good friend from law school who was staying at the Intercontinental Hotel on Michigan Ave. I hadn't seen her in a year and was so excited to catch up. From there we proceeded to Spiaggia, where the rehearsal dinner was held. We had tasty drinks, yummy hors d'ouvres and best of all, got to catch up with old friends.
For Saturday, I was on a mission to cram as much into my day as possible, and to indulge in the many items that I cannot get in Hong Kong. I met up with two law school friends for a delicious and filling brunch at Bongo Room. I had the breakfast burrito and a delicious stack of pretzel and white chocolate hotcakes. Ah, how I've missed a really good brunch. I then proceeded to pick up items of all and sundry: mixed nuts, Trader Joe's Australian strawberry licorice, Gap underwear, body wash, sour candy... shirt and jeans and sunglasses at Anthropologie.
The wedding was held at the Elizabeth Notabaert Nature Museum. The ceremony was outside and made all the more memorable by a few honking Canadian geese that kept flying overhead. One of the geese did such an elaborate trumpeting call and neck waggle at the beginning of the ceremony that I thought it was planned! It turns out that goose had a nest directly overlooking the proceedings. The reception was beautiful, with glass votives and large green hydrangeas, purple tulips, purple and pink snapdragons and fragrant, white silky peonies in glass jars scattered all over the tables. The father of the bride gave Hong Kong a shout-out in his welcome speech - for farthest distance traveled, woot woot! The dance floor was lit up with green and purple paper lanterns and kept packed with steady, good beats all night long. The bride and groom looked radiant.
Sunday morning found me packing and preparing for my departure. The heavens had cooperated beautifully for the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, and by Sunday mid-morning was seeking its vengeance for exhibiting such good behavior the few days before. The rain was pouring down in sheets at one point, which, along with the fact that many of my good law school friends had already left the city, prompted me to give up on trying to lug my bags to the brunch. I opted instead to have a quick cozy lunch at a restaurant in my friend's building, and headed to the airport shortly thereafter.
It's not Chicago without a travel delay. My flight remained on time (to my surprise) until about 20 minutes before boarding time. "Due to inclement weather," we ended up being delayed for two hours. I consoled myself with the thought that at least it was a nonstop flight and I did not have to worry about making any connections. As when all good things come to an end, the flight home seemed to stretch endlessly, despite the fact that I was able to fit in a few naps and watched the entire fourth season of Parks & Recreation.
When I finally got home on Monday night at 11:30 pm HK time (Monday 10:30 am Chicago time), I could only marvel at how I had traveled around the world in three days. 48 hours in Chi City and nearly 41 hours in transit - what an experience!
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