We’ve got two full days in Chicago now – our longest city break of the trip. Although we want to explore, we also want to take the opportunity to relax, enjoy ourselves and have some time together. It’s been an amazing trip, but definitely a tiring one and we also know that back in the UK things aren’t going to “stop” either as we’ll soon be busy seeing friends and family again.
Today we first head to the tourist information office which is in an old part of town in a building that was once a water tower. There is some pretty cool architecture in this area, and we also found we liked the look of the buildings and lights last night in The Loop – real big city stuff.
With more maps in hand and ideas of things to do, we head North from the Water Tower to the shore of Michigan Bay. On our way there we stumble on a Farmer’s Market of sorts and browse the lovely looking veg and expensive flowers. There’s a rain shower, but we can’t do much about it as neither of us have any wet weather gear and out on the lake shore we suddenly can’t see any cafés to duck into. So we brave it along and gawp at swimmers in wet suits who have taken to the water. We knew Michigan Lake was big, Great in fact, but it’s still mind boggling that we can’t see the other side.
We get to Navy Pier which is a tourist hub and our destination. We’re pleased that it’s no where near as tacky as Pier 37 was in San Francisco – not a candy floss seller in sight! There are the generic tourist shops with Chicago-themed gifts, but somehow this place feels a bit more genuine, rather than constructed. We decide to give ourselves a treat and book into the next film showing at the Imax. I’ve never been to an Imax and although the film, Inception, isn’t specifically designed for the screen we reckon it will still be cool. We’ve not had breakfast so eat an early lunch at an Italian place in the complex and then watch the film.
We’d heard of “Inception” but not really much about the film. It starred Leonardo Di Caprio and for us this wasn’t a huge selling point, but we were willing to give it a go. It's actually a really great film and one that keeps us talking all day about the concepts, ideas and designs. We also spend the rest of the summer recommending it to people, so it's definitely a good choice to catch it here. Afterwards, we continue to wander around Navy Pier through the stores and then along the pier itself, getting a great view of the lake and back over the city.
We decide to head back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before going out for dinner. The weather here is really taking it out of us. It doesn’t feel hotter than Egypt, but it’s definitely more humid. We both agree that it would be hard to work out in the Far East with this kind of humidity as we’re just sweating like anything and not wanting to walk far out in it at all! There is a free “tram” back to the hotel, so we join the queue of tourists and jump on. It’s basically a bus done up like a tram, but we’ve done the real trams in San Francisco already. We lose our bearings slightly on the journey back and end up getting off at a stop that is not actually the closest to our hotel! But by doing this route we pass a place that claims to be a brewery restaurant, so we decide to go back there to eat after changing in the hotel.
We get to the Rock Bottom Brewery and go in the main door only to find a restaurant with lots of wines and nice tables – this doesn’t look like a brew pub to us! We must look out of place as the hostess comes up to us and asks if we’d like a table in the restaurant or the pub. We answer quickly that we’re after the pub and she directs us through a side door. It seems that there’s another “main” door into the brew pub area and we feel much more at home.
Once again we go for the taster tray so that we can sample as much beer as possible. It’s packed and we have a hard time remembering which one is which, but all are tasty. They’ve won a lot of awards for their beers here and it’s great that the set up means that you can see through behind the bar to the huge fermentation vessels.
After dinner and desert we decide to head to another place we’d spotted on our tram journey. It’s a dive bar that looks totally crummy beside a building site, but is next to a traditional diner and only a block from the fancy Michigan Avenue. We go inside and the first section is a kebab house – having had dinner already we pass this and push hard on the far door. We get through and are then in this great little dive bar. It’s got various brewery and baseball memorabilia on the walls and free stools at the bar, so we grab two and order a beer. Somehow, in the centre of this vast city, this bar still has a very local feel to it. We chat with the landlady and she makes us feel at home. Also in the bar are a few Amtrak employees, as it seems our hotel a block away is the used by Amtrak to put up their staff, and another lady who is having her kebab and chips brought through on a tray from the front. A great beer, great bar and great way to end our first full day here.
