Doreen, Elsa, and I met at the University of California at Santa Barbara at the beginning of our freshman year of college. We each went on to become teachers, but we kept in touch. This is our second trip together. Two years ago, we met at Doreen's in Connecticut to explore part of the East Coast. We toured the coast of Connecticut, explored parts of Massachusetts, including seeing Wellesley, Amherst (home of Emily Dickinson), and Boston. We spent an afternoon exploring Newport, Rhode Island. Now, we are off to tour Chicago with Doreen as our personal tour guide once again!
We took the train from downtown Chicago to this quaint
section of town on our way to the zoo. Here are examples
of row houses which were so popular and common in
big cities in the 1800s.
We just liked this house as we walked through the
neighborhood to the zoo.
Chicago is host to two complete zoos. We went to the free zoo and were amazed by its size and the variety of animals and plants included. We spent most of our first full day exploring. We began with the conservatory. Elsa was in heaven!!! She loves all plants and has an extensive garden.
The first animal we faced was the rhino! He was
enjoying basking in the sun!
There was a collection of these apes inside this enclosure.
They are masters of relaxation! I need a lesson!
The aviary was quite extensive! I can't possibly
show all of the various birds.
I just liked this owl's face.
I was excited to see a real scarlet ibis. "The Scarlet Ibis"
is one of my all-time favorite short stories.
The polar bear was out human watching!
I had never seen a real meercat before!
Elsa and I were equally busy taking lots of pictures!
Like the rest of the world, I am fascinated by all of the different apes. Here
are some of my favorites!
The last enclosure we encountered housed the the shaggiest camels I have ever seen!
I had to take a picture of the Chicago skyline as we left the zoo.
We walked from the Chicago City Zoo to a quaint old bridge with General Grant
riding his horse at the top.
Doreen is sitting at the base of the bridge looking toward the lake.
And, here is Elsa across from Doreen. We are about to cross over a busy highway to the lake front.
I know I have mentioned the beautiful flowers throughout
the city of Chicago, but here is another example. They
line both sides of the bridge people walk over to reach
the beach.
Here we are at the beach. As you can see, we had
perfect weather. The horrible heatwave of 2012
attacked Chicago the day we were leaving. We
were so lucky!
Doreen had a great suggestion for our first dinner in Chicago. We went
to an Italian restaurant near our hotel. Doreen and her family had been there often. The restaurant had a special that Doreen and Elsa took advantage of. It offered a two full dinners with side helpings of pasta and a free meal to take home. It fed the three of us for two nights!
Here we are about to embark on the architectural tour of Chicago by boat.
Doreen had told us it was the one must-see. With our permission, she ordered
the tickets for the three of us in advance. It is wonderful to have a personal tour guide!
We were fascinated by the sights and information. Our guide's grandfather
had been orphaned by the Great Chicago Fire, so he had a personal interest in
the story of Chicago's rebirth. I hadn't realized that Chicago became a haven for
inventive young architects after the fire. The Chicago River, which is the river we are navigating
as we proceed on the tour was actually forced to change directions. We were shown the differences between classic architectural structures, Art Deco structures, and modern buildings. We loved it!
Isn't this an interesting building in the midst of
all the high rise structures?
We were enthralled with this building, which fits neatly
into the curve of the river and reflects the skyline around it.
I loved to see the terraces along the river, too.
We took a long walk along the lake front. It is a well-maintained open beach with
defined swim lanes. The beach walkway ended at this little park, which was a short walk to the Old Navy Pier.
This is one of the newest buildings in Chicago, and it is built to sway with the wind.
All of the apartments have wonderful views. Some individuals have purchased two on the same
floor, so they have a full view of the lake and the city!
Here is the Old Navy Pier. There are many attractions, including an I-Max theater.
On Wednesday evenings, a fireworks display is presented. Unfortunately, we couldn't see both the fireworks and the ballet in the park. We chose the ballet.
If you wanted, you could take a ride on one of the old sailing ships, too!
This is the old ballroom at the end of the pier. They were preparing it for a wedding reception, we
think.
This is the lighthouse off-shore from the Old Navy Pier.
Here's the skyline from the Old Navy Pier.
The pier had large flower arrangements all the way to the end. There are blooming flowers everywhere in Chicago! It is lovely!!!
While we were investigating the Old Navy Pier, we happened upon a Tiffany exhibit. We spent
quite a bit of time perusing the various stained glass pieces. Here are a couple of examples.
We set out from our downtown hotel to take the train to Oak Park and see Frank Lloyd Wright's home
and the various homes he designed in the neighborhood. Here are a few of the homes we viewed on the walking tour of the neighborhood. There was a bust of Wright in the little park, too.
Here are Elsa and Doreen relaxing in the neighborhood park
as we took the walking tour of Wright's houses. It was a very warm day
and the shade felt good.
On our walk back to the train, we were able to take a short detour passed Ernest Hemingway's home. He lived here with his mother when he was little. The man giving the tours was sitting on the porch, and he was very friendly, even though we were too hot and tired to tour the house. We have a reason to return to Oak Park!
Right down the street from Hemingway's house is a museum dedicated to him. Again, we didn't take the tour, but we did spend a little time in the museum shop, where the volunteer offered to pay my admission as a tribute to her favorite high school English teacher. Is that a lovely tradition she has?
On our last day in the city, we set out to see the Contemporary Museum of Art and Millenium Park.
We walked through the city to get to the park, taking pictures as we went. We passed a couple of different fountains and couldn't resist taking pictures.
The spray fountain below is set to go off every few
minutes.
The Bean is a new landmark in Chicago!
The park is lovely and well used by Chicagoans!
The water fountain below changes faces every
few minutes to represent the diversity of people
who live in Chicago.
We were so fortunate to see the first simulcast of the Paris Opera Ballet in Millennium Park. This is the view we had from our perches on the steps just behind the formal seats. As you can see, we had a perfect view of a breathtaking performance. The ballet was being performed at the Harris Theater that evening. This broadcast was free to anyone who wished to see it. My guess is we were sharing this experience with about three thousand Chicagoans! What a great city!!!
Our last night in Chicago ended with an evening stroll home as we oohed and aahed over the city lights. This is the Chicago River along the Millennium Mile. We had a lovely trip and a great visit. We decided our next venture should be to Santa Fe! Any ideas where we should go?
