A recap of my week in Chicago!
Friday - July 4th, 2014
I arrived in Chicago around 10:30 am; Michael was waiting for me at the airport.
On the train :)
We had a quick lunch at Roots and then headed back to the apartment to get ready - Mike surprised me earlier in the week - we were going to take a yacht out on Lake Michigan to have dinner and watch fireworks for the 4th!
We headed down to Navy Pier which was swarming with people - so much so that they closed the pier. We had to push our way through the crowd and then show our tickets to cops in order to get through the barricade (sounds so much more dramatic than it was). This is the Odyssey, our yacht for the evening:
We had a nice dinner and then headed up to the observation deck, where we spent the rest of the evening taking in the gorgeous views of the city. The yacht had complete wait service with open bar, so we had drinks delivered to us all night - what a great way to spend the 4th of July :)
One selfie is never enough ;)
They handed out cookies on a stick!
Saturday - July 5th, 2014
Mike and I bought City Passes - which gave us access to all of the best museums and attractions that Chicago has to offer. It allowed us to skip lines in most places so I think it was definitely worth it. On Saturday we headed to the art museum. The first section we entered was the Contemporary wing... and it was interesting:
We both don't understand how this is art.
But then we found the Impressionism wing and we were very impressed ;) We enjoyed walking around and seeing all of the amazing art the museum has - it really is a great art museum, I'd recommend to anyone who is visiting Chicago.
There were lots of beautiful Monet's
Van Gogh, The Poet's Garden
Van Gogh, The Drinkers
Georges Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte
Picasso, The Red Armchair and The Old Guitarist
Grant Wood, American Gothic
Right next to American Gothic, was this! Its titled "Bucks County Barn"
I always love finding pieces of home when travelling - and I was very impressed how this was positioned next to such a popular painting!
Georgia O'Keefe, Yellow Hickory Leaves with Daisy and Cow's Skull with Calico Roses
After our busy afternoon at the art museum, we went to Bridge House Tavern - a bar/restaurant right on the river. Most of the patrons had boats that they pulled right up to the dock on the side of restaurant. Here was our view:
After we had our late afternoon lunch, we headed towards Old Town. We got a drink at a nice bar and then headed to Second City where we saw "Apes of Wrath" - the website for Second City describes the show as 'embracing the dark and light sides of our human devolution' - it was very funny. The first time we went to a show at Second City we were seated right next to the stage; this time we were further away. I preferred being up close and personal - Mike preferred sitting farther away (the cast tends to pick on people in the audience - I think Mike was scared that was going to happen to us sitting so close ;) ). Both shows were great and I wish we had this in Philly - I think we would attend frequently.
Sunday - July 6th, 2014
Brunch at Prasino! My most favorite brunch ever. They have delicious crepes and yummy mimosas and bloody mary's.
After brunch we headed to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It's a free zoo in the city - and it was Mike's first time at a zoo!! We saw a lion, a tiger and a bear - oh my! There weren't a ton of animals, but it was pretty nice for being free.
After the zoo, we headed back to Mike's apartment to get ready for our dinner reservations at RPM. RPM is the restuarant of Giuliana and Bill Rancic - Giuliana is on E News and Bill is famous from winning The Apprentice.
First, we stopped and had drinks at the rooftop bar at The Godfrey - a very hip, trendy place. This is the only pic I have:
The food at RPM was okay - nothing super special but the atmosphere/decor was very, very nice. We ordered a lot of small dishes and then each got a pasta - which was the perfect portion size.
Monday - July 7th, 2014
On Monday we headed to the Shedd Aquarium. It was a nice aquarium but Mike was disappointed there weren't any big sharks. We did get to see the beluga whales and touch sting rays though!
Mike made friends :)
The aquarium had really pretty views of the city
After our morning at the aquarium we took a water taxi to Navy Pier and found Ohio St beach. I love that Chicago has actual beaches along Lake Michigan. What other major city can you be shopping downtown (or at the aquarium) and then be at the beach after just a short walk??
The beach...
