The pirates exhibit is for 10:30. Do I need to arrive right when the field museum opens (Is it 9:30?) or can I spend some time having bfast this morning first? We are driving but need to be back in MI around 5ish so need to leave close to 12:00 noon. I have been to the Field Musuem before and mostly want to see the mummy area, Sue, and of course, the pirates exhibit. Any suggestions on how to arrange this day would be great!
By the way, if we don't go to the Bongo Room, is there another bfast place close to our hotel that we can walk to prior to either museum? Can you get bfast at the Food Court or Grand Lux Cafe?

Re: the Bongo Room. There's one in the South Loop, and I think that's the one that you were referring to before Gina mentioned the one in Wicker Park/Bucktown being better (and I concur with her assessment). Unfortunately, Wicker Park/Bucktown is in the opposite direction from where you want to be and it would have cost a *lot* of money to take a cab to the MSI.

If you were talking about the Shedd, I'd say Yes! Get there first thing as soon as it opens. The lines get terribly long. But the Field isn't that busy, as a rule.

In MI 5ish, your time? Does that mean 4ish, our time? And you are driving. Then maybe you'd do best to just take your car to the Field and park it there.

When you are in Chicago, you don't want to be moving a car once it's parked because most places don't offer in/out privileges and you have to pay each separate place you park. However, since you are short on time, you might want to just drive over to the Field. Even though parking is going to run you $16.00 (for first 4 hours), you would be paying nearly as much for taking the bus there and back (3 people x $5/RT) and would be saving at least an hour's travel (and associated) time.

Inasfar as breakfast on that date, didn't you want to do room service? I figured you did because of packing and whatnot. If not, though, there are several places somewhat close where you could easily walk to them. Of course, you know about Tempo Cafe. The Cafe de Architectes is in the Sofitel Water Tower, just west of Michigan Avenue.

At the John Hancock Center is the Espression by Lavazza Cafe, which opens at 8 a.m. http://www.hancock-observatory.com/e...spression.html. They serve quiche and frittatas, baked goods as well as yogurt parfait. Consider this instead of the Signature Room. You need to buy tickets for the observatory. (There is another location at the Drake as well but you don't get the view, of course.)

Foodlife opens at 11 a.m.

If we pack up our luggage in our car and then head to the Field Museum, should I worry about someone breaking into my car? What is the parking situation like there? Indoors? Security guards?

Yes, I did want to get room service our last morning. But I don't want room service both days so I was refering to the other day as far as bfast is concerned. You mentioned Corner Bakery in the Field Musuem. Is there any place like that at the MOSI?

Which restaurant is closer to the Ritz: Bongo or Tempo?

5:00 Michigan time. That would give us an extra hour, right?

Ashley, I do not own a vehicle here in Chicago (an unnecessary expense, IMHO) so I do not drive to the Field, the Shedd or Soldier Field. However, not very many parking facilities have security guards, even if they are indoors.

Here is the map of the parking facilities at the Field. www.fieldmuseum.org/plan_visit/default.htm. As you can see, there are several parking facilities around there. If you have questions about the security, give them a call (since it's probably already too late for e-mail).

If you feel uncomfortable with having your luggage in your car at the Field's parking lot, you can always leave the car wherever you parked it originally, go to the Field and then come back (check out and retrieve your car), but you'll have to figure 1 hour travel back and forth plus the extra time for check out and/or luggage and car retrieval.

I see that the Ritz has a couple of parking options in the past - valet with in/out privileges and one self-park without. If you are paying for the first and have in/out privileges, you could take your car down to the Field and back. But you still are losing that .75 hour or so travel time.

Tempo Cafe is closer to the Ritz.

No, 1 hour less. 4 p.m. Chicago is 5 p.m. Michigan.

BTW, above, I assumed you meant patrolling security guards and not just the employees collecting the money for parking at the exits. Sometimes, when there are special events at the museums and at Soldier Field, extra security guards are brought in for crowd control, etc. (I'm only mentioning that last for others, as I don't think it applies in your situation, Ashley.)

