My mom and I met up in Chicago for a girls shopping adventure last week. We arrived within a half hour of each other on Tuesday, then boarded the shuttle bus for the hotel. Where did we stay you ask? Well of course the fine Fairmont Hotel in the heart of downtown Chicago. It was beautiful. Upon arrival we were greeted by the front door attendant who escorted us to the check in counter. Looking around the lobby we were amazed at the pure beauty that was presented before our eyes. In the middle of the lobby was a very fancy Cheese, Chocolate and Wine bar which I am sure was over priced but quite lovely! Anyways, we get our key and head up to the twentieth floor to admire our room, and freshen up from our flights to head out for dinner. The Fairmont is one of those fancy hotels with the pillow menu and service of whatever you want we will give you and it is no trouble at all....The only problem we found when we arrived at our room was that when we had pre-requested to have no down in the room, the maids had only removed the down pillows but not the comforter. Usually this would not be a problem, but my mom and I are both VERY allergic to anything with feathers in it. We did not even need to call down to the lobby to inform them, they had already sent an attendant to fix the problem before we could even ask for the linens to be changed! Wonderful service!
After we got our things settled in the room, we decided that we were hungry and would head out to find some food. We knew that we wanted to eat at one of our favorite restaurants and headed down Michigan Avenue until we arrived at The Grand Lux. If you have never eaten at the Grand Lux, you must!! We ordered cocktails while we awaited our table, then we were seated quite promptly. After we had enjoyed our Miso Salmon and Pasta Carbanara, we decided that we should walk some of the calories off before heading back to the hotel.
We walked around the Magnificent Mile area and were admiring the changes since Jeremy and I have lived there. One of the new establishments happened to be a Trader Joe's!! We thought it would be a good idea to get a bottle of 2 buck chuck and head back to the room for the evening and just relax, after all tomorrow will be jam packed with shopping!!
We arrived back at the hotel, and found the wine glasses and the corkscrew sitting in the vanity area. We get the corkscrew into the cork, but could not pull it out. Between the two of us, we just could not get the stupid cork out of the bottle!!! I decided to put the wine back into the bag and head down to the concierge, maybe he could help us! Once down at the concierge desk, I pulled the wine out of the bag and explained the situation. The reply to this situation was somewhat embarrassing...."I think our friends at Eno Wine bar are better equipped for this type of situation!" I just know that he was laughing at me on the inside! Red in the face I made my way over to Eno Wine bar and explained the situation. The lady behind the counter was very nice and explained that this kind of thing happens quite often! I'm just glad she was so understanding, but boy was I ever embarrassed!!!
