Postcards: Visiting Chicago

Our host child departed from O’Hare airport in Chicago this past weekend, which was of course, sad and hard.  The Banana flew to Chicago with us, and after the goodbye that is always difficult, we stayed in Chicago for a few extra days.

To distract ourselves from feeling gloomy, we became the ultimate mega-tourists.  In truth, we had a wonderful time exploring downtown Chicago.  We stayed in a hotel at the airport, and then rode the train downtown each day.  We took in an architecture tour from the Chicago Architecture Foundation on our first evening downtown, which was a brilliant move, because it the tour was terrific, and then each day when we were walking around we had fun identifying our favorite buildings.

We went to the top of the Willis Tower and the Hancock building. I love looking out from the top of skyscrapers, and we were glad we did both.  We purchased City Passes, which really came in handy actually because we saved money since we did most of the things on the pass, and best of all we got to skip A LOT of lines, since downtown was crowded with other tourists visiting the same places we were.

We walked around Millennium Park and Grant Park, and had a great time looking at the public art sculptures and fountains.

We didn’t go in very many stores on Michigan Ave, but we couldn’t resist zipping around the American Girl doll store (we loved that one of the American Girl dolls has a space outfit), and we had to check out the inside of the Apple Store, which the architecture tour pointed out was very unique because it was designed to be a building that represents a sleek laptop.  It was definitely worth walking around and inside the Apple Store.

It was hot and sweaty everywhere we went (although I’m pretty sure that Chicago gets a lot more hot and sweaty.)  We found a bench in the shade one evening and ended up watching this famous fountain change and change again for about 40 minutes.  Water starts spraying in different ways the longer you watch.  

We spent many hours inside the Art Institute.  I love the calmness and peacefulness of the art institute, and looking at those famous paintings just never gets old for me.

We also visited dolphins, sharks and Beluga whales at the Shedd Aquarium, which I for some reason didn’t take any pictures of, probably because there were just a lot of other people there.  We really loved the ocean exhibits at the aquarium.  The Banana has always loved dolphins and hasn’t ever seen one in person, so she was really excited about that.  They are so playful, so sleek, and fast.  I really liked seeing the Beluga whales.  They are shaped so interestingly, and they have a mysterious presence about them.

We thought the Nutella Cafe was so delicious that we visited two days in a row, and we ate the most amazing Chicago style pizza in existence. We are sure of it.  We even rented bicycles to pedal from the Shedd Aquarium to the Hancock building.  It was just one fun thing after the next, and we had a great time doing pretty much everything.  The Banana is an easy, flexible traveler.  
We loved to people watch, and there were plenty of people to watch.  By the end of each day, we were pretty done with crowds, and we definitely slept well each night.  Chicago is a fun place to visit for a few days, but we both decided we probably didn’t want to live there.  A long quiet paddle in a kayak and canoe up the shore of Lake Superior on water as smooth as glass felt pretty great the night we arrived back home.