I had the very good fortune to travel to Chicago over the Halloween weekend with my fellow editors of the Review. It didn't even take a full day for me to fall in love with Chicago. The architecture was absolutely incredible. The entire city (or the pleasant parts that I explored anyway) emits a sophisticated, dark, serious mood. It's perfect.
While I was there I visited the Onion offices, ate deep dish, ate at my first pub, listened to lots of writing lectures, and spent as much time on the streets as I possibly could.
xxx.
ps. That photo of the very disgruntled gentleman with the mustache was a total (wonderful) accident.