I can hardly believe it, but the Chicago meet up is only just over a week away. I’ve been conferring with the ever present and extremely diligent elf on the ground and she’s got some firmer Intel to report:
After looking into the availability of the Walnut Room and finding that there were no reservations even at 4:00 or 4:30 pm, I decided to make a reservation for the Volare at 4:30. That is very near the theater, and I think from the comments (and my own two visits) that the food and service are very good. After dinner, we could go out on Michigan Ave. for a walk and/or shopping if we wanted to.
I think that for the morning, we would definitely want to go to the Art Institute, since the new exhibits are very interesting. (Obscura note: There is an absolutely stunning special exhibit on Byzantine Art at the moment) The Art Institute opens at 10:30 am. The Berghoff and Russian Tea Time restaurants are nearby; we could also consider going to the food court at the Art Institute itself, although it is hard to predict how crowded it would be (on the day after Thanksgiving it was packed, but last Saturday it was easy to get a seat). Or, we could go to some place near the theater. Please let me know your thoughts on this.
Given that we are so close to go time, we really need to know how many people to expect, so if you haven’t already done so, please email me at ancientarmitage@gmail.com to let us know you’ll be there and so that I can set up an email list for sending out the final details.
PS…the extended forecast is calling for a balmy 35F on the 20th!