ten chicago things

A friend of mine has asked me for a "Top 10" list of things to do in the city while visiting. I'm so mired in my own shades-of-gray indecision, that I've obliged with a list of ten things, but can't provide actual "ranks" without emotional damage. So here they are, distinctly un-ordered:

• Enjoy live jazz at the Green Mill. (don’t talk during the music – it’s not allowed).

• Dodge yelling grill cooks at the Billy Goat tavern, home of “Cheezborger! Cheezborger!”

• Study the reflection on wet cobblestones in Caillebotte’s Paris Street; Rainy Day at the Art Institute of Chicago.

• Ride the Brown Line train – the ‘L’ – over the Chicago river and around the “Loop"

• Read this year’s fairytale in the Marshall Field’s (now Macy's) Christmas-time windows on State St.

• Roll the dice at “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind” to find out how much you pay for the show.

• Dance to the live polka band between the liver soup and brautwurst at the Chicago Brauhaus. German beer helps.

• Chomp a Chicago dog in the bleachers at Chicago Cub’s Wrigley Field on Clark. Don't worry about missing a half-inning: they're losing anyway.

• Stroll down North Avenue beach with friends, enjoying the view of the Hancock Building.

• Warm up with lapsang souchong smoked tea (and a book) at the Bourgeois Pig in Lincoln Park.