And all that jazz

As we mentioned before in a previous post, part of our mini-vacation was spent in Chicago, thanks to a seven-hour layover. So we trekked downtown to see the sights. Here are a few pictures from that part of the trip.

Downtown Chicago was amazing. Especially the fiancial sector. We took the Orange Line metro from Midway Airport and managed to hit every place on our list -- despite being a bit off-schedule.















The wonderful people at the Sears Tower warned us that if we went to the top we wouldn't see anything. We had noticed the same thing ourselves, so we just bought postcards and some other souvenirs here.















A short bus ride later, we arrived at the intersection of Chicago Ave. and Michigan Ave. The Old Water Tower was one of the remaining buildings left after fire gutted most of the city. Today it is an art gallery.





















The American Girl Doll store/tourist trap is every girl's dream. In fact, when boys go in, they give them a Gameboy to keep them occupied. Can you believe they have an entire floor dedicated to making people look just like their dolls?















Having sampled New York's pizza while on a journalism trip, one of Michael's goals was to try a Chigago deep-dish pizza. Locals suggested Giordano's "world famous stuffed pizza."















The verdict? Chicago pizza has waaaaaay too much cheese. New York pizza is quite a bit better in our book. Better flavor too.















After eating, we got on the subway and headed back. We got lost getting back to the airport by taking the Green Line towards Harlem instead of the Orange line (it was Michael's fault). But after a mad rush back, we made it with plenty of time to spare.

Special thanks to our Chicago friends (you know who you are) for making it all possible.