This post is almost a year overdue, but I'm going to go ahead and do it anyways. I mentioned it in my end of the year post in 2017 that I visited Chicago for the first time. I've always wanted to go. It was my first time traveling to a place in the United States and exploring it myself. Since it was almost a year since my visit, my memory will be a little fuzzy in some details, but I still remember a lot!
I arrived in Chicago on a Sunday morning. I think before 6am! Right after dropping my bags, I went directly to Maxwell Street Market since I saw that it opens at 7am. When I arrived, I saw vendors who sold stuff, which I wasn't interested in. I kept walking more down the street and found the food. I saw horchata, tamales, tacos, and other stuff. I got a horchata, which was good. My main goal was to get tacos from a place that had lots of raves about it on Yelp, but it took longer of a wait then I expected, so I grabbed a tamale first. The tamale was delicious. When the taco place was finally opened, I order a steak taco. When I was done I walked around a bit and then ordered a ride. I didn't realize it, but when I talked the driver on the phone he thought I was at Millennium park, so I just canceled it and ordered a ride once I took a look at the street signs.
Before my trip date, I did a lot of research of what Chicago has to offer. I knew about the bean because that's what everyone takes a picture of. What I didn't realize was that a lot there was a lot to see at the park. There was the fountain, the bean, and fountain where kids play. I did know that the park was huge because I decided to walk from Millennium Park to the Shedd Aquarium. It said about 25 minutes on the maps, so before coming I thought to myself that's a piece of cake. Little did I know that it would be so hot on that day. I wanted to call a ride to take me there, but since I was on the beach walkway, it wasn't close to a drop off section, so I just walked all the way there. When I finally got to the building, I was absolutely amazed at the size of the buildings around there. Those buildings were museums, aquariums, and planetariums and they were like State capitol size!
I already decided upon getting a Citypass before coming to Chicago, so I had some other destinations to hit up for the day. Shedd Aquarium was one of my choices. I decided to only stay an hour there due to my time crunch. The associate there asked me if I wanted to see a movie as part of the pass and I said no. I really like the choices of fish that they had there. Some of them were really huge and I've never seen them before.
Next stop was the Field Museum. When you walk into the Field Museum, you can see Sue (t-rex skeleton) immediately. When I walked around to explore, I had no idea the amount of preserved animals I would see. It absolutely astounded me. The collection at the museum is amazing. I was only imaging how much effort it took to preserve each of the animals.
Now that I was done with the Field museum, my next stop was the Art Institute of Chicago. I already knew how much of a walk it was from Millennium Park to Field Museum. But, what did I decide to do? I decided to walk because I believe that would be the best plan. It was another long walk, but it didn't seem so hot this time around. Studying a map really came in handy because I used it a lot when navigating my way around Chicago.
When I finally made it to the Art Institute of Chicago, I was amazed that it was another big buildings. There was so much art there. One of them was a really famous painting that I've seen before and had the most people there. There was also a lot of abstract art there. But since I was in a rush, I didn't take the time to appreciate all the art that the building had to offer, so I made my way to my next stop, which was Sears Tower. Being the person that I am, I had already looked at how far it was from Sears Tower and Art Institute. Since it was so short of a walk, I figured I had to do it. This walk was quite short. That particular area was the most run down I saw in Chicago with some homeless and less clean buildings. It kind of remind me of some places I been.
When I arrived at Sears tower, I noticed a huge line. The Sears tower was so popular, so of course everyone would want to go there. I over heard that fast pass could go ahead and skip the line, so I went up and they let me go since it was only me. When I went up the elevator, there was another long line, they also let fast pass people skip that line and go ahead to the elevator to the tower. When I finally made it to the tower, I think there was like 4 glass areas where people were taking photos. I looked around and stared at it for 10 minutes. I left after that because I didn't want to face my fear of heights for a photo. After all that was over, I think it was around 2 o'clock. I was hungry and decided on getting pizza since it was so close to the building.
