Day Two
When I was back in Pensacola visiting my parents my mom was kind enough to buy me a guide book to Chicago's Top 25 Things To Do. One of the top suggestions was an architecture tour down the Chicago River. Thanks to some website recommendations I made reservations with the Wendella Boat Tours for a combined river and lake tour. We started our tour out on the Chicago River with some basic introductions to some basic Chicago history.
The city's flag. Each star represents a major event in Chicago's History.
After a quick look around the river we headed out onto Lake Michigan. The weather could not have been nicer and the water look so pretty that I could have sworn it was fake! As we toured around the lake front area our wonderful (and very informative!) tour guide pointed out some major pieces of architecture in the skyline.
Heading out onto the lake.
Our tour guide
View of the 2nd tallest building in the city, Trump Tower
Sears Tower and the CNA building
The 4th largest building in Chicago, the John Hancock and Navy Pier
To finish our tour off we took a trip further down the Chicago River. The river is lined with tons of great architecture and buildings that I wouldn't mind owning a piece or two of. ;)
The corn cob buildings (Marina City)
Civic Opera Building
The day was still early when we finished our tour so we decided to stroll along Millenium Park and make our way down to Shedd Aquarium.
The 24.5 acre park was only completed in 2004 after a 5-year construction period. Apparently the park took 4 years longer to be completed and cost about 3 times more than originally planned ($475 million!). Its like they have their very own Big Dig!
Jay Pritzker Pavillion
Cloud Gate, or "The Bean", by Anish Kapoor. When the sculpture was originally installed the city made efforts to not allow any visitors to take photos claiming that it was a violation of "copyright laws". Obviously this didn't sit to well with the city and eventually photos were allowed. However, if you plan to publically display pictures of The Bean anywhere you still have to get permission from the artist. Good luck with that one.
Inside The Bean. You can't see us but we are there!
Cascade Fountains. These water fountains feature pictures of about a thousand Chicago residents. Ever five minutes the person that appears on the fountain purses their lips and a spout of water comes out of the sculpture.
As we walked along the park I was amazed at how many flowers and little gardens were laid out across the city.
Our last stop before we hit the aquarium was the Buckingham Fountain. Seem familiar? It should if you were a fan of the tv show Married With Children! It was featured in the opening credits.
When we finally made it to the Shedd Aquarium I was prepared to see a 2 hour+ wait to get in, but surprise, surprise...not one single person in line! It was wonderful to be able to walk around and see the fishes up close and personal without a screaming child on all sides of me.
The aquarium was one of the 25 top sites from the book and I have to agree. There wasn't anything I haven't seen in an aquarium before but the layout and ability to get super close was awesome.
Waiting for the Fantasea show to start. Beluga whales, dolphins, hawks, and penguins were all part of the show! Honestly, the show was a bit lame and a bit odd, but the venue is pretty cool!
We probably spent about 2 1/2-3 hours in the aquarium. In addition to the fun fish, it was a nice break from all the sunshine in the A/C.
Att that point in the day we had walked about 5 miles or so and were ready to take a break. We headed back to the hotel to do what we do best...I napped and The Scientist watched sports highlights. :)
Being the sushi fans that we are it was a necessity to try at least one sushi place. Thanks to my friends at Yelp.com I decided on Friends Sushi. Sigh...I should have done a bit more research. The Scientist described the interior as being similar to that of a mental institution. There were white padded walls! Each table looked like a little white kidney bean and the chairs kind of swivel around throughout the meal. Overall the food was pretty good, but I was officially kicked off picking dinner restaurant duty. Apparently he isn't a fan of moving around throughout his meal. Whatever...
The last stop for the night was a blues bar around the corner called Blue Chicago.
The band was entertaining and the crowd was great for people watching. It was the right way to end Day 2 in Chicago.
