Tale of a Windy and VERY hot city part 4 final.

Millennium Park was a must see for me. I was intrigued with the Cloud Gate. Or as locals call it "the Bean". I thought the Crown fountain was neat and loved watching the people enjoy themselves cooling off. The squeals from the little ones were adorable.

I loved this. It was so beautiful. I could have stood inside it for hours.

But we didn't have time, we had to get in line over at the Museum. It was Thursday and they offer free admission 5PM-8PM.

We didn't have to wait long, and I did get a nice picture of the lion.

I only took a few pictures inside. My favorite was the Impressionist wing and the Architecture & Design wing. Wasn't so thrilled on the "art" in the modern after 1960's wing.

I love the detail in this little painting. I can't even fathom the control the artist had in his hands. With a brush! Just amazing.

I love the movement in this one. It's like the fruit is spinning waiting for you to say "I'll have some grapes please!" Then it would come to a stop in front of you.

I think everyone can remember a time at the beach when they were young. The sun warming your damp skin, the breeze combing through your hair and the urge to break free and run! Not wanting to stop your playing to be captured in a picture, or in this case a painting! It's just magic.

I did not take a picture of my favorite. Thinking back I should have. I didn't because the two women were nude in it. You couldn't see much, but they were still nude. They were climbing into a pool or river. The detail in their skin was simply breath-taking. I felt like they were going to step out of the frame and stand right in front of me nude and all! I think they were special women to the artist because you could feel the devotion he had for them in his work. Truly a piece of art. Unlike some of that modern stuff. That stuff I didn't get.

The Ravioli chair.

How awesome is this?!

I could only take so much walking and my feet began to hurt again. So we headed out to Grant park to go see the Buckingham fountain. Every hour for the first 20 minutes the water dances to music. It was mesmerizing to watch. I also enjoyed the seagulls, it was just like the movie Finding Nemo. Where the gulls see something and they start calling "mine mine mine". It didn't help that I was throwing popcorn.

Chicago was a special trip, it wouldn't have been my first choice of places I'd like to go, but it was a place Rob wanted to take me. I couldn't have asked for a better time. Because all that really matters was that we were together.

Tale of a Windy and VERY hot city part 3

It was suppose to rain on Wednesday. 60% chance of it. Turned out to be just as sunny, just as humid and just as hot as the rest of the days. I can tell you that this was no windy city. Not the week I was there! I left off with the trolley tour, Hear it a picture of Trump. Gorgeous building. Trump wanted to have the tallest building, Chicago said "No way." He begged and begged. The city told him that when the Sears Willis Tower falls OFF the top ten tallest buildings in the world list, which is suppose to do 2015 Trump can go right ahead and make his taller. Because of this he built his building with a false top, so he can take it off and continue up! (according to our tour guide.) We ate dinner ate our hotels restaurant, Harry Carey's the food was wonderful. We decided to do Trumps for dessert and drinks. Which I posted about here if you missed it.

The view was amazing. It also happened to be the night of fireworks in the city. It was on of the best dates I've ever had.

And a highlight of the trip for both of us.

The next day we headed up to Lincoln Park Zoo. We got there right at opening time, which is when all the animals get fed. Unfortunately this was late in the trip and even though we took the bus to the zoo, my feet had already called for a strike and the heat was only getting worse.

These are a few of the highlights we saw at the zoo in our brief but thorough visit.

Kangaroos. Funny story: We sat down for dinner at the airport, and there was a guy next to us. I noticed his passport said he was from Australia. I said "G'day mate."

He looked over at me and smiled.

I smiled back as said "We saw Kangaroos at the zoo yesterday."

He laughed at me and said "You Americans think they are wonderful animals, they are like deer to us. They ruin our cars and crops!"

I frowned for a moment and then I asked about Koalas.

He told me they are mean and full of disease, I won't repeat exactly what he said, but that was basically it. I enjoyed talking with him. He was colorful and kind.

Next we have a two humped camel. I have ridden a two humped camel before. That was interesting. Rob didn't like it. Something about being in the back and the humps crushing his...

Again at the airport I met a wonderful Lady, American, who lives in Dubai. She told me many stories. I wish she had been sitting next to me on our two hour delay, I could  have listened to her some more.

The chimpanzees. They would stuff their mouths, this one chose radishes, grab cabbage in their hands and then race outside and up the trees to eat. I love watching them.

The Gorillas were still sleeping, so I couldn't get a good shot of them. But check this out:

Gorillas hand print/my hand. They are incredible!

We walked over to the polar bear exhibit when we heard the planes jets rocket over us. We quickly lost interest in the animals and wanted only to see the jets.

The Blue Angels were flying maneuvers getting ready for the air show that weekend.

After watching them for a little while we decided to try and find a little cupcake place I found online before our trip. I was told by a local that it was only 2 or 3 blocks from where we were. It was 9 blocks. My feet nor I were happy about that!

I honestly believe I would have enjoyed it MUCH better had we ridden the bus like I wanted. But Rob said "It's only a few more blocks."

Once we got there I realized there were no coconut type cupcakes which deflated my enthusiasm even more. I decided to give the peach cobbler a try.

It was delicious. Moist vanilla cake with peach puree inside topped with whipped cream and a hint of spice. Was it worth walking 9 blocks in the blazing heat? No, no it was not.

Rob had the chocolate decadence.

It was moist chocolate cake with a chocolate mousse filling topped with ganash and curls. He took two bites and the cupcake broke apart from the oozey mousse. I should have taken a picture of him eating it, he was a mess!

We took the bus back to the hotel so I could soak me poor feet. That evening we were heading to Millennium Park , the Art Institute and Buckinghma Fountain.

