Sunday, December 30, 2007

Dec 26 & 27, 2007-- Chicago, Illinios --> Part 2

The next day, we supposed to woke up in the early morning, but the stupid cell phone's alarm didn't ring, so we lost few hours to travel around. After having our breakfast at Comfort Inn, we started our day trip plan at Chicago. According to our plan, we supposed to visit five attractions in Chicago, which includes Shedd Aquarium, The Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Museum of Science and The Hancock Observatory, however, due to the limitation of time, we were not be able to visit these five attractions. We only visit Shedd Aquarium.

We stopped by at post office to drop off our postcard from Chicago to our family and friends. Our first stop was Shedd Aquarium, we took subway from Grand to Roosevelt, and took bus to Museum Campus. I suggested to walk to Museum Campus, but the weather was freezing and windy, we can't even walk there. So we decided to ride bus.

We were checking out the bus schedule at bus stop. Lydia took this picture for me. I knew she was taking the picture and I was pretending I do not know. Thanks Lydia, it's good shot!!!

She was pretending too.
These pictures were taken while we were waiting for our bus to Museum Campus.
We bought a $5 dollar day pass for subway and bus, so we decided to ride bus rather than walk. The reason that I suggested to walk because we can explore the Chicago city, but with the freezing weather, we ended up with riding the bus.


From Roosevelt bus stop to Museum Campus took us less than five minutes. These pictures were take at Museum Campus and front of Shedd Aqurium.

All the way down to the end is Adler Planetarium Museum. We missed that because we run out of time. Anyway, we will be back!!!


View of Shedd Aquarium

Chicago Lake Shore

Lake Shore, It was windy and freezing!!

Darren & Lydia

Welcome to Shedd Aquarium

Yellow cab!! City of Chicago!!
Statue in front of Shedd Aquarium's handicap entrance.

View of city from Shedd Aquarium
Main entrance of Shedd Aquarium



Lydia was checking out the Advertisement of 4D Theater. She looks like a Santa Clause. haha!!

John G. Shedd Aquarium

I took this picture while we were lining up in front of Shedd Aquarium.

It was so crowded because of the holiday season!!

This picture was taken by Lydia while we were lining up.
The admission ticket cost $24 each. It's cheaper if we bought the City pass, which is include the five attractions. Like I said, we run out of time to check out the rest of the attractions, so we decided to buy one by one instead of five attractions at the same time.

Let's check it out the pictures that we took in Shedd Aquarium:

I guess is feeding time, the diver was there to feed the fishes in the Aquarium!!

Fancy fishes










Look!! Whale!! It's White Whale!! She is really cute!!! I love it so much!! Lydia told me that she just had a grey baby whale. She told me when she was here last time, this place was closed because Mom whale was having the baby!


Look!! The baby grey whale and Mom whale !! It's a boy!!
Lydia was checking out the Sea lions that next to the whale pool

At Whale pool
One of my favorite animals -- penguins -- They are so funny and cute!!



Underwater dolphin show!! I can't catch up the dolphin's move, because they move really fast!!






They were waiting for the dolphin show start!!



Welcome to the Philippines?? Actually, we were here to check out the wild reefs and corals.












We spent two hours at Shedd Aquarium, we left around 2pm. We walked around the Museum Campus. These are the pictures from Museum Campus.

Nice shot!! Look!! Wonderful background!! City of Chicago, in front of Shedd Aquarium!!


Sun shine but still windy and freezing!! Goodbye Shedd Aquarium!! There was a long line after we left!! We were glad because we came in the early morning, otherwise, we will waste our time at lining up!!
Look!! The tallest Building behind me is Sears building!!

Beautiful view from Grand Park !!

Sears building

We took pictures at Chicago Lake Shore

Nice Shot!! Look at the background!! Personally, I love this picture so much!!! Nice background.


Ducks at Chicago Lake

View of Shedd Aquarium from Grand Park
We walked through Grand Park and reached Field Museum at Museum Campus!! View of City of Chicago from Field Museum.

Santa Clause with City of Chicago!! Lydia was freezing because of the strong wind.


The building behind me is the Field of Museum!! We just stopped by in front of Field Museum and took a few pictures. We didn't visit Field Museum this trip, but we will be back next time!!





I'm not sure what is that building!! It looks like a stadium!! I guess is Soldier Field. (Do not worry about the car, because took it from a far distance.)



Tourist bus around Museum Campus!!

Another entrance of Field Museum!!! There was a stall that sold the famous Chicago hot dog bun. We heard that Chicago Hot Dog Bun costs $5-$6 each!! Can you image how many profit margin they make? We stopped by and bought two and tried it, nothing special but really expensive. I finished it within 5 bites!!!