I chose to eat at Giordano's. When I arrived, there was only bar seating available, so I took it. When I ordered, I really believed I ordered it without onions, so when it came with it I told the bartender I had it with no onions because he said he didn't hear that, so I let it be. So, I just spent some time getting all the onions out. At the end of my meal, I finished the pizza and about 3 refills on ice tea. My bartender let me know he didn't charge me for the iced tea and said something about miscommunication about the pizza. I was surprised about it, but happy.
After eating, I realized that it was almost about time for the last tour at Driehaus Museum, so I really hoped that my ride could make it there on time. And yes, I made it in just in time for the tour. The museum looked like a house from the outside, but inside there was so much stuff worthy of being in a museum. There were Tiffany items and so many other elegant and priceless items. I also got to learn about art. This place is truly a gem of Chicago. I want to go back. The place reminded me of Hearst Castle and the Stanford Museum.
I finally went back to the hotel after Driehaus Museum. But, guess what? I was thinking that I already had so much stuff on my list that there was still things I can do. So, once I changed, I walked out and decided to walk to Navy Pier since it was a close walk. Navy Pier has a ferris wheel, restaurants, shops, boat tours. I didn't go on a boat tour, but I regret it. Next time I'll go on the a boat tour and see the fireworks.
Thanks to my research and map looking skills, I knew it was possible to walk to Navy Pier to John Hancock Observatory, so I spent some time walking. About this time, it was already cooler in the day and not as hot, which was good. The area where I was walking was relatively clean, although I did notice a sign about picking up dog litter since rats like to eat that stuff. When I arrived at the John Hancock, it realized that it was a fairly nice building. It didn't have the crowd like Sears tower, but it was a really nice view. I really enjoyed it.
I was hungry afterwards and really wanted to try something popular in Chicago, so I walked over from John Hancock to Portillo's. When I was walking it started sprinkling and that was the moment when I was most scared in Chicago was when I might get all soaked, but the sprinkles never amounted to heavy rain that got me soaked. Portillo's pleasantly surprised me because it was more of a food hall with different options and a good crowd. I ordered the hot dog without onions of course, and I love their hot dog! Why don't we have hot dogs with poppy seeds here?
My last stop of the night was the hotel because I couldn't think of anything else to do. As I laid down in the hotel room, I realized it was one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed at and there was two beds. I was all by myself and no one knew my name, but I was doing more than ok.
The next morning, my first stop was at a cafe because I specifically wanted hot chocolate. Chicago was the Chicago Zoo. What
surprised me the most about it was that it was free, yes free! Since I
went really early in the morning, there were no crowds whatsoever and
most of the time it was just me and the animals in sight. There were
also buildings I think I could explore, but they were closed. I will
definitely want to come back to the zoo in Chicago. It's so tranquil and
pretty.
I decided to hit up Chinatown because I wanted to see how it was different from all the other Chinatown's I've been to. There's the older side and a more newer side. As I walked down the older sign of Chinatown, I noticed older people catching up with others and asking them what they were doing there. It's definitely not as big as the one in San Francisco, but I liked it. I got a Totoro fan at one of the shops and ate dim sum. In fact, I didn't finish it, so I ended up bringing the rest on my flight back.
Next, I went to U of C. U of C is the University of Chicago. The reason why I wanted to go there was because I reading through the Yelp comments years ago and I wanted to see what college life was like there. When I arrived, I noticed that all the buildings look nice. I also noticed that I can practically not inside any of the buildings. I asked one of the people there and he said you have to be a student go inside, so I just walked around. It just so happens, that the solar eclipse was going on at the time I was there. I noticed some people around there watching. A lady I talked to offer to let me use her glasses her a bit, so I was able to see for a few seconds. What I saw was really small! I hope that was the solar eclipse.
I didn't take a load of photos when I was there because I took lots of videos. Not as much as my cruise trip, but enough to make a 4 minute video. If you want to see it, here's my
Chicago video. I spent a lot of time editing it, but not many people were interested in seeing it. I'm glad I did a video though because it makes it easier for me to remember my Chicago experience and it's easy for me to share to friends and family.
I didn't spend enough time in Chicago! I spent about a day and a few hours in Chicago. I wished I stayed longer for my first visit. But, I made the time worth it. I already have some things in mind of what I want to do next.
