Touring Chicago

Saturday was TOUR DAY!  But not before breakfast...............Teri suggested eating at the Corner Bakery for breakfast and I'm glad she did - it was excellent!!  We found that by usually ordering just 2 items and splitting them, we didn't end up with hardly any leftovers and also didn't feel absolutely stuffed!!  It was warm enough to sit outside which is always an added bonus!

 

Our first stop was at the bean - at least that's what Teri calls it!!  It's part of the artwork in Millennium Park and it really is a cool structure!  You can see yourself walking up to it as it's all reflective - and now that I think about it, we had COFFEE in hand so we must have stopped at Caribou before we headed here - YES YES YES - Chicago has Caribou coffee!!!  I was one happy camper!!

Now isn't this a cute statue?  There were lots of them all painted differently lining this particular section of the park! 

We also walked by an outdoor cafe which becomes a skating rink in the wintertime - and a part of one of my favorite movies was filmed at this location - The Lake House!!

Did I forget to mention that my legs were really hurting when I got out of bed that morning - my poor feet are NOT used to walking on cement!!  The trick was to KEEP walking and not stopping to take pictures - ha ha!!

Chicago even has a river walk!

While we were waiting to meet our tour group, we watched the bridge being lifted up to let several boats through - many were large sailboats heading to their winter mooring destination!

Our tour was a walking tour with a guide - we didn't walk far but at each stop, our guide would tell us all kinds of neat facts and stories -  it was hard to imagine that the portion we were at was once a swampland!  Chicago sure has a LOT of history behind it!

I love the reflection on this building!

Our tour also included a brunch which was delicious!  We finished up our walking tour hearing about the great Chicago fire!

Next was a boat tour!  We just happened to walk over to the tours to see if we could get on one since the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day - and a boat was just about to leave so we paid for our tickets and jumped on!  We were on the Chicago River and then later went out into Lake Michigan.

Again, the narrator for the tour was fantastic - she was very informative about all the things we were looking at from the boat so we really enjoyed the trip!!  Here's the skyline!

Ah, 3 sisters enjoying the sunshine and the tour!

Here is one of the cute fire plugs painted around the city - they're all painted differently!

I think we were totally exhausted after our 2 tours and lots of walking - and now it's coming back to me, it started raining!!  Yes, we got to use our umbrellas in Chicago and walking amongst other pedestrians with umbrellas can be a real challenge at times!!  We decided once we got back to the hotel that we just needed to stay in for the evening!

At dinner time we ate at the restaurant in the hotel which was very good - and because we had all brought different kinds of chocolate to eat, dessert was in our hotel room!!  To Be Cont'd.........