We had a weekend getaway to Chicago. This was my first trip to Chicago, second for Angelina and yet Chicago is only 5 hours away from here. So, we were pretty excited to go there. The Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, also known as “The Magnificent Mile”, reminds us of New York minus Times Square… and driving in Chicago wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
We purchased the CityPass booklets that cover five attraction spots: Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Museum of Science and Industry, and Sears Tower Skydeck. Among those five places, Shedd Aquarium is the most interesting one. It has several different exhibits that contain many weird species. Best of all, we got to see a massive anaconda and a few piranhas… and some kids dressed in penguin suits. While Museum of Science and Industry offers lots of different things to see, we didn’t really enjoy it that much simply because we have seen most of the planes and space stuff in a larger scale, such as The Museum of Flight in Seattle or NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Nevertheless, this museum houses the one and only one captured German U-505 submarine in the states. The story behind this U-boat is even more impressive where the Allied cryptanalysts had successfully cracked the special “coordinate” code in enciphered German messages found in the captured U-boat to determine the precise locations of other U-boats. I have read the stories and watched the TV documentaries many times, but to witness the U-boat in person was definitely a big treat.
And by the way, Sears Tower recently unveiled the 103rd floor Skydeck that has the glass balconies, only just a few days after we have visited it… a BIG duh! Plus, Sears Tower will soon be called as Willis Tower later this summer. We were only at the 99th floor when we visited the Skydeck… but whatever, the view from John Hancock Observatory’s 94th floor is much better than Sears Tower’s Skydeck.
The trip to Chicago wouldn’t be complete without having a Chicago-style hotdog and a deep dish pizza. We had our hotdogs at Superdawg because this restaurant was featured on the Travel Channel. However, seriously, they weren’t really that great because I think my homemade cheese dog is so much better than that. We went to Lou Malnati’s for the deep dish pizza, and wow… it was certainly one of a kind! So, apart from the fact that the credit card company placed a temporary restriction on my credit card and that my watch died on the first night, this trip was certainly an enjoyable one.
