Day 1- Thursday
We flew from Philadelphia to Chicago on US Airways. We landed about 20 minutes early but there was no gate for us; we wound up getting off the plane 30 minutes after the expected time. Only US Airways would land early and still be late!

We took the Blue Line into the city. We checked into our hotel, the Chicago Renaissance, and our room was ready for us. The hotel was very nice and in a great location. Since my husband has status with Marriott, we had access to the concierge lounge so we were able to stock up on water and snacks for the trip (it closed on Friday after breakfast).

Our first stop was the Chicago Architecture Foundation to reserve some tours. To our surprise, most of the River Cruises were sold out for that day and some of the next. We joined the Foundation so we were able to get 2 cruise tickets for the price of 1. We bought tickets (there were only 3 left!) for the first boat the next morning and also a historic skyscrapers tour later that afternoon. Finally, we were off to lunch.

We took the El to Chinatown and had dim sum for lunch at Won Kow. We decided to try the roast duck since we had never tried it before; we did not care for the taste. But, we enjoyed the rest of the food, especially the fried rice off the dim sum menu.

We rode the El back to the city for the Historic Skyscrapers tour. The tour was interesting and we saw many beautiful buildings. We were able to go inside some of them and our docent pointed out many details we would not have noticed. Our only complaint was that the docent war fairly new and did not do a great job of presenting the information. However, we enjoyed the tour and learned a lot about the architecture. I am amazed by all of the details the early architects included. After the tour, we headed back to our hotel to wash up before dinner.

For dinner, we headed to Giordano’s for stuffed sausage pizza. The wait was about an hour. The good thing is that you order the pizza while you are waiting so once you finally get a table, you don’t wait forever for the pizza. My husband and I shared a small and we could not finish it. It was delicious! After dinner, we took a stroll down the Magnificent Mile.

Day 2 (Friday)
We ate breakfast in the lounge. Our first activity of the day was the Architecture River Cruise. The night before, we asked somebody if we could take the Riverwalk from our hotel to the pier for boat and they said yes; we tried but the walk is not connected yet so we kept walking up and down steps! We made it to the dock about 35 minutes early and we were at the end of the line (the foundation suggested 20 minutes); by the time we got on the boat, the only seating left was over the lifejackets in the middle and a single chair. My husband, being the sport that he is, let me sit in the chair (probably so he didn’t have to hear me!). The tour was fascinating; the tour guide really seemed to know her information. It was very interesting to see all the different parts of the city and hear the stories behind the buildings. I was impressed with the way that many of the architects incorporated the features of the area into the buildings (the color of the glass, the curve of the river…). Also, it was neat to see how they are changing old factories and other buildings into beautiful, riverfront condos. At one point, we rode past a chocolate factory and the smell was heavenly- the air smelled like chocolate chip cookies! It was a great way to get acclimated to the city.

After the Cruise, we headed to Taste of Chicago for lunch. We figured since it was the first day and early (around noon), the crowds would be small. WRONG!!! The place was mobbed! But, we bought our tickets and tried to find something to eat; this was a bit of a challenge for me because I am indecisive. My husband had an Italian beef sandwich and a taste slice of thin pizza, I had a pulled pork sandwich (small for the price of 9 tickets); we shared fried dough and DELICIOUS peach cobbler. All of the food was good, but some of it was expensive and the crowds really were frustrating.

We then headed back to the Architecture foundation for another tour (the Architecture of Culture and Commerce). This tour was fantastic, mostly because of the tour guide. He has been a guide for many years and he really had a lot of fascinating information to share. We saw different buildings from the first tour and ended with a brief tour of Millennium Park. As a bonus, we were able to see the Tiffany dome that was recently refurbished in the Chicago Cultural Center; our tour guide was very excited about this because it had not been officially unveiled and he took us on a whim. The dome was magnificent and the building is just so beautiful I could spend all day admiring all of the intricate work.

