We went to Chicago for a long weekend at spring break in April 2008. We stayed at the Hyatt in downtown and had a really nice view from our window:
The first day we walked up Michigan avenue and window shopped. The Apple Computer and the Ghiradelli Chocolate stores were the hot tickets on our walk. Resting up in Water Tower Park after eating ice cream at Ghiradelli’s:
Audrey with the water tower - which survived the Great Chicago Fire.
That evening Drew, Lindsey and I went to see a movie, while Kathy and Audrey had an appointment at the most visited store on the magnificent mile - the American Girl Store! They got Audrey’s picture taken, got the doll’s hair done, and even went to a show at the American Girl Theater. And of course, Audrey bought some cool stuff.
The next day was a walking day. South of the hotel on Michigan avenue is a relatively new park, called millennium park. It has this strange chrome sculpture that they call “the bean”.
When you get close to the bean you can get some interesting effects.
Underneath it looks like some crazy kaleidoscope. You could get dizzy in there.
Just south of the millennium park is the Art Institute of Chicago. Famous for all kinds of art. We saw Monet, Dali, Van Gogh Renoir, Picasso and many other paintings.
After the museum, we were tired of walking, so we took a double Decker bus tour. It was the first beautiful day of the year. It even got a bit hot on the trip. Our tour guide was great, and he told us all kinds of interesting stories about the history of Chicago and some of the architecture.
After the bus tour, we hiked back to the hotel, and when it was time to eat, we had famous Chicago stuffed pizza at Giordano’s. The plaza where the restaurant was had tall buildings on all four sides. It reminded me of our New York trip when we sat out in the plaza of the World Trade Center in 2001.
That night, we hiked back up Michigan avenue and did a bit of shopping. I tried to take some night pictures of the kids, but it was a little tough.
This is the Wrigley building at night.
Then we took a cab up to the Briar Street theater and saw the Blue Man Group - which was one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen. I’m still sore from laughing so hard.
We got back to the hotel exhausted. The next morning we packed up and came home. It was a fun trip.