So, for my birthday present this year, Nick bought me tickets to the U2 concert in Chicago, on Sunday, September 12th. Seeing that this was our first out of town trip together, since our wedding, that didn't involve our either of our families, we decided to make it our honeymoon. (Yes, three years after getting married, we finally had a honeymoon. Again, late is better than never.)
The weekend started after Nick got off work Friday, the 10th. We drove to Milwaukee and stayed with Nick's Aunt Karen. Then, we continued to Chicago Saturday morning, with plans to spend most of the day at Soldier Field, hitting the Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, and Shedd Aquarium.
We approached the Museum Campus from Roosevelt Road, and could see the Aquarium right in front of us, however, we couldn't figure out how to actually get to it. We ended up northbound on Lakeshore Drive, and couldn't figure out how to turn around. Five miles later, we we way past Soldier Field and finally hit a road we could use to turn around. However, we then had a difficult time getting on Lakeshore Drive going southbound. After going in circles a couple times, we finnaly got our lanes right and made the turn onto Lakeshore Drive southbound. So, we headed back towards Soldier Field, and waved as we passed it, and again, didn't see a turn off to actually get into the Museum Campus. At this point, it was after noon, and we had dinner plans that night. We called it a day, got on the interstate and headed to our hotel in the suburbs, The Hilton Garden Inn in Schaumburg to be exact.
So, we signed into the hotel, went to our room, got cleaned up. And spent the rest of our exciting Chicago afternoon at a mall in the burbs. At this point, I was pretty discouraged about the trip and felt like we wasted the day. But, we still had dinner coming, and what a dinner it was.
Nick bought dinner tickets for Medieval Times, and he didn't go with the standard package, he went with the King's Royalty package. So, we got to sit in the front row of a jousting tournament and eat a four course meal. When we first got there, I had my doubts. The lobby is a cheese fest of a tourist trap, selling over priced beverages and some really gaudy gift store items. But, there were some cool swords to look at. Nick and I decided that in order to have the best time, we would just ham it up and enjoy ourselves, despite the corniness.
All the diners were split into six separate sections, each with their own night. We were in the black and white section, and our knight was the warrior-priest knight. We had our own Paladin/Crusader to cheer for. (And, part of our King's Royalty package included a cheering banner.) So, each time our knight went by we cheered and waved out banner.
Then, the actual show started. Wow. It was amazing. The performers really did joust, on real horses. The horsemanship was amazing, the choreography for the weapon fights were amazing. The swords sparked, one knight used a pole-arm. It was spectacular. I still think it was one of the coolest things I ever saw. And, Saturday was no longer a wasted day in Chicago.
After the show, we went back to the hotel, had a drink at the hotel bar, and then crashed so we could get up early for the next day.
Sunday morning, we headed back to Soldier Field, hotel directions in hand, so that we could make it into the Museum Campus. We had a couple different plans for parking and figured out how to get from point A to B without any problems. In other words, we did research and planned in advance. It was early and traffic was light, so we got to Solider Field and parked on the Museum Campus without too much trouble. In fact, we got there before anything opened.
We decided to visit Shedd Aquarium first. I love fish tanks, especially salt water tanks, so out of the different places at Solider Field, this was the place I was most interested in seeing. So, when the aquarium opened, we were in line and got tickets.
I think my favorite part of Shedd Aquarium was the shark tank. Unfortunately I didn't get good pictures of sharks, but I did get a pretty good shot (with my phone) of a (sting?) ray.
We hung out at the aquarium for a few hours. I bought a hat for working in the yard, hiking, and doing other stuff outside in the sun. Nick bought a cool hoody with fleece lining. As far as gift shops go, Shedd Aquarium does pretty good. I wanted a shirt that said "Shedd Aquarium is my happy place." But it was in the tight girl-shirt style that does not work with belly fat. So, I got the hat instead.We finished up at the aquarium around 4:00. The concert started at 7:00, with the gates opening at 6:00, so we still had time to kill. Unfortunately, the other museums on campus all closed at either 5:00 or 6:00, and were still charging full ticket prices to get in. So we walked around for a bit. I put my feet in Lake Michigan, and then we went to wait in line.
When we got in line around 5:00, we were about a mile from the stadium. You can see it in the distance. The line was about 10 feet wide, too. At this point, I had been standing for most of the day and my feet hurt. So I decided to sit in line.
A half hour after the gates opened, we ended up in the stadium. We had General Admission, floor tickets.
This is part of the stage set up for the concert. There's a bunch of interesting stats scattered around the internet, along with much better images. Nick likes to call it the stage-o-saurus. I've also seen it referred to as a claw or a space ship.The opening band, Snow Patrol, started at 7:00. I enjoyed their performances. Then, after an intermission, U2 came on around 8:45. They played a full set, plus two encores. The show ended around 10:30.
Because of the stage set up, we were able to get pretty close. There is a main stage, and then a ring around the main stage. There were seats between the main stage and the ring, and the band used a rotating bridge to move from one stage to the other. We were only about 20 feet from the outside ring. Unfortunately I'm pretty short and still had to deal with heads and shoulders above me. But if I angled myself just right, I was able to see the drummer for most of the show. I got a bunch of good views of the Edge as well. The pictures below are all from Nick's camera-phone. They are better views than what I could see, but it does give you an idea of how close we actually were.
Bono on the bridge between the stages.
The Edge on the bridge between the stages.
The band performing on the main stage.
The light show display.I absolutely loved this concert. It is my favorite one so far. Nick isn't a U2 fan, and he still enjoyed the show. A large part of why I loved the show so much is because U2 is my favorite band. I like the music for the other concerts I've attended, but I didn't know the songs as much. At this concert, I was able to jump (my equivalent of dancing) and belt my heart out and it was great to be one with the music and the band, and the other people at the show. It was the best birthday present Nick could have given me.
After the show we went back to our hotel, got about 6 hours of sleep and headed home the next morning.
Between the sword fighting, sharks, and the best concert so far, this weekend was amazing, and my favorite weekend. Thanks for the honeymoon Pookie!