After the tour, we walked around Millennium Park for a few minutes and then went back to our hotel. We then decided to take a ride up to the Baha’i Temple. It took a little while to get up there but it was worth it. From the train stop, you walk up a beautiful, quiet residential street; the temple suddenly appears out of nowhere. The grounds were beautiful; sadly, the visitor’s center is closed so we were not able to check that out. The temple itself is quite interesting and a very nice place to take a few minutes to reflect; the workers take this seriously and asked another group to be quiet. There is a lot of construction going on so the grounds were not quite as peaceful as I am sure they normally are but it was a nice place to go to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. I think it would be really neat to see at night.

For dinner, we planned on going to the Weber Grill but when we got there, it was packed and my husband was not that interested in the menu. We checked out the guidebook and decided to try the Billy Goat Tavern; it was in a weird location. The burgers were quite tasty and my husband really enjoyed the Goose Island beer; I just wish they had some fries to go along with the burger. DH experienced some of the attitude when he asked the bartender a question about the beer. For dessert, we went to Ghirardelli for ice cream sundaes. The hot fudge was as good as I remembered it!

We spent some time wandering around the Magnificent Mile and checking out the different historical rocks on the Tribune building. We also found a Freedom museum that looked interesting. Along the Magnificent Mile, we stopped in the Intercontinental Hotel to check out the lobby because it had a historical marker. We had to walk past the modern lobby and lounge to get to the historic area but it was beautiful. It is definitely worth a stop!


Day 3 (Saturday)
Since the lounge was closed, we headed to West Egg Café (which I found on here!!) for breakfast. There was a huge crowd but the wait was only about 15 minutes. It was quite an interesting place with the dining room hidden in the back. My husband had a delicious Denver omelet and I had fantastic “strawanna” pancakes (pancakes with fresh strawberries and bananas topped with whipped cream). The pancakes were delicious as was the fresh squeezed OJ. I am so glad we tried this restaurant- thanks to the person that mentioned it!

After breakfast, we were off to the Lincoln Park Zoo. The bus was packed with families! I think we got off one stop too early because we went in a side entrance but wound up in the zoo. The zoo grounds were beautiful. We had a great time walking around and viewing the different animals; we went early in the day so the animals were more active and the crowds were not too bad.

After walking around the zoo, we went in search of lunch. We wound up in a diner on Clark Street. It was ok but nothing special. My husband ordered a Veal Parm Panini which came with mayo (needless to say he returned it).

Next, we walked down to the beaches on Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful summer day and we enjoyed our walk. We got on a PACKED bus and rode back to the hotel.

After freshening up, we went back to Millennium Park and walked around; we walked across the bridge and then walked towards Grant Park. I don’t know what we were thinking because Stevie Wonder was playing at Taste and the place was packed. It was even more crowded than yesterday. We managed to fight our way through the crowds and went to Buckingham Fountain. I love the fountain and the spray was refreshing on a hot day. We then started to make our way back to the hotel. On the way, I decided that I had to have caramel popcorn from Garretts. We passed one location and the line was literally out the door; we passed the next location and the line was still long but we decided to wait. The popcorn was quite tasty!

For dinner, we decided to take the train to Little Italy to go to Rosebud. The wait for a table inside was long, but we were seated outside right away. My husband had veal bracciole which was quite tasty and I had Shrimp LeJohn which was amazing. It was a great dinner! After dinner, we tried to find something light for dessert but I was not able to find anything that I wanted (I had my mind set on peach sorbet or gelato).

Day 4 (Sunday)
We went to Dunkin Donuts for a simple breakfast. After breakfast, we took the bus to the Hyde Park area. First, we went to the Japanese Gardens. At first, I thought my husband was lost but then we wound up in this serene spot with little bridges, a pagoda and ducks swimming peacefully. It was a very calming spot. After admiring the gardens, we headed over to the University of Chicago campus. Before we got to the campus, we walked by the Frank Lloyd Wright house (the Robie House); if we had more time, we would have taken a tour. We walked around the beautiful campus for a while. The campus has beautiful stone buildings and many green common areas; I wish we could have bought the self-guided tour but the book store was closed (I think my husband was secretly happy that I couldn’t drag him to every spot on the tour!). I especially loved the Rockefeller Chapel.

