THE ONE WITH FRIENDS IN CHICAGO

The Hayeses take the big city! David and I ventured up to Chicago to visit the “Friends Experience”. Friends the TV show as in Central Perk, as in Smelly Cat, as in PIVOT! Ok, if you’ve never watched the show, you’re going to think I’m crazy. ?  We hopped on the train before the sun was up and made our way to downtown Chi! After rolling into Union Station, we strolled through the Chicago streets (in the rain) and “touristed” at the Chicago “Bean” and Lake Michigan! Since the rain was coming down harder and my ankle blisters were getting bigger (note to self: don’t wear new shoes when signing up for long walks), we met friends at the Billy Goat Tavern for a drink before lunch at Portillo’s (the famous Chicago hot dog/beef joint)! First timer here…the Italian Beef was delicious!

Now, back to the best part of the trip…the “Friends Experience”! As superfans, my gal pal and I vowed to visit the pop-up store and “experience” located right on the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Ave) in Chicago before it moved on to another city at the end of May. We toured through the replica sets of Monica/Rachel’s apartment, Joey/Chandler’s apartment, Central Perk, the hallway and much more. There were many exhibits of significant aspects of the show, some even using authentic Friends props and scripts!

OH. MY. GOD. (Janice voice) it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience! After the tour, we had enough time to grab a souvenir from the Friends gift shop and head back to the train. As our good friend Chandler Bing would say, we couldn’t BE any bigger Friends fans!???

Chat soon!

Kelsey