Check out the new episode in Chicago this Saturday the 30th at 10PM ET and then come back and discuss the episode.
mod_ben

I know you can’t wait for this one Cruiseluver. Samantha’s Chicago blog is up, it seems she encountered some poorly mannered natives, but being from New York City I’m sure she can take it. Today my sister e-mailed me a link to a Chicago Tribune story about the show, so I thought I'd share that with you as well. http://www.chicagotribune.com/...ay24,0,6418084.story

I cant wait to see the chicago episode I never been there before so it will be my first time seeing everything thanks to Samantha have a good weekend

I wanted to express my disgust with Samantha's very insulting "joke" she made at Second City about Vietnamese people. It got a laugh in the audience, but not in my house. As someone who is going to be watched by people of many different ethnicies, ages, and races, she should be much more mindful of the comments she makes. It is things like this that promulgate sterotypes toward Asian people.

Wow, Samantha is looking good these days. Check out the photo of her on the front page of the tribune website http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Scroll down a little to see her in a red tank-top. Wow. Hopefully they'll keep it there awhile. Does anyone think she looks bigger or enhanced? Anyways, doesn't matter. Her inner beauty is just as apparent. Same type of charisma that Kirsten Dunst has.

If you like the Tribune photo I think you’ll REALLY enjoy this one. http://i206.photobucket.com/al...0/pothos2/sbp173.jpg

I missed all of Samantha's new shows because I've been very busy and out of town a lot, but I did catch this one! I really liked this one! It's okay Sam didn't show all the usual landmarks, because any guide book or other travel shows have done that. Sam didn't try to act too silly. She was just her fun self. I know she loves to go to bars, but the one she went to this time with all the different beer around the world was interesting. (The Map Room)
I hope her other new shows are just as good. I'll need to catch them in reruns.
Samantha does look great, and now she's 40!
(if it's really true she was born in March 1969)

Good pic, Herr Schneidman. Yes, she is incredible. The charm factor is off the charts.

Thanks David! I'm actually just watching it now (recorded it). HECK YES Chicago is second to none! Millenium Park is one of my favorite places and I absolutely have to take a picture of the Bean whenever I go there... which is a lot.

There's actually an exhibit about Moto (the funky restaurant) at the Museum of Science and Industry. I'd like to go there! Bet it's expensive though.

I've seen a Cubs game from a rooftop too! I wonder if Sam knows about the little pizza place across from the field that has a GIANT HUGE ENORMOUS slice of pizza and a drink for $5! It's called Bacci.

I need to get back to Chicago sometime soon and check out all the new sights. The last time I was in town I was too busy attending to serious matters to have any real fun.

Just returned from Chicago where my son graduated from DePaul University Saturday morning. As it happens, the Lyric Opera House (where the ceremony was held) isn’t far from McCormick Place, i.e., where SB’s featured fountain is located. Except for the suit I was wearing and Chicago’s signature monsoon conditions, it might have been a good idea; but I passed this time.

Saturday evening we had dinner at Giordono’s Pizza on Belmont in the Lake View neighborhood and tried both the stuffed crust and thin crust pizzas. “Thin” crust means crust that is only about ½ inch thick, incidentally. Stuffed crust means there is so much crust that you’ll be stuffed after just one slice. Ah, but it’s well worth it.

Sunday, my kids and I went to the Ribs Festival in the North Center neighborhood. Twenty restaurants (!) served all varieties of barbecue ribs, pulled pork, steaks, you name it. Robinson's was my personal favorite, The Smokehouse was my son's, and my daughter and her boyfriend each preferred others. Hard to say which is best, but it was fun doing the research. If you are going to catch Chicago on a Great Weekend, you might first try WGN on your cable network and ferret out which neighborhood festivals are coming up - and they are throughout Chicago all summer. Probably it will be worth your while to do a little research first. We had a blast – and probably gained a few pounds. Don’t forget to load up a few bucks on a CTA card so you can travel by El. You aren’t really in Chicago until you’ve been on the train.

FYI, I did England again a few weeks ago on business but was able to make it to the Kensington Roof Gardens on a weekday. The entry is on a side street behind the Gap on the High Street, look for a black awning marked “99.” Take the elevator from the lobby to the 6th floor and you’ll find a rooftop Moorish Garden, an English Wood, live pink flamingos (really!), and a decent – by English standards – restaurant on the 7th floor. Admission is free, it’s a beautiful place and is well worth the trip, just a few blocks west of Kensington Palace. Still haven’t made it to James Smith & Sons, but picked up a decent umbrella at Marks and Spencer for under £20. For a little bad news, Balans changed their evening menu to conform with their lunch menu. A hideous idea.

Good to be home – for now, at least.

Cheers,

Intl Doc

Sounds like a great trip, Intl_doc! Congrats to your son.

I've decided that, since I'm actually living IN Chicago (as opposed to the suburbs) when I'm in school, I need to become an expert. I'm going to make a list of all the cool Chicago neighborhoods and try to visit as many as I can before this time next year.

Hey, intl_doc, glad to see you enjoyed visiting our fair city. How did you like our Opera House? (no, it really wasn't built by Charles Foster Kane, but an equally dubious character by the name of Samull Insull).

BTW, just to clarify, you got the initials right, but I assume what you meant to say was Opera House wasn't far from Millenium Park where Sam's fountain is (McCormick Place is our convention center and a couple of miles from downtown Chicago).

Good to stop by again after a long, busy absence. Take care everyone.

Dejardins, you are likely correct and my aging memory fails once again. I'd have to contact the son to be sure, but if you say it's Millenium Park, that's good enough for me. The Lyric Opera House resembles a prison on the outside (generally speaking it's a stone box) and a burlesque house on the inside. Actually, those in my party compared it favorably to the Fox Theater in St. Louis, rather opulent and yet stately. A very nice venue indeed.

Incidentally, I neglected to mention that at the Ribs Festival one vendor was selling Twinkie Dogs, i.e., a hot dog stuffed lengthwise through a Hostess Twinkie then deep fat fried. I believe, after the Berlin episide, that SB is firmly established as our in-house resident expert on hot dogs, and so shall await her verdict thereon. I lacked the courage.

Intl Doc

With Dejardins happily returning to discuss his Chicago, I have to slip out of retirement for just a little bit to say Hello. Kelsey has survived her freshman year as well I see, so all is fine. But Chicago, well, I just don't feel qualified to add any comments. The last time I was there Ryne Sandberg hit a home run off Nolan Ryan in the game I saw in Wrigley Field (3rd base side about two thirds of the way back, but better seats I feel than Samantha's last year "just behind second base"), and the players at Second City Comedy have long since moved on (as has the waitress I knew there who kept bringing me free drinks). And we didn't have a new president from Chicago then either.

We do have a new blog from Samantha, however, on Hawaii, where I am even less qualified to comment, but I would like to point out Sam's journal entries to readers here because, as always, they are wonderful insightful windows into her thoughts and experiences, delightful and honest little essays that add I think an important depth of feeling which helps in understanding and appreciating her on-air experiences. Anyone who cares enough about Samantha to reach this far into her forum should also read her blogs.

Oh, and IntlDoc (and Dejardins), I finally broke down and am off to England again towards the end of August. The pound and plane ticket prices were just too good to resist. "Much Ado About Nothing" will be playing, and Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia", which I love. Country houses and gardens await I hope in splendid weather. But all this is far from Chicago.

Samantha, who might be anywhere right now, I hope is at least in a state of full contentment, and a most happy state of mind as well (whether that may include deep fried Twinkie dogs I could not possibly guess).