Today we first head to the tourist information office which is in an old part of town in a building that was once a water tower. There is some pretty cool architecture in this area, and we also found we liked the look of the buildings and lights last night in The Loop – real big city stuff.
With more maps in hand and ideas of things to do, we head North from the Water Tower to the shore of Michigan Bay. On our way there we stumble on a Farmer’s Market of sorts and browse the lovely looking veg and expensive flowers. There’s a rain shower, but we can’t do much about it as neither of us have any wet weather gear and out on the lake shore we suddenly can’t see any cafés to duck into. So we brave it along and gawp at swimmers in wet suits who have taken to the water. We knew Michigan Lake was big, Great in fact, but it’s still mind boggling that we can’t see the other side.
We get to Navy Pier which is a tourist hub and our destination. We’re pleased that it’s no where near as tacky as Pier 37 was in San Francisco – not a candy floss seller in sight! There are the generic tourist shops with Chicago-themed gifts, but somehow this place feels a bit more genuine, rather than constructed. We decide to give ourselves a treat and book into the next film showing at the Imax. I’ve never been to an Imax and although the film, Inception, isn’t specifically designed for the screen we reckon it will still be cool. We’ve not had breakfast so eat an early lunch at an Italian place in the complex and then watch the film.
We’d heard of “Inception” but not really much about the film. It starred Leonardo Di Caprio and for us this wasn’t a huge selling point, but we were willing to give it a go. It's actually a really great film and one that keeps us talking all day about the concepts, ideas and designs. We also spend the rest of the summer recommending it to people, so it's definitely a good choice to catch it here. Afterwards, we continue to wander around Navy Pier through the stores and then along the pier itself, getting a great view of the lake and back over the city.
We decide to head back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before going out for dinner. The weather here is really taking it out of us. It doesn’t feel hotter than Egypt, but it’s definitely more humid. We both agree that it would be hard to work out in the Far East with this kind of humidity as we’re just sweating like anything and not wanting to walk far out in it at all! There is a free “tram” back to the hotel, so we join the queue of tourists and jump on. It’s basically a bus done up like a tram, but we’ve done the real trams in San Francisco already. We lose our bearings slightly on the journey back and end up getting off at a stop that is not actually the closest to our hotel! But by doing this route we pass a place that claims to be a brewery restaurant, so we decide to go back there to eat after changing in the hotel.
We get to the Rock Bottom Brewery and go in the main door only to find a restaurant with lots of wines and nice tables – this doesn’t look like a brew pub to us! We must look out of place as the hostess comes up to us and asks if we’d like a table in the restaurant or the pub. We answer quickly that we’re after the pub and she directs us through a side door. It seems that there’s another “main” door into the brew pub area and we feel much more at home.
Once again we go for the taster tray so that we can sample as much beer as possible. It’s packed and we have a hard time remembering which one is which, but all are tasty. They’ve won a lot of awards for their beers here and it’s great that the set up means that you can see through behind the bar to the huge fermentation vessels.
After dinner and desert we decide to head to another place we’d spotted on our tram journey. It’s a dive bar that looks totally crummy beside a building site, but is next to a traditional diner and only a block from the fancy Michigan Avenue. We go inside and the first section is a kebab house – having had dinner already we pass this and push hard on the far door. We get through and are then in this great little dive bar. It’s got various brewery and baseball memorabilia on the walls and free stools at the bar, so we grab two and order a beer. Somehow, in the centre of this vast city, this bar still has a very local feel to it. We chat with the landlady and she makes us feel at home. Also in the bar are a few Amtrak employees, as it seems our hotel a block away is the used by Amtrak to put up their staff, and another lady who is having her kebab and chips brought through on a tray from the front. A great beer, great bar and great way to end our first full day here.
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