Chicago

Jake and I flew to Chicago this weekend for Dan's wedding. Here are some quick highlights:

We rediscovered how much CTA sucks. We tried to take the train to downtown, only to be forced onto a bus because they were doing trackwork. It took forever. At least in DC, they've worked out a way to single-track trains so passengers can still use them when maintenance is required...

We took a sightseeing boat tour of downtown. Here's a picture taken on the boat:



We walked around downtown and went to Millennium Park. Here's the big jellybean sculpture thing:



Here's a picture of a little boy throwing a ball underneath the sculpture thing (which wound up hitting me in the head):



Can you find Jake and me?



We met Jake's family and ate at Cheesecake Factory on Saturday night. Jake's parents were in town for an art fair and they also brought bicycles down to ride around town. Jake's brother and one of his friends drove down separately. Jake and I planned to get a ride back to our hotel from his parents, but then they told us that they had bikes in their car, so they initially suggested that we catch a ride with Seth. However, then we had dinner and Seth had obviously been drinking and intended to stick around downtown late into the evening going to the bars with his friend. We suggested that Jake's parents put their bikes into the car Seth drove down and drop us back at our hotel. After dinner, we had a little adventure looking for the car, because Seth and his friend weren't sure where they had parked... It all worked out, though, and Jake's parents got us back to our hotel safe and sound.

Dan's wedding started on Sunday afternoon. Mitch and Danielle picked us up and took us to the banquet hall. We had to change our driving route several times because there were a lot of roads closed due to flooding.

I don't think I'll ever experience another wedding quite like Dan's again in my life. Mitch and Danielle both said that it was one of the most religious weddings they've attended. During the ceremony, the men and the women had to sit on separate sides of the room. I'm glad Danielle was there, or I would have had to sit by myself. Here's a picture of Dan and Anya at the chuppah:



During the reception part, the men and women also had to dance separately. They put a screen up between the men's part of the dance floor and the women's part. I think the amount of alcohol available was part of the Russian influence on the wedding. Each table had a full bottle of vodka, whiskey, white wine, red wine, and...I think I'm missing one bottle...and another bottle of alcohol. We ate Chinese food prepared by a kosher catering company. The evening's entertainment was interesting. Some people put on a skit, which included someone wearing a mask of Dan's face and Anya's brother dressed in drag. Lots of the men did all sorts of crazy dances trying to get Dan to laugh. The band's repertoire included a version of Men At Work's "Down Under" in Hebrew. Dan juggled fire. Yup, definitely an interesting evening...

Here's one last picture of Dan and Anya. This one includes Dan's parents and sister and I believe someone's grandma...

The two of them are moving to Israel in less than two weeks! Jake and I only got to meet Anya very briefly at the wedding. She asked Jake if he had any insider roommate tips of things to watch out for living with Dan. The two of them have some big changes coming up. It will be craziness, I'm sure...