The Shedd does have valet parking for $25 (see that URL I mentioned above) but only on Saturdays and Sundays (limited availability) and I believe you have to purchase that in advance.

Oops! Sorry! The URL for the Shedd parking is www.sheddaquarium.org/getting_to_shedd.html.

We got back last night and now I wish we were still in Chicago! First of all, the Ritz is a wonderful hotel! They upgraded us to a view of Lake Michigan on the 27th floor! Very nice! Our room was recently remodeled and was very clean. If you have any questions, please ask.

We arrived on Sunday at about 3 pm. After checking in to the hotel, we quickly looked around the new American Girl store (amazing!) before going back to the hotel lobby where my daughter, 11, got to make cookies in the Ritz kitchen. Fun! Later that evening, after the pastry chef baked the cookes, room service delivered them along with decorating supplies!

My daughter also got the AG package even though I didn't pay for it. If you want more details about that, let me know. She loved it!

After making the cookies, we went back to the AG store and bought a doll. Then we went shopping in the water tower mall and ate dinner at the food court (Food Life). We loved eating there because of the variety of food and how fresh it was! They don't premake the food but cook it in front of you. After eating, we walked down to Lake Shore Drive to the beach with the bikes for rent, people playing volleyball, etc. I couldn't remember which beach this is? Help! But it was a nice walk and I wish that we had rented bikes. Next time!

The next day we got up early, had room service for breakfast (pancakes, french toast, bran muffin, and granola) and took a taxi to the Museum of Science and Industry. I love this museum! The Harry Potter exhibit was nice but since I was the only fan in my group, I tried not to spend too much time reading everything. It was a great visual display! What I loved the most was the submarine! We went inside and it was truly amazing! I would do this again in a heartbeat. We did take the time to read all the displays before we went in. Actually we did that before we went to the Harry Potter exhibit and then came back to the sub for the tour after HP. If I were to do it again, I would not schedule them that way, but we made the best of it. I didn't realize the the Body Slices were being remodeled. Bummer!

We stayed at the MOSI until almost 2:00 and were very hungry so we decided to go back to our hotel and eat at Food Life again! Nothing we ate disappointed!

After we ate, my daughter took her new American Girl doll to the AG store to get her ears pierced. LOL! Then we went to Michigan Avenue and shopped. I got a few clothes at Filene's Basement, a few treats at the Hershey store, a few odds and ends at Crate and Barrel before my dd was complaining of her tummy hurting. We went back to the hotel and relaxed. I was dying to go back out but no one else (esp. dd) was up for it.
Next time...

Our last day I let them sleep in until 8:30. Then we checked out of our hotel and drove to the Field Museum. We ate at the Corner Bakery inside. It was tasty! My dd had a cinnamon roll and my sister and I had bagels.

We had tickets for the pirates exhibit. My daughter got very bored with this exhibit as mentioned by other posters due to the amount of reading to do. She liked the area where you can tie knots, the place where you can touch pirate money, and the gift shop. I was surprised since she was looking forward to this so much. I tried to summarize the reading for her to make it more interesting. However, it was very interesting for my sister and me. I would do it again. It does require a significant amount of time if you read everything so plan for that.

We also saw Sue (and her head), the mummies, and the animals, including the man eating lions. I still don't understand that display on the lions (it's not really the lions, or is it??). My sister liked the Field better than the MOSI, but my dd and I like the MOSI better.

After we left the museum, we drove home. We had a great time and can't wait to come back again. Is the Addams Family play (musical?) ok for children? Maybe we will return in the fall.

Glad you had a great time. For the lions, have you seen the movie "The Ghost and the Darkness"? Those are the lions that the movie was based on.

I'm glad you had such a fun trip, Ashley! Thanks for posting back.

I'm guessing the beach you're talking about is Oak Street.

Ashley, thanks for posting your trip report. I'm so glad that you had such a great time.

Re the U505: Years ago (and I hate to admit how many) when I was a young bratty type, I boarded the U505 for the first time. Now that I'm an older bratty type , the memories are still clear.

Re the "Addams Family": This is the pre-Broadway world premier being held in Chicago, but you might be able to find out some more information from the production's website.