We headed back into town for lunch at Lou Malnati’s Pizza. Since we have tried Giordano’s (loved it) and Geno’s East (way too heavy and greasy), we wanted to try another version of pizza. Lou Malnati’s was not crowded and we got a table right away; at first, we were disappointed because they said they did not have the advertised lunch specials. We liked the idea of being able to get individual deep dish pizzas; we both got the butter crust, I got a special with sausage, peppers and onions while my husband got plain cheese. They were both quite tasty. I really enjoyed this pizza because it was much lighter. My husband was once again able to enjoy the Goose Island beer.

We decided to go back to the Chicago Cultural Center to get one last look at the dome and to capture the building on video. Some of the workers in the building did not know that the dome was finished.

Before we left, we wanted to try a Bao (a dumpling) from Wow Bao. We tried the chicken teriyaki and spicy Mongolian beef; the chicken was ok but I did not like the beef because it was very spicy and had a strong taste of ginger.

We got back on the Blue line train for our flight home. Unfortunately, due to the weather, we were stuck in the airport for 2 extra hours. We finally made it home around 1:30 (east coast time).

We had an awesome trip. This was our third time to Chicago but this trip was totally different from the other trips we have taken.

Some tips:
-Public transportation is safe and easy to use. The only drawback is that some of the buses are packed. We never had to wait ridiculous amounts of time for a bus or train. Make sure you buy a multi-day pass early if possible (you can get them on-line).

-Be sure to go inside of some of the beautiful old buildings. Our tour guide gave us this tip and we wound up doing this a lot. Most of the time, you can’t very far but it is amazing to see the details in these buildings. I loved all the marble and intricate carving and art. It is a sin that some of the hotels destroyed this work in order to “modernize” these buildings.

-We highly recommend the Architecture Foundation for tours. If you want to go on a cruise, make sure you reserve it early. Also, in order to get good seats, I would suggest getting there 45 minutes before your boat is scheduled to leave. If you live more than 100 miles from Chicago and plan to take multiple tours, it might pay for you to become a member ($40); this membership gives you buy one get one tickets one time per year for the cruise and free tours (normally $15) for the member. They also offer a family membership.

-Be prepared to do lots of walking!

I really enjoyed your trip report. Thanks for sharing so many details. I am going to go to the Chicago Architecture Foundation website to check out the member benefits that you mentioned. Thanks for the tip.

I especially enjoyed the details you included about the tours and the pizza.

Debbie

So which pizza is the BEST? LOL

It sounds like a lovely weekend. I've only been to Chicago for a quick weekend, but I'd love to go back and see more.

Sounds like a fun visit. I love visiting my daughter there and while she is at work, I will explore different places. One summer day when the temperatures were approaching 100 degrees, I walked into the Chicago Cultural Center to get some relief from the heat. What a beautiful place---it was such a surprise. I had walked by that building several times. The dome is really an impressive sight.

=D> =D> =D>

Great TR.

We want to go back soooooo bad.

Thx for the "fix".
And yes you are right...a lotta walking in that great city.

Kerry392, we must have just missed each other at the Taste on that Friday by *that* much (showing thumb and index very close together, she said tongue-in-cheek)! Honestly, though, I was there for Jimmy Bannos's (Heaven on Seven) 1:00 p.m. cooking demonstration, clutching my free cookbook in my hot lil' hands.

My brother's girlfriend, who lives in L.A., again visited me that weekend and I was awaiting her arrival. She stayed at the Swissotel on E. Wacker and I took her on the Chicago Architecture Foundation's River Cruise that next Saturday morning. She even got to see not one, but two, of the drawbridges raised for river traffic - which even a lot of Chicago natives don't often see.

I am so glad that you had such a good time.

Exiled princess- that is too funny! We probably bumped into each other at Taste. I was the person checking out what everybody was getting!

Hershey- you're not pulling me into that one! I need to do further research...

Here is a link to the architecture foundation membership:

http://tinyurl.com/5zjc93