The sun was out this morning, with a bunch of clouds for friends, but hey - we'll take what we can get. The temperatures are still on the cool side, but it's fine for walking. This morning, we headed north along the lake shore trail to the Chicago History Museum. It was a bit of a Cook's Tour actually finding our way to the museum, as the signage is apparently all alongside the roadway for the motorists, and not on the park trails. Tourists don't walk!
When we picked up our free tickets at the desk, I glanced askance at the welcome sign which showed three school tour groups scheduled for the morning. God help us all!
The museum exhibits were quite varied, covering the Chicago fashion scene, Lincoln in Chicago, the development of Chicago from trading post to city, and a lot of more recent events. I would have actually liked a bit more material on certain subjects (e.g., the Great Fire of Chicago, the World Fair, the gangland Chicago of the roaring Twenties, etc.), however, it did a good job in taking many little bites of history. As expected, though, the museum experience suffered somewhat from the very serious infestation of schoolchildren.
Surprisingly, some of these children were well-behaved, probably because they had adults working at managing them. You tend not to notice the well-behaved children because they're well-behaved. But the shrieking and running ones? The ones with the negligent parents/teachers who don't understand the meaning of the word 'chaperone'? Those ones you notice in the same way you notice the shrieking sirens of a fire truck. And it was the red-shirted kids from some Chicago red-shirted school that were causing all the problems. I think I still have hearing loss.
We escaped out to explore nearby Old Town. I'm guessing that this is an old part of Chicago. Lots of old buildings, and niche markets - such as a store that only sold seasonings, and another one that only sold olive oil. Monica considered getting her eyebrows tinted and waxed, but decided it was too expensive in this area.
We stopped for lunch at a little cafe called The Doghouse Grill, where I finally bought a Chicago Dog (it was on my to-do list). You are not allowed to put ketchup on a Chicago dog. Well, it's not actually illegal; they will just sneer at you if you do that. So I had the usual Chicago dog - onions, tomatoes, mustard, pepper, etc etc, except I declined the pickles. I was a little leery of the hot peppers - didn't know if they were hot, or HOT. Turns out, they were just hot, and I could handle them.
After lunch, we walked back to Lincoln Park to visit the Zoo. Admission is free, and it's quite an extensive zoo. Zebras, camels, ostriches. Yes, lions and tigers (I didn't see any bears). Reptiles and monkeys, and apes. Big apes! With big teeth.
The apes were putting on quite a show. Three of them were out in the yard, and two of them were fighting over a blanket. One ape wanted all the blankets. The other one kept trying to steal one. The hoarding ape would get it back. The other ape looked at him, then opened his mouth to show his big teeth and bit the other guy in the back. They started wrestling and shoving each other, and the crowd is "ooh! ohhh! oooh!" Who are the apes now, I wonder?
We began walking back towards our neighbourhood (not quite sure if it's the Gold Coast or Streeterville - the lines of demarcation around here are not clear to me). It's been a lot of walking today. My Vivosmart is clocking us in at about 10 to 12 miles per day. Whew!
I suggested taking one of the boat rides on the lake tour, but Monica was tired, so she went back to the hotel. I continued on to Navy Pier myself. Unfortunately, I arrived at 3:40, which is 10 minutes too late to catch the 3:30 boat (probably 5 minutes, when you consider that the boats usually leave late. Doh!). Now I have to wait for the 4:30 boat. Oh well, it gives me time enough to wander around and explore Navy Pier. There's a whole giant marketplace that Monica and I missed the last time we were here.
The Lake Tour is shorter than the Architecture Tour, but you get some great distance views of the city skyline, and the audio track is chock full of more facts you want to know about Chicago. For example:
A sailboat briefly wandered into the path of our tour boat, causing our boat to brake suddenly (by which I probably mean, "hard to port" or "aft thrusters"). In any case, no collision. No need to save hapless sailors. (With a pang of regret, I must glumly put away my camera. No ocean action shots today.)
It was about 5:25 when I got back to the hotel, Monica and I disagreed as to whether or not there was enough time for the art gallery. I was back at about 5:30 p.m., and the gallery closes at 8:00, so I figured there was plenty of time. She was of the opinion that I plan too many activities per day, plus we'd lose a half-hour in transit, so not enough time. Since the art gallery was out, we walked along Michigan Avenue and visited both Burberry and Neiman Marcus. I found a nice dress at Burberry for $5,700. And I found a great tote bag at Neiman Marcus for $3,500. So many great deals to be found here in mostly-cloudy Chicago!
We stopped in at the Water Tower Art Gallery, which has a very small (but free!) gallery due to space constraints. It was all photos of fancy food. If fancy food appealed to me, it might have made me hungry. As it was, I was mostly unmoved.
Back to Macy's. Monica is still considering getting her brows done at the Brow Bar. (Is that a high-brow activity or low-brow? I don't know - the jury is still out on that.) Then she wanted to visit the lingerie department, while I became angry in the shoe department, because the Sketchers Go-Walks are cheaper here in America than in Canada. Why are they $40 on sale? They never seem to go below $69 on sale in Canada!