Tale of a Windy and VERY hot city part 2

There wasn't much sleeping in. First of all the horns start honking promptly at 7AM. And the continental breakfast was only offered 6:30AM-9:30AM and if you weren't out there by 7AM everything was picked over... and I wasn't going to walk out there looking like this...

I'm going with the smallest size pic on this one, the fact that I took it and am bravely posting it says volumes! The heat took my hair to an all new level of frizzy, wingy, uncontrollable! I had eighties hair nearly every morning! Good grief, and to think I actually wanted hair like this back then!?!
We went on a trolley ride, we were suppose to ride a double decker bus but it was too stinking hot to sick out in the sun! The trolley rides was loads of fun, we had a wonderful tour guide who had a great sense on humor! Here are some pics from that.

Not sure which buildings they are...I just thought they were pretty. I think the one on the left is the Tribune Building.

These two buildings cracked me up. The bottom was parking garages where the cars are backed in and they look like they could fall right off. According to our tour guide only two cars have ever fallen off, and they were both for movies! The architect didn't like corners and there is a heated marina underneath it where residents can keep their boats in the water year round. Wonder what the rent is like there?

Ah, yes. The Sears Willis Tower. According to our tour guide, they have an express elevator you can ride to get to the "skydeck". He said to imagine the tube at the bank where you put in your deposit, close the door and the thing shoots through the tube, only WE would be the canister. NO THANKS!
You can see the "skydeck" if you look closely on the left hand side, those tiny blimps on the side on the building, where you can actually stand on and it's like your on air. Again, NO THANKS! I don't like heights, matter of fact one of my friends posted a pic of the view from the skybox and posted it on Facebook, my exact comment was: I think I'm going to be sick!

DA BEARS! Oh I wanted to tour Soldier Field SO BAD, but there wasn't a tour while we were there. The Bears are one of my favorite teams and Also wanted a t-shirt but Rob put his foot down!

Navy Pier. Wasn't so jazzed about this. First it was bloody hot, second it was really touristy and I just want to experience the city like the people who LIVE there do, not because somebody said oh, hey you gotta see Navy Pier...
On the tour we met a man and his sons. They were from Mexico and we enjoyed talking with them very much.

This is Jose and his sons Imanol (17) and Xavier (7). When I asked if I could take their picture so I could show my children the nice people we met they were gracious to say yes and then they wanted to take ours, exchange email and keep in touch. Which we have already begun doing.

I have know idea why it looks like night, because it was during the day, we must have gone into the tunnel. Which, according to our tour guide, is a favorite place for Hollywood to shot car/chase scenes. Most recently The Dark Knight, and filming while we were there Transformers 3. Nope, I did not see Shia, or Josh and Oprah wasn't in town either. That was one of the first things our tour guide said: "For those of you hopeing to see Lady O she is not in town, but I will point out where she lives later in the tour." She lives in the top two floor of the Ritz Carlton, in case you were wondering.

The views of the city from out near the lake were AMAZING!

I've got two more days to share...later.

A tale of the windy and VERY hot city.

Hello Chicago.

We flew out on an early flight, I didn't think that one through...see the flight time was 7:55AM. Which meant that we needed to be ready to go to the airport before 6AM. Which meant I needed to be a functioning adult by 5AM. Yeah, I hadn't thought that one through too well. The safety check point made me anxious, I was packed nice and neat. Then I was told I needed to dig out all my liquids. Which were neatly packed in my carry-on suitcase. It was not neatly packed after the check point! And can I just say :GROSS! to the floor and all the barefooted peeps. EWE! I wore shoes and socks and was grateful I did.

Is my lack of travel showing?

I am a nervous flyer.

We touched down and headed for the train.

That was an interesting ride.

Interesting people, smells, sights...

My first view of the city, Looked the same as any other city. There were buildings. There were people, lots of people and noise.

Lots of horns. Bunch of horny drivers. I saw two cars stop side by side in an intersection to honk at one another. Mkay.

Our hotel was nice. The Amalfi. We chose it because it had free continental breakfasts. The rooms were small, bed was comfy. I wish I would have had a fridge and microwave in our room.

Pets can stay in this hotel, so the carpet was pretty dingy, smell wise it was clean.

We were just off the river. our view wasn't good. But we were in a city and our hotel only had 6 floors.

Our first stop after checking in was the American Girl Place.

We bought Butter and her doll Ruthie matching shirts. I loved this store and can't wait to bring Butter. We have a store here in MN in the BIG Mall but this store was much bigger...

After that we headed over to Ghiradelli.

You know why we are smiling? Because this was just put in front of us!

I can still taste it's chocolaty coolness with the light crunch of nuts!

I ate dessert first.

After we finished our dessert we went across the street...to this place.

We figured it was a good idea seeing as dinner was at...

Hershey's is right across the street from Ghiradelli. Nothing like a chocolate high before dinner.

Speaking of dinner, it was time to head over for some Deep Dish Pizza!

Yes, I got lots of opinions on WHERE to eat deep dish. I chose Gino's East because of the reviews I read and the fact that you could write on there walls. So, the line had already begun to form at 4:30PM and we knew that it would take an hour for the pizza once the order was placed. We only had to wait a few minutes because we were a party of 2. They sat us in a back booth, like our own little nook. Guess what was written on the wall of our booth???

Yep, that says COX, and no I didn't write it. We did not leave our mark, but it sure was fun reading all the others. We ordered our pizza, sausage and green olives. I LOVE GREEN OLIVES.

And roughly an hour later I got this:

Oh, my word! Delicious!

Unfortunately the curse hit me and we booked it 8 blocks back to the hotel so I could have privacy.

I was reminded why I don't like traveling: The Curse.

I will tell you, it only hit me this one meal. So, maybe I should have gone to Giordano's?!?!

More to come...