Okay, finally, my LAST recap of my trip to Chicago. And it didn't take me a whole month this time! :) In case you missed any of my recaps, please see below.
I didn't get a chance to post these pictures from around Chicago (they are mainly from walking around town on day two and three), so here they are first!
After being on various parts of Route 66 last summer and this summer, I finally saw where it started!
We stopped by (but didn't go in) Tribune Tower, which is home to the newspaper the Chicago Tribune. It seems before this building was built, correspondents for the newspaper would bring back rocks or stones from historic and important sites all over the world. They have been incorporated into the lowest levels of the building, and are labeled with their location of origin. They keep adding stones because last year bricks from Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park were added (why it took them so long to get stones from places in Chicago, I don't know).
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| Of course I would take my picture by the stone from the Alamo |
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| No big deal, just touching a piece of the Great Pyramid |
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| This as a pretty awesome candy store! |
My first night we were able to see a fireworks show at the Navy Pier from Harrie's pool deck. It was a beautiful night for them!
My last day in Chicago was really just over a half day, because my flight left about 3:30 pm and I headed to the airport about one. We met one of Harrie's friends (and now my new friend) MaryAnne for breakfast early-ish that morning at a place called Toast.
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| I liked this place (and not just because it had an Audrey Hepburn poster in the back). :) |
We had plans to go to the Lincoln Park Zoo, but it started pouring down rain while we were at breakfast, so we decided to check out the Chicago History Museum instead. I think I actually enjoyed it more than I would have the zoo. I love history and this place was wonderful! I learned so much, including that the name Chicago comes from the word Native American name "shikaakwa" or "checagou" (which is the French version), which means stinky onion. That made me laugh.
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| If you answer a question, they put your name up on the board for the day |
We only had about two hours to spend there, but I could have easily stayed an additional two hours. I decided when I go back to Chicago, I want to check out more about the gangsters of Chicago (there was a small exhibit about them in this museum). Oh, and it was also cool to see an actual scorecard from the last World Series the Cubs won. I also discovered an exhibit of photographs from Vivian Maier. She took thousand of photographs but none of them were actually published (or even developed) until after her death. It's a fascinating story, you can read more
here.
Of course they had a lot about the Great Chicago Fire (including some artifacts that survived, or partially survived), and some artifacts from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. They also had an exhibit with a cane once owned by Charlie Chaplin.
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| Charlie Chaplin's cane is bottom left |
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| From the exhibit about Women's Suffrage in Chicago |
My "summer of Lincoln" ended in the Chicago History Museum, where they have the bed on which he died. There was a very nice museum employee named Michael and he said they actually have the sheets on which he died, but they are bloody, and they didn't feel it was appropriate to have them on display (which I understand, although the morbid side of me kind of wants to see them). I know, I have issues. Lol.
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| Lincoln's death bed |
After the museum, we headed back to Harrie's so I could pack. I actually took a Lyft car to the airport (my first time using the service). It wasn't bad- it was reasonably priced (especially since Harrie lives a good way from the airport). MUCH cheaper than a taxi. The bad weather earlier in the day caused some flight delays so my flight was almost two hours late taking off. I finally boarded the plane and enjoyed an Audrey Hepburn movie on my flight home (thanks to the free movie streaming service on United Airlines).
It was a fantastic trip. Thanks again to my awesome friend Harrie for being such a wonderful hostess!! I can't wait for my next trip!
XOXO!
