Come on feel the Illinoise
Published on Mon 14 Jun 2010
The next day was the day of the wedding. A few of us went for a spectacularly late breakfast at a restaurant called Yolk. What do you suppose they specialise in?
Also, anyone know what you're meant to do with the clotted cream?
The wedding itself was a beautiful thing. It was held in a warehouse that sells cool pieces of furniture and other bits and bobs that have been rescued from houses that are about to be demolished. For a lot of money.
Most importantly it had a table football table. And a huge fan. Have I mentioned yet how incredibly hot Chicago was? And some killer canapés. More people should treat rack of lamb as a canapé. The ceremony itself was really quite moving - Mat looked so happy that I was a bit worried he was about to explode. It is so nice to see your friends happy. Instead of cutting a wedding cake they cut a wedding roast beef, which is a genius idea. Ciaron did an excellent Best Man's speech: "I'll keep this simple because I know there are a lot of farmers here... and a lot of Americans". The chair dance afterwards was also a sight to behold. The free bar had taken a bit of a toll but when it was finished with the precious few who were there without their significant others and the even more precious few of us who haven't managed to find one (and is there anything that brings that more sharply into focus than a joyful wedding?) went to a series of drinking establishments and played some poor quality pool until nowhere else would have us before staggering home. Pretty great night. I got a splinter off one of the fancy antique chairs. It's still in my thumb.
I finally left the hotel at about 6pm the next day and met up with Fliss to do the two really essential Chicago things. The first was visiting "the bean" - a big shiny sculpture that's really called Cloud Gate. I didn't expect much, but it's actually quite stunning - not least because the skyline is reflected in it while you can see the skyline behind it.
Also, it's quite weirdy when you get underneath it
There was some other odd art nearby.
These displays show an image for a while,
and then eventually, and at random, spew water out before moving along to the next image.
The other essential Chicago thing, apparently, is deep dish pizza. I did some internet research and a place called Giordano's was the most highly rated that wasn't effing ages away. We ordered a small one (1-2 people it said on the menu, seemed reasonable) and because it was going to be 45 minutes, got a calamari "appetiser".
It would have probably seemed nicer if there'd been some garlic sauce and I'd not been in Barcelona a week earlier where the seafood is excellent, but at least there weren't any arguments about who wanted the last piece... The pizza turned out to be quite big, and each slice ludicrously filling. It tasted great, but I left the crust and Fliss didn't even attempt her last piece. God knows how the massive fat guy on the table nearby managed to finish his. Oh.
I then went back to the hotel at about 9 because I thought I had to be up early for the flight to New York the next morning. Not the longest day of my being awake career.
In the event (as I believe I wrote at the time) I was at the airport much earlier than I'd have needed to be, even without the 2 hour delay. Shortly after writing that I got talking to a nice woman from Florida called Mary who was going to a conference in a hotel not too far from mine so offered me a ride in the taxi she was getting on expenses. Little did I know that before I got that taxi something would happen that I think is going to haunt me forever...
Can you tell I've been reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo? I thought it was going to be great, but it all went a bit Dan Brown about halfway through.