It's the bean! Yes, I was in Chicago until this afternoon. My friend suggested I take in 'the bean' before I left town, and I kept getting interrupted by e-mail and calls in my hotel such that instead of the walk I intended to take, I had to do it by cab on the way to the airport. The cab driver was willing to take me, but he'd never heard of 'the bean', although he knew Millennium Park. So we circled until I spotted it, and then he suddenly did a U-turn in the middle of the street, going up partly on the sidewalk to get the cab adjusted such that I could be on the correct side of the road to get my photo. He stopped and jumped out, opening the trunk like I was getting out so he wouldn't get in trouble for stopping where you are not supposed to! Beyond the call of duty, and he became such a friendly fellow that he invited me to come to his house next time and his wife would prepare a traditional dinner as would be eaten in Turkmenistan where he is from.

I had lunch at the Illinois Bar & Grill at Midway airport.

Looking at their menu, it seemed everything came in gargantuan proportion.

So although I wanted to try something "Illinois", I couldn't imagine eating an XXX size anything, and when I saw the food come out, it proved my hunch. I had a Caesar Salad with grilled chicken breast. It came all boxed up and ready to take on an airplane.

However, I opened the box and poured on one of the two dressing pouches provided, and made a small dent in this XXX sized delicious salad before stopping. The chicken breast was freshly grilled and moist. Quite amazing airport food actually. This was a great trip in every way.