I've got blisters starting to form on my blisters, so I buy myself a pair of purple Go-Walk shoes.
For supper, I stop off at the food court and pick up a deep dish pepperoni pizza. Later, my digestive system will regret this choice, but for now, I eat it and am happy.
When we picked up our free tickets at the desk, I glanced askance at the welcome sign which showed three school tour groups scheduled for the morning. God help us all!
 |
| Fashion by various Chicago designers |
Surprisingly, some of these children were well-behaved, probably because they had adults working at managing them. You tend not to notice the well-behaved children because they're well-behaved. But the shrieking and running ones? The ones with the negligent parents/teachers who don't understand the meaning of the word 'chaperone'? Those ones you notice in the same way you notice the shrieking sirens of a fire truck. And it was the red-shirted kids from some Chicago red-shirted school that were causing all the problems. I think I still have hearing loss.
We escaped out to explore nearby Old Town. I'm guessing that this is an old part of Chicago. Lots of old buildings, and niche markets - such as a store that only sold seasonings, and another one that only sold olive oil. Monica considered getting her eyebrows tinted and waxed, but decided it was too expensive in this area.
We stopped for lunch at a little cafe called The Doghouse Grill, where I finally bought a Chicago Dog (it was on my to-do list). You are not allowed to put ketchup on a Chicago dog. Well, it's not actually illegal; they will just sneer at you if you do that. So I had the usual Chicago dog - onions, tomatoes, mustard, pepper, etc etc, except I declined the pickles. I was a little leery of the hot peppers - didn't know if they were hot, or HOT. Turns out, they were just hot, and I could handle them.
After lunch, we walked back to Lincoln Park to visit the Zoo. Admission is free, and it's quite an extensive zoo. Zebras, camels, ostriches. Yes, lions and tigers (I didn't see any bears). Reptiles and monkeys, and apes. Big apes! With big teeth.
The apes were putting on quite a show. Three of them were out in the yard, and two of them were fighting over a blanket. One ape wanted all the blankets. The other one kept trying to steal one. The hoarding ape would get it back. The other ape looked at him, then opened his mouth to show his big teeth and bit the other guy in the back. They started wrestling and shoving each other, and the crowd is "ooh! ohhh! oooh!" Who are the apes now, I wonder?
We began walking back towards our neighbourhood (not quite sure if it's the Gold Coast or Streeterville - the lines of demarcation around here are not clear to me). It's been a lot of walking today. My Vivosmart is clocking us in at about 10 to 12 miles per day. Whew!
I suggested taking one of the boat rides on the lake tour, but Monica was tired, so she went back to the hotel. I continued on to Navy Pier myself. Unfortunately, I arrived at 3:40, which is 10 minutes too late to catch the 3:30 boat (probably 5 minutes, when you consider that the boats usually leave late. Doh!). Now I have to wait for the 4:30 boat. Oh well, it gives me time enough to wander around and explore Navy Pier. There's a whole giant marketplace that Monica and I missed the last time we were here.
The Lake Tour is shorter than the Architecture Tour, but you get some great distance views of the city skyline, and the audio track is chock full of more facts you want to know about Chicago. For example:
- there's 17 miles of unobstructed, publicly accessible beachfront property in Chicago, the most in any major city in the US.
- Michigan Avenue is the original shoreline, and the current shoreline was built up by infill from soil, sand and damaged lumber from the time of the Chicago fire.
- The CNA building used to be a bright red, but when the sun was setting, its reflection was blinding and it caused too many traffic accidents, so the city asked them to change it, and it's now a more muted rust red.
- Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip docked their yacht at the currently named "Queen's Platform" near Buckingham Fountain when they visited in the 1950s.
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| The captain of this sailboat is an inattentive moron. |
It was about 5:25 when I got back to the hotel, Monica and I disagreed as to whether or not there was enough time for the art gallery. I was back at about 5:30 p.m., and the gallery closes at 8:00, so I figured there was plenty of time. She was of the opinion that I plan too many activities per day, plus we'd lose a half-hour in transit, so not enough time. Since the art gallery was out, we walked along Michigan Avenue and visited both Burberry and Neiman Marcus. I found a nice dress at Burberry for $5,700. And I found a great tote bag at Neiman Marcus for $3,500. So many great deals to be found here in mostly-cloudy Chicago!
We stopped in at the Water Tower Art Gallery, which has a very small (but free!) gallery due to space constraints. It was all photos of fancy food. If fancy food appealed to me, it might have made me hungry. As it was, I was mostly unmoved.
Back to Macy's. Monica is still considering getting her brows done at the Brow Bar. (Is that a high-brow activity or low-brow? I don't know - the jury is still out on that.) Then she wanted to visit the lingerie department, while I became angry in the shoe department, because the Sketchers Go-Walks are cheaper here in America than in Canada. Why are they $40 on sale? They never seem to go below $69 on sale in Canada!
I've got blisters starting to form on my blisters, so I buy myself a pair of purple Go-Walk shoes.
For supper, I stop off at the food court and pick up a deep dish pepperoni pizza. Later, my digestive system will regret this choice, but for now, I eat it and am happy.
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