We took subway back to the Chicago downtown. We visited State Street at Chicago downtown, it was crowded. We walked through State street and passed by Michigan Ave. to Millennium Park. These pictures were taken at State Street:






The patrol police was on duty at the State Street with his "police car" (horse). He is so friendly. We stopped by and took these pictures with him.
As you can tell from the picture, he is so friendly and funny.
Lydia and patrol police.




Public Library at Chicago downtown.

The man was sketching the city view for sale. It costs $10 each.
Finally we got Millennium Park. Here are some pictures we took at Millennium Park.

I'm not sure what the name of this building, but the shape of the building looks unique!! It located at Chicago downtown, which across to Millennium Park.


Welcome to Millennium Park!!



Oh my God!!! This is my first reaction when I see this extraordinary sculpture. It's called Cloud Gate, which is located at Millennium Park. I named it as "Millennium bean", because the shape of this thing looks exactly like a bean. This "Bean" weights over 110 tons, and it's the world largest outdoor sculpture. I never see the outdoor ice-skating rink, but there was the one right in front of me in Millennium Park. I did not skate because I do not how to skate. I think it will be fun to skate at outdoor.
Same as the other cities, there are a lot of tall building in Chicago downtown. I guess this is the tallest building I had seen in downtown, or maybe there are other taller buildings such as John Hancock Building, Sears building, etc.

Crowded in Millennium Park, especially in the "Millennium Bean".


Here are the pictures that we took with "Millennium Bean". The Millennium Bean looks like a stainless steal bean. It reflects the view of Chicago.









Look!! Millennium Bean looks like a mirror, it reflects everything!! Awesome!! We took picture in front of Millennium Bean.
Interior of Millennium Bean!! Awesome!! Can you tell where are we in this picture!! I can't tell either!! But we are in picture!!








Lydia told me that this is the water fountain. There are couple different faces, and the face will change after few minutes and the water will come out through the mouth. When we were there, it was closed.


Due to the limitation of time, we do not have chance to explore the Art Institute of Chicago, we just stopped by and took a few pictures. Hopefully we have enough time to check out what we missed on this trip.





The Art Institute of Chicago
We had our dinner at PIZZERIA UNO. The famous Deep Dish Pizza at Chicago. Lydia told me it is a must-try pizza at Chicago. It was a long line, it took us 45 minutes!!! Can you image we waited for 45 minutes just because of the Pizza. I guess you can tell how good of the pizza and how good of the business everyday. The restaurant is crowded everyday. Amazing!!

We took these pictures while we were waiting for our pizza and seat. We have to order before we get into the restaurant, so they can prepare and baked it on the spot. It's hot and fresh for sure. We ordered a small size Numero UNO Pizza. The signature pizza of the restaurant!!

After a long waited, we finally got our seats. We ordered the appetizer and drinks. But we still had to wait for our signature pizza.


Here is our soup!! Not sure what kind of soup, because it come with the pizza. Anyway, it was really nice!!

Still waiting.....

Our drinks!!! Wildberry & mango smoothie, and Oreo Cookie smoothie. Still waiting for our pizza!!!
Dang!! Dang!!! Dang!!! Finally!!! We got our signature Numero UNO pizza. The famous long-waited Deep Dish Pizza in Chicago!!! Gosh!!! It took us an hour just for the pizza!! If you ask me how was the taste of the pizza, all i can say is so-so!! It famous probably because it's a deep dish pizza, and it's unique!! I'm not that crazy about the pizza, so i think is just so-so!!! Anyway, at least I had tried the famous deep dish pizza at Chicago.

Bar of PIZZARIA UNO.

We left Chicago after we done our dinner at PizzaRia UNO. We drove through Michigan Ave. and passed by Chicago river but we did not stop by because of the traffic and parking at downtown.
Chicago river!! I took this picture in the car when we passed by Chicago river.
Our last stop at Chicago was the Nave pier!! Also, we just stopped by there to took some pictures. We do not have chance to experience the Taxi boat at Navy pier, it was closed because of winter season.



Chicago Children's Museum
Michigan Ave. at downtown Chicago. Michigan Ave is a street like the orchard Road at Singapore. It's crowded everyday and branded shops everywhere. When I was there, it makes me feel like I am in Orchard Road, Singapore.
Night view of Chicago downtown, Chicago river!!! Awesome!!
We left Chicago around 7pm evening. We drove through the Chicago Skyway and headed back to Michigan.
We stopped by at Indiana. We checked out the Casino at Indiana and continued to drive back to Michigan.
Casino at Indiana!!

Thank you Lydia for being my accompany to Chicago. Because Lydia had been Chicago couple time but it's my first time. I really enjoyed the trip, and had fun for sure. If we could stay one more night in Chicago, that's will be prefect!! Anyway, we decided to visit again!! We are planning our next trip, probably Las Vegas, Nevada.