Chapter 5. Mystery Chapter....Downtown Chicago Mini Trip Report!
Wow we had an awesome time Downtown Saturday. We started the day by catching the 8:15 South Shore train that runs from South Bend IN to Downtown Chicago. We caught the train in East Chicago, and we had thought that it would not be crowded at all due to it being a weekend and of course we thought we would be the only ones going to the city on the weekend.
Were we ever wrong, the cubs were at home, and Loolapalooza (sp) was in Grant park. (It is a huge concert with bands all weekend.) So needless to say we could not find a seat on the train. We walked up a few cars and saw two empty seats in a group of four that face each other. Well there was some training lab dogs laying on the ground in those seats with the owners. I was not going to stand for a 45 minute ride, so I asked the owners if we could squeeze in the seats. I am glad we did.
Not 2 minutes later the lady came around and asked us where we were going so we could pay her. I said "we are going all the way" I could not remeber the name of the stop. One of the ladies we were sitting with started to laugh and goes if they are going all the way I'm glad I brought my camera.
Well needless to say it was a great ride in, we found out they were take the dogs to the race track to raise awerness for handicap trained helper dogs. They also told us some other funny stories, DW and I were laughing all the way into the city. So if you are out there thank you people on the train. You gave us a great start to out day.
So we arrive in the big city about 9:00 and decide to start walking up the Michigan Ave. toward Lincoln Park Zoo. Well I looked at a map and I thought it was only about a mile, we will find out later how far it really was.
Here is one of our first stops on the way to the zoo going across the Chicago River, where the new trump hotel and tower is going to be. You can see the base of it in the backround.
We passed the
Disney store on Michigan Ave. and of course had to go in, I almost bought another Disney shirt but put it back because I want to but a few down there. We made it to the zoo and walked around a little bit and then had lunch. The first big exhibit we went into was the Ape House. Here is DW with there biggest ape, he was eating a piece of wood. Looked kinda good.
DW and I going into the Africa area where the giraffes are and some other birds.
Here is a great picture of a lion yawing up against the glass. She was about a foot away from us, It was great.
After about three hours we started our walk down the beach to Navy Pier, Oh yeah there was also the Pro Volleyball tournament going on across from the zoo also. We stopped and had this picture taken by a nice couple.
The Chicago Fire Dept. was out on the beach doing some training drills on how they could rescue people out of the water, if they needed to before the dive team showed up. DW had her Disney bag with us on the trip, it was the first time she used it and loves it.
We saw some mile markers on the way back to Navy Pier, and it was a 2 1/2 mile walk between the zoo and the Pier.
This is on the end of the Navy Pier looking back toward the city, we get this picture every time we go. Looks really cool if you use sepia to change the colors.
Then we walked over to Millenium Park and saw all the sites, I don't remeber the name of the statues and things but this one was awesome, it was like a huge mirror and reflects everything.
Here is one of us on the outside taking a picture.
And one of us underneath it taking a picture of the reflection.
We took about 20 different views and angles, it was really neat.
This was a big video type screen that changed faces, and the people on it even changed there expressions, the lady on here started to close her eyes and then water came out of her mouth to look like she was spitting. Kinda gross if you think about it but really funny also. There were two of these facing each other and the picture would constantly change.
After the Park, we went to Subway and got a sandwich before we left. Our feet were killing us and we knew it was about time to catch the 6:00 train home. We ended up figuring out that we walked a little over 8 miles. We started to wonder how much walking we do in Disney each day, but figured that even if it was that much it is not that bad, because you get breaks sitting down in rides and what not. Our feet were killing us and we were so happy to get home.
Hope everyone enjoyed our day in Chicago, I know we did.
Up Next Chapter 6. What have we bought to take down to WDW with us?