It started with an idea to take the train! I had never taken the train, anywhere, and neither had Patrick. We were both super excited to not have to drive there ourselves and to worry about parking downtown. That idea was destroyed when Amtrak never sent the train Sunday night and left 20+ passengers stranded, telling everyone that we can not be refunded. However, after a whole night of trying to talk with Amtrak, they reluctantly gave us a refund (that I am still waiting on..) and we decided to just leave Monday morning, and drive ourselves.
Monday, we head out in the morning! It was a pretty easy drive! I was a little nervous about snow or even traffic getting into the city, but everything was clear. After checking into our hotel, we immediately decide to go to the Bean at Millennium Park. Both of us have been to Chicago but have never seen it. I am not entirely sure why but I was expecting it to be over rated or disappointing. It was not! I loved it so much. Wish we had gone back one more time before leaving the city! For dinner we decided to dive right in to the city feel and we got some Deep Dish Pizza from Uno's Pizzeria! It was so so good! We were seated right away and our waitress was so quirky and sweet. For dessert afterwards, a while afterwards since we were so full, we went to The Grand Lux. It was beyond amazing. We split the strawberry shortcake!
The next morning we were going to be checking out the Museum of Science and Industry (with our CityPass) but first we headed for breakfast at Yolk. (self interruption: I am going to run out of words to use to describe the food we ate this week...) SO darn good! I got the scrambler and Patrick got the "south of the border" Eggs Benedict, which he loved!
Once we drove up to the Museum of Science and Industry it dawned on us that we would not be able to knock this out in one morning. So we quickly decided we would spend the whole day here! It was the only museum that we drove to ourselves, as it was the furthest from the hotel. It was such a fun museum! At the time of our visit they were playing a movie at the Omnimax Theatre (imax) "The Flight of the Butterflies" - it was so incredible! Of course they are heavy on the evolution aspect of it all, but still. Knowing better made it even more incredible to watch! Driving back into downtown, we spoted this park area and we stopped for some pretty gorgeous views of the city! Funny how large the city is when you are in the center of it and once you are removed it looks tiny again.
For dinner Tuesday night we went Italian! Volare! F A N C Y. We loved it here! The most expensive meal all week, but perfect for a date night. So what if every night in Chicago is a "date night", haha! After dinner was perfect time for a little bit of shopping on Magnificent Mile! Pretty much the only shopping we did all week. Went hog wild and got some nice socks for Patrick and a phone case for me. Willow really made it this week with some adorable shirts from Zara. That store was so beautiful but I really only went in for her!
Wednesday started off with a quick breakfast since we really needed to go to two museums this day! We went to the Adler Planetarium in the morning and we took the bus! We really enjoyed taking the bus anywhere too far to walk. Thanks to Patrick though for knowing his way around the city like some local. I would have been lost 10 times over by the end of this week. The Planetarium was small, and easy to see it all in a half day. The afternoon we went to the Field Museum, which was almost as large as the Science Museum.
We ended the night going to the Willis Tower Skydeck! When we were in Toronto this summer we went to the CN tower and we were both too chicken to really enjoy the glass bottom floors. But this time I was determined to at least get some pictures and try my best to enjoy the moment. It was hard, but I think I managed okay! We had to pay for those tourist trap photo opp things. By "had to" I guess I should say, I wanted proof of us doing this. The picture a stranger took for us did NOT turn out so I left it to the professionals. I was so glad that we went at night too! The city looked awesome from 103 floors up!
We went back to The Grand Lux Cafe but this time we went for dinner! For drinks afterwards we headed over to The Redhead Piano bar, which was pretty awesome. I kept telling Patrick how I felt we went back in time a little bit and how it felt like we were on a TV show.
Since we went on Thanksgiving week, everything was closed on Thursday besides the Shedd Aquarium. Which was so much fun! We spent all day here and we loved it. Saw the dolphin show which was perfect! Afterwards we spent a good chunk of time figuring out what to eat. Everything was closed! We opted for McDonalds before heading to see a movie at AMC. We saw The Theory of Everything. The movie about Steven Hawking and his wife. It was really good. I am no movie critic but the acting was amazing too!
Our last day, Friday, was a sad day! It was a jam packed week as you can see and we were so tired from all the exploring but I did NOT want it to end. After we checked out we went to Shake Shack. AHHHH! We loved it so much! I had only heard good things about this place and it did NOT disappoint. Actually, nothing in Chicago disappointed. Before leaving downtown we walked to Navy Pier for a Ferris Wheel ride! Chilly as all can be but so glad we did it! It was pretty empty this day so there was not a wait to get on! Found the perfect thank you gift for my mom (she watched Munch all week long) - stopped in Build-a-Bear and made her very own OLAF!!! That was a hard gift to give away ;).
So that was our week in Chicago! I am so glad we did this trip. Both of us gave it "Our Favorite Trip" stamp! I am already dreaming about going back! Next time, hopefully with some friends! Because at multiple times through out the week we said how fun it would be for a short weekend get away with an other couple! (eh em... Rula... cough cough)
No comments:
Post a Comment