Mike took a selfie :)
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Tuesday - July 8, 2014
Tuesday was a very busy day. We started at The Field Museum - I was really excited to see Sue - the largest & most complete T-Rex ever found. She is named Sue after the archaeologist that found her.
Sue!
This is her real head. It weighs 600 pounds which is why a replica is used in the pic above.
Really cool Totem Poles!
Dinosaur Hall - I took these for Andrew whenever he starts to like dinosaurs.
After the Field Museum, we took a water taxi to Navy Pier again and took an architecture river boat tour. It was really interesting but I don't really remember a lot of what they told us - I did get lots of shots of all the cool buildings in Chicago though!
Waiting for the water taxi :)
Waiting for the architecture tour to start :)
So Donald Trump recently added the "TRUMP" across his building, Trump Tower. It is really obnoxious because you can see it wherever you are throughout the city and just looks ridiculous - so Donald Trump. The tour guide was funny though and referred to it as his "trump stamp"
A bridge which was up due to construction - they are adding a walking path along the river.
A building so big, it has its own zip code!
Willis (Sears) Tower - if you look really closely you can see the Sky Deck boxes.
The Chicago River was dumping unsanitary water into Lake Michigan, so they decided to change the flow of the river so it dumps into the Mississippi River instead. This fountain, which is right before the opening back to Lake Michigan goes off every hour in recognition of the reversal.
I don't have a picture of the Aon Center from the boat tour which is the building Mike works in. I do remember the tour guide telling us how the Aon Center was originally made of marble from Carrara, Italy - which I thought was neat since I've been to Carrara when I studied abroad as part of the business class I took! Except - they didn't realize how the marble would weather and it started falling apart. Which it isn't really safe to have falling pieces of marble, so they had to take it all down and replace it.
After the tour, we met Mike's brother, Tommy, and his girlfriend, Laura, for dinner at Chicago Q - a barbecue joint. It was a really nice restaurant - and really good.
Wednesday - July 9, 2014
Mike had to go back to work on Wednesday :( so I went and got a manicure and pedicure! I also did some shopping in a couple cute boutiques on Division St. I spent the rest of the day just relaxing, reading and waiting for Mike to come home. No pictures today, boo hoo.
Thursday - July 10, 2014
With Mike working again on Thursday and the weather a little nicer - I ventured downtown to spend the day at the beach, do some shopping on Michigan Ave and would then meet Mike once he was done work. I took the Chicago Ave bus all by myself to Michigan Ave and then walked to Oak St Beach (it was really easy, it was fun feeling like I was a resident and actually knew what I was doing).
Ready for my adventure ;P
The beach to myself! I was surprised how empty it was for being a beautiful July day.
My view for the afternoon
On my walk down Michigan
I was being a tourist while waiting for Mike - that's his big building behind the Bean.
Look who I found! Our reflection in the Bean.
After a Taste of Chicago - we headed to the Willis (Sears) Tower to do the Sky Deck - a glass observation deck 103 floors above the ground. I was a little hesitant - I mean, it's reallly reallly reallllllly high - it's the tallest observation spot in the US (I think). And Mike liked to remind me how tall it is - how he doesn't trust architects - how if it breaks, we will die... it wasn't helping my hesitation! :P
Friday - July 11, 2014
The day of the Lady Gaga concert!! Mike worked in the morning so I went to a Blowout Bar to get my hair blown out. It was nice having someone else do my hair for me and not have to worry about it. After Mike was done work, he met me at a bar on Division St - then we went to Bucktown and had lunch. Shortly after it was time to get ready for Gaga!!!!
Saturday - July 12, 2014
It rained all day Saturday, but we were kinda glad to have an excuse to not do anything. We were going to go to the Cubs game but decided it wouldn't be much fun in the rain. It cleared up later and we had dinner close to the apartment at a little Mexican restaurant with Tommy. Westtown (the neighborhood Mike lives in) was having a festival, so we stopped and listening to the band that was playing for a couple songs - this guy was REALLY sweaty, but he was really good!
Sunday - July 13, 2014
I left Chicago to return to Doylestown... I wasn't ready to leave. I'm excited to only have a few more months until Mike will be here!Until our next vacation... xoxo
