Taste of Chicago

Imagine this:
We had been in Chicago less than a week.
It's the last week of Taste of Chicago.
We wanted a "real" Chicago experience.
Everyone's recommended Taste of Chicago to us.
So, we decide to have a "real" Chicago adventure and take the El into the city for dinner at Taste of Chicago.
Sounds like a great idea, huh?
What we did not put together: everyone who had recommended Taste of Chicago to us doesn't have kids. :)

We arrive:

and like good first-timers, go straight to the directory. We figure out where to buy tickets to get food and head on out on our journey.

We got some recommendations, and although I think we got some pretty good food, the quantities were really small for a pregnant lady, her husband and toddler to share. None the less, we found a table (that I thought I was going to break when I sat down), let Ilana out of her stroller and had dug in. Ilana was really enjoying running around, so we sat and watched her explore for a bit. We heard some live music and saw some dancing, so we went over and enjoyed ourselves. I think Ilana had the best seat, on Paul's shoulders. The whole time, we're schleping the stroller around.

Side note: this is no ordinary stroller. We got it when we arrived in Chicago because we needed someplace to put Ilana on longer walks, our ordinary stroller didn't fit into the car when we left Gettysburg. However, this one is too small for Ilana, her legs spill out the sides instead of naturally staying in the front, it's too short for me (making it way too short for Paul), and every time you take a step you hit the back bar. So, Ilana gets a pretty bumpy ride and you end up frustrated because you don't feel like you can walk.

We were still hungry, but decided to help Ilana have a good time by going to the kids' area. We head over to find a CAROUSEL!!! Paul and Ilana immediately get in line

and begin the process of picking out a horse to ride. Her turn comes and she couldn't have been more thrilled.

Then it began moving and the fun really started.

Looking back, this was definitely the highlight of the night for us. I'm so glad we did it!

We were still hungry, and we still had a few tickets left, so we decided to go to the recommended cheesecake booth for dessert. Looking at the map, from the kids' area the cheesecake place was "right across the street." Well, it was dinner time, and the last week of Taste of Chicago. We thought that because it was a Tuesday it wouldn't be too crowded - wrong, Wrong, WRONG! It took us about 30 minutes of inching across the street to get to the cheesecake booth - I'm not kidding at all! All the time...schleping the stroller along. Poor Ilana probably felt lost in a sea of knees. We get the cheesecake and look for a place to enjoy it. We see a huge empty field, so we head toward it. What we found right in front of the field was slightly disconcerting: a metal fence and police men who told us that the field could not be used by anyone (not even very pregnant ladies and their toddlers - we tried). So, standing up against the fence, we decided there was no better place to eat our cheesecake.

After enjoying our very small portion of cheesecake, we asked the "kind" policeman what the fastest way out was. It was already past Ilana's bedtime and we needed to get her home. He pointed directly across the street and added a nice "good luck" at the end. We audibly groaned at the thought of crossing the even more-crowded street again.

This time, instead of trying to stay together, we decided to divide, conquer and meet up on the other side. I carried Ilana and Paul carried the stroller...above his head. People were so surprised by the stroller in the air that they actually moved aside for him, thinking that a baby was actually in it - ?!?! Needless to say, he beat Ilana and I to the other side - we should have stuck together!

On the way to the El we encountered people being arrested on site, buses and even ambulances weaving through swarms of people, and much much more inner city culture than I ever thought I'd expose my 2-year old to. We got back onto the El about 9pm, feeling a bit more settled and glad to be on our way home, but still hungry and exhausted. I think we got home around 9:45 that night. I don't think we even bathed Ilana, we just put her to bed. She was such a trooper. She only screamed once: when Paul took her off the carousel, because the ride was over (yes, I had convinced Paul to take her on the carousel ride partly because I've taken her on 2 others, knew this would happen, and wanted him to fully experience the "fun" - I know, I'm awful).

All in all we learned a very important lesson: don't take a toddler to Taste of Chicago.
AND, when you get a recommendation, make sure the people doing the recommending have kids.
Oh, and when you're pregnant, take snacks everywhere.

Our Taste of Chicago experience was certainly one way to fully experience culture shock.
-H