ABs hit Chicago 🏉

FridayDrove to John Wayne Airport for our flight to Chicago. Would totally recommend this Airport for domestic flights instead of LAX. Not so manic and much friendlier.

We flew American and despite my chocs for the crew, they were very average. One guy working on a day off, so he could be with his fiancé on her first day.

Nice airplane though , new 737-800

Landed in ORD, 4 ish hours later. Met up with John , he arrived from NY only minutes before us.

The Taxi ride took ages due cubs parade in town , they won the World Series.

Checked in, Dropped our stuff and headed out. We walked and explores and ate at Quartinos for dinner , great food , great service. Italian inspired buy choices for everyone as they were smallish servings , you could order a few and share 😊

We stopped off at “Pops for Champagne” on the way home. Friday night in town atmosphere , so fun but noisy 😜

Found an interactive display/ “tackle the all blacks” so practiced our tackling for the next day.

Wandered back , lobby was like a being in NZ , “black”everywhere 🏉

Few more drinks, couple too many !!and bed💤

Game Day

Tried to get into a breakfast cafe called “Wildberry ” looong wait so went for a wander and found “Toni ” French cafe. , was Lovely, very French.

Back to the hotel , All Blacks gear on and on the way to the field , found “the Bean”, seen it in movies 🎥 and now we were there !

Then we were off , walked through Millenium Park , beautiful colours on the trees 🌲 🌳, to Soldier Field along with the throngs , great atmosphere of green and black.

The stadium was absolutely amazing, had a beer, and a corn dog AND a hot dog 😊 , Thanks to John, we had great seats , loved the whole thing except the loss. 😢

The Irish fans were amazing and it was great to share it with my Irish friend John.

Sadly our hello West Auckland sign didn’t make it to the screen.

The atmosphere walking back to town was something special , Irish fans saying hi to All Blacks fans and thanking them for the game. Sorry the video is sideways lol

Wandered back along the lake shore , found a small Cancer Survivors garden.

Dinner was at the famous “Giordanos” for Chicago Deep Dish pizza.

I even had a chance to kiss the mighty All Black captain ❤️❤️

This was a day to remember for sure, great to share with my beautiful sister and two of my friends of 30 years , John and Elaine.

Sunday

Heading out the hotel, turned around thinking it was my friend John behind me and came face to face with Aaron Cruden , woohoo, smiles said hi and he said hi back 😉

Wildberry for breakfast , still a 1 hr 30 m wait, so we put our name down , grabbed a take out coffee and sat in the sun in Millenium Park awaiting our turn. The wait was worth it, pancakes and fresh berries were delicious.

Breakfast done, more coffee consumed and we were off …..got the Loop train and also the subway , destination: “360 Chicago” observation deck, magnificent views and a special attraction called “Tilt” , you’ll have to google it 😝