Well, Chicago is amazing... we realised very quickly we needed tasty here longer - or maybe an excuse to come back. Just has a really cool feel about the place. Now I know every city has its sketchy areas and we only stayed in the Chicago Loop, but there is so much to do that we didn't do!
After a very knowledgeable taxi driver taking us to The Congress Plaza Hotel, first port of call was the Route 66 Start Sign (see left) for the obligatory photo.
A nervous walk up E Adams to the Willis Tower (remember the issue Lynn had on landing earlier)... we wanted (well I wanted) to check out the Sky View Deck - also, we are trying to assist with Lynn's fear of heights during this trip - and a wander up to the 103rd floor was part of that therapy! She did ok here - considering earlier, she was able to get within 2 feet of the glass windows.
Now for those that have been up will know how spectacular the views are - I came away with a better understanding of Lynn's fear, and some pride in how she tackled it. She never made it onto the SkyView deck - and I never expected her to. However she was able to take the view in and I think felt pretty good overall!
We were unsurprisingly knackered, so we hot footed to Giordano's on W Jackson Blvd. It is a chain of pizza restaurants and comes highly recommended in the EZ Route 66 Guide Book, so it was a simple choice. We were not disappointed - One rates Deep Dish Pizza by the cheese pull (apparently) and this had yards of it! What was odd (well maybe not) is how filling it is. Two slices each of a 10" and we were done - and got out first (and definitely not last) carry out.
Walking back to the hotel we were greeted by a massive thunderstorm - right on top of us - heavy rain too.
The hotel is pretty good - tired but the location is A1. Recommended!
The following day we were ready to hit Chicago proper. Our planned Breakfast at the highly recommended Lou Mitchells on W Jackson Blvd was binned as we were still dangerously full from the pizza (I don't think I have ever been so full as I was last night - and I can eat!!). so to pass time before our planned entry to the Shedd Aquarium we bumbled down to the Bean (or CloudGate to give it its proper name! It is quite a thing - I suspect someone who has more photographic prowess could do it justice as it creates such a variety of images and reflections. Rather cool!
The Shedd Aquarium I thought was significantly better than what I have seen in the UK - probably because the first "attraction" is to feed Stingrays in the pool. The girls loved this! However some questions about captivity of Beluga Whales and the state of some of the fish cages leaves me thinking this is not a place I would recommend. An interesting place, but while I am far from an animal rights activist, I am not convinced this was the best place for them!
A "Rickshaw" back into town (I know - overpriced scam aimed at fleecing tourists - but we are on holiday and it was rather fun) and an argument over who is best placed in the Premiership between Chelsea and Man Utd between me and our Yugoslavian born American driver (I think a rickshaw has a driver!), we were at the River Walk - which is an amazing hub of Chicago social life. A couple of beers looking at Trump Tower before spotting the memorial wall - we were particularly struck by this as the photo below depicts. The Americans do this rather well - we spent a couple of minutes looking at the names before heading down to The Magnificent Mile to look at the shops, followed by nipping into The Cheesecake Factory for pudding before our evening meal! Having spent a small fortune over the years in CFs in the Gulf, I have a bit of a soft spot so was worth this visit!
The Navy Pier is ok - we had a decent meal finally realising American restaurants do serve up big helpings Ella had some sort of sea food platter - it was colossal but she fought through like a trooper and nearly nailed it.
Chicago done - on to collect the car tomorrow and the real adventure begins!
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