My first day in Chicago was much warmer than I expected! Today was the day for me to be "classy" and attempt to be far more sophisticated and wealthy than I really am. I headed out for the day to take on the Magnificent Mile, the Shangri-La for shoppers and high-class stores. I got off the El at Clark and Lake and walked through the Theatre District to get to Michigan Avenue, passing by the Goodman Theatre, among others.
There was a ton of amazing architecture, most that I can really recognize on my own yet but will Friday after my river boat tour!
The Chicago Tribune building had blocks from other famous places including Westminster Abbey, Edinburgh Castle, etc.
Before heading up the Mile, I went over to the Lakeshore and walked up and down Navy Pier. Navy Pier has a bunch of rides and fun stuff for kids as well as being home to the Chicago Children's Museum, an IMAX theatre, a bunch of shops and restaurants and some gorgeous views.
No trip to Chicago is complete without a stop to Garrett's Popcorn Shop so I got a bag of cheesy popcorn (Chicagoans like a mix of cheesy AND caramel- ew!). It was super cheesy as you can see. Overwhelmingly so, actually.
The Museum of Contemporary Art was free on Tuesdays so I stopped in for about an hour. This was my favorite piece. One wheelbarrow is full of Christmas ornament balls and the other is full of popcorn. Real popcorn. I hope they don't have an ant problem.
I also stopped in at the water tower so I could see their free photograph exhibit. It was all about models in Chicago and using the city as a background. There was also this amazing lion fountain head. I love lions. And fountains.
Even though it's a San Francisco legend, I had to pop into Ghirardelli and pick up some hot chocolate cuz it was so cold. On the bright side, I got a free chocolate sample. Delicious!
Then it was up the Mile. I could have taken pictures of every shop but I didn't want to look too crazy so the only one that I took a picture of was the American Girl Place. American Girl has gotten slightly out of hand (as Danielle and I had discussed the previous week) but luckily they still have shelves full of the original stories so I sat and read all of Felicity, Kirsten, Samantha and Molly's stories (the original ladies). Brought back memories of second and third grade.
Across from the John Hancock building is the Presbyterian Church. It made me feel like I was back in England.
It's so interesting to see the different in architecture in two buildings right across from each other.
Since there was still some daylight, I headed back down the Mile to the top of Millennium Park and saw the Pritzker Auditorium that Frank Gehry had designed. It can hold 11,000 people! Crazy!
And of course, no stop to Chicago is complete without also a visit to "the Bean" as they call it. I had a great time taking pictures of my reflection and of the underside of the Bean.
A little jaunt through the rest of Millennium Park brought my day to an end. I jumped back onto the el and headed over to Soul City where I met a few of the volunteers and then headed out to dinner for some deep dish Chicago pizza (amazing delicious and filling!) with Kurt, Katie, Annie and Micah. A perfect ending to a very Chicago-an day.
The next day was far more relaxing. I headed over to Buck Town and Wicker Park area which is full of little shops and restaurants. I had a delicious French toast breakfast at a little cafe called Milk and Honey and then went exploring. I spent a lot of time in Myopic Books as well as Reckless Records and bought a pair of gray boots for $30. There were some great little shops and if I wasn't already nearly at the weight limit with my suitcase, I may have picked a few things up. I also passed by movie trailers and kraft food services for a movie being filmed in the area. I didn't have the patience to go search it down though.
I eventually headed down to the University of Illinois, Chicago, campus and went to Hull-House. Hull-House was started by Jane Addams and was a place where displaced women and then later families could come and live communally and get jobs. They had recreated the house to look like it had when Addams was in residence and had some great little pieces of information. She was definitely an integral member of the Progressive Movement.
Down the street was a great little bookstore where I went and rested my weary feet and read some silly books for a little bit. I just cannot get enough of book stores! And I left in just enough time to head back to Wicker Park and get picked up by Kurt and Katie, head over to Trader Joe's with them and then make some yummy stir-fry with Katie while Kurt went and got some work done at the church.
More walking tomorrow! My poor feet are going to revolt by Sunday!
Here are just some of my favorite pictures from the aquarium. Highlights galore. None of them are with flash so some are a little hard to see but they had some crazy cool and some crazy colorful fish, snakes, turtles, jellyfish, etc. I even learned way more than I ever thought I would about tarantulas. Yes, tarantulas.
When I left the Aquarium, I had about two and a half hours until the Art Institute became free so I walked down to Solider Field. Now exclusively for the Bears, the Chicago Fire used to play here. Only important because of Kelly Gray and Brian McBride (but I don't htink Brian ever played here).
I hadn't eaten since really early that morning and it was freezing so I stopped in at Panera for some hot soup and a sandwich to eat tomorrow. I passed this statue on the way. You can't see from this angle but there is a raven overlooking the wolf to the far left's shoulder. Pretty cool. Made me think of the three little pigs for some reason, even though there are three wolves and not three pigs. I also stopped in after lunch/dinner to the Chicago Architecture Foundation and checked out the boat tours for tomorrow and their little free exhibit.
The Art Institute was amazing. They have a ton of stuff and because there was so much I wanted to see, I went through it all pretty quickly but snagged pictures of some of my favorite (and some famous) paintings. Again, highlights below.
paperweights
I read this book (Arnie Goes to Camp) when I was little.
HOGARTH!
El Greco
Sunday Afternoon on the Grande Jette- Seurat
Van Gogh's self-portrait
one of the many miniature rooms this lady had commissioned
Coming Through the Rye (part of this year's Pageant)
mummy heads
Marc Chagall
check out the CREEPY picture on the wall behind Pat Nixon
Despite my aching feet, all in all, a good day!
