Thank you, Quasi!
I had to look up “Chicago beef”; I was afraid it was a hot dog. Looks palatable. 
Dung, “palatable” makes it sounds like something you would eat if you had to. Get one of these babies with sweet peppers and some extra juice. Some people like it actually dipped in the juice, and if you’re one of those, you order it “dipped.” I guarantee you will no longer refer to it as merely palatable. Italian beef was basically invented here, and so was gyros. Wherever you go, you can order the stuff, but this is home territory. And, when you order a gyros, you don’t pronounce it the way it’s spelled, because that comes out like jy - roze. And we all laugh to ourselves when we hear that. It’s closer to hyee ros. With tzatziki sauce. Mmmmm, I’m making myself reaaalll hungry. I may have to stop writing and go out and
Glad you’re not having to, uh… Hitch Hike, Buddy! 
Q
Ermmmmm… Buddy-ette!
Is “Italian beef” common outside the Chicago area? I discovered that most people in college not from Illinois had no clue what I was talking about when I mentioned an “Italian beef.” (And ya gotta get it with giardiniera, or at least a mix of sweet and hot. That is, unless you really don’t like hot peppers at all.)
So…we just got back from Chicago, and it was a really wonderful trip. We stayed four and a half days, which allowed us to do just about everything we had in mind, plus some sleeping late and my usual travel puking. We took lots of pictures too.
The first day, we saw the Bean and I absolutely loved it. That is a fine piece of public art! We then went on to the Field Museum, where I was particularly interested to see Sue after reading the Dresden Files books. That night, we went to eat at Gino’s East and got some deep-dish pizza. I was also allowed to sign the bar.
The next day, we went to the Art Institute, where we saw a lot of famous stuff (my favorite was American Gothic, my husband’s Nighthawks). We saw a lot of things in the modern art wing, not to mention the Cy Twombley room, that was completely ghastly but now I wish I’d taken pictures of it. At least it was thought-provoking.
This might have also been the day we went to the Navy Pier, but there wasn’t too much going on there.
That night, we saw a show at Second City, which was freaking great of course! I kept my program so I can see which of these people gets to be famous.
Cell Guy, we didn’t plan ahead sufficiently to take you up on the tour offer, but the next day we went to the Frank Lloyd Wright house and studio, where a nice lady named Doris showed us around. Frank was a bit of a nut, huh? We took a lot of pictures in that neighborhood whether it was a Wright house or not. I dig those Victorians.
That night, we got to eat at Everest, which was very beautiful and when we were done, they let us go into a private room to check out the view. Of course, we went right on to the Hancock building anyway and had a drink next to the windows in the Signature Lounge. Did you know there’s an amazing view from the ladies’ room, but not the mens?
On this day, it finally got cold, but we wrapped up and walked over to see them dye the river a completely disgusting color. 
Then we followed all the lunatics to the park to see the parade. It might be more accurate to say we heard the parade, because we were way back in the crowd, but there was a girl standing on a fire hydrant who pretty much narrated it for us, and I was cracking up at the comments of people in the crowd. I had no idea St. Patrick’s Day was like Mardi Gras to you folks.
That night we ate at Tru, which was a really incredible restaurant, one of the best I’ve ever been to. I wish I’d taken pictures of some of the food before I ate it!
On the final day, we went to the Sears tower. You can believe I stayed off those transparent panels, though.
A funny thing about Chicago, we got panhandled like mad almost every time we went out, but the panhandlers were unfailingly friendly and polite although we never gave them anything. Is there some kind of law about that?
I’m sorry to say I failed to get an Italian beef, but you know, I would be happy to go back and try again… It was an amazing vacation, thanks guys for all your advice!