Carbon Copy

'Tis a Wee Bit Late But... St. Patty's Day Trip to Chicago

I know, I know... St. Patrick's Day was two weeks ago, and I already used the word "wee" in reference to it, but give a girl a break. I couldn't sleep last night, I'm feeling vaguely discontent, and rather than continue reading for class on Monday, I'm hoping to drown my sorrows in blogging. Hopefully I'll get more creative as we go along (but don't get your hopes up).

Cristen spearheaded a visit to the Irish-filled land of Chicago so we could get our fill o' green rivers and (for them) green beer. I drove. Cristen brought green cake. And yes, we ate it in the car. I should've known that people who will go to see a river turn green would also deck themselves out in green, but it still surprised me - boas, hats, curly wigs, green jeans, and shamrock-themed boxers on people too old to be wearing boxers on the outside of their pants. I mean, I had on my green argyles and t-shirt. Erica and Cristen were bedecked in emerald hues (Kevin, somehow, hadn't thought of wearing green - crazy Brit), but not to this extent. We parked (and I must say, got a good deal and a good spot!) and then followed the crowd. We all knew where they were headed.

The river was already lined with people. We couldn't find a free spot, so we opted for something one person deep rather than five. We had to wait about 15 minutes before the official greening. We even spotted a leprechaun!

We couldn't quite tell what was going on. Erica and Cristen had to crane their necks...

because there was a horrible woman standing in front of us.

At first, we didn't mind too much because afterall, she was already there. We chose to stand behind her and two of her friends... but then, she invited more of her horrible friends to come up and stand with her in front of us! We were not pleased. You could see it in our dagger eyes. We had to just hold our cameras out in front of us when the river started to change and hope for the best.

It was time for some lunch. Pubs closest to the river (who knew there were so many Irish ones around?!) were already crawling with people. We tried one closeby, but after being ushered down to the basement with no tables and still too many people, we made our exit. A few blocks down, we found Miller's.

They had some Patty's Day specials, like green beer, corned beef, and such, but most of us opted for more everyday fare.

(I'd like to take this moment to point out how awesome the steaming meat on the stained glass behind Kevin and Cristen is. Also, it amused me that British Kevin ordered some fish-n-chips. I don't know why. Apparently, they weren't up to snuff.)

After lunch, we again followed the crowd to view the parade. For a moment, we got separated. The crowd took Cristen and BK across the street toward the Art Institute while Erica and I were stranded on the other side of the road. Frantic cell phone calls were made. British Kevin's head, floating above the crowd, was spotted, and we all reunited again. Others apparently had this problem because we overheard several people on phones, saying "Raise your hand!" The crowd was thick.

Just like the river, we couldn't get a good spot for the parade. My pictures are full of other people and angled from above in an attempt to see over the crowd. I have to admit, the parade was not terribly exciting. Full of plumbers, teamsters, and union workers all just sauntering along, the occurrence of a real float, marching band, or dancers caused us to scream with delight.

I liked these violinists placed on the bow of the ship. They looked so sweet playing music you could barely hear.

There were also lots of dancers - hand straight down, legs jumping, fake curls bouncing.

The best thing about the parade, though, were the handouts. At one point, I got a hat (but only because someone felt sorry for me), and then I got a keychain (again, someone felt sorry for me and gave me it), and then I got some beads. I tried so hard for those beads. It felt like Mardi Gras (sans exposed breasts). But I didn't get them on my own. Again, people felt sorry for me and gave me their excess. I guess I have a sympathetic face. Regardless, I wore that hat with pride!

And then passed it around for others to wear. (But only long enough for a picture!)

We left the parade after we received our fair share of beads and got tired of seeing Irish dancers. We wanted to check out the Chicago River again, now that the crowds had hopefully died down, so we headed back that direction. This, of course, brought us to "the bean," or whatever it's really called.

I kept thinking it was springtime. I mean, it was spring break, even though we were bundled in layers. That's why it surprised me that there were still people ice skating.

Kevin, Erica, and I leaned against the rails while we waited for Cristen and watched the people below. I liked this little girl. She seemed afraid to get on the ice and just sat there on the corner. Her father tried to coax her on without success. Then this little boy came to talk to her.

Apparently he succeeded. I got distracted for a moment by a strange woman asking me to donate money to something or other and when I turned back, she was on the ice.

There were still a lot of people near the river taking pictures. You can't blame them. The river was a vivid kelly green.

We kept walking up Michigan towards the Apple Store. I had a big purchase to make (the macbrook pro I'm typing on right now!) I got rid of my hat first. I couldn't picture myself in the apple store buying a very sophisticated computer while wearing a plastic green tophat. I forgot about the shamrock sticker on my cheek and the beads around my neck. It's no wonder the apple store clerks were skeptical of my ability to make such a serious purchase, especially when I told them I didn't have any questions. But they sold it to me anyway, and I carried it, firmly grasping the handle, back to the car as we stepped over at least one drunk stumbling out of a pub.