ghoti_mhic_uait

After a quite pleasant flight and an unexpected ovrenight stop in Minneapolis StPaul (which seemed like the end of the world at the time, but at least we were sent to an hotel with a laundrette so we could have clean clothes to continue our journey) we arrived in Chicago.

It was very hot and there were lots of insects as a sort of welcoming comittee. However, they have flying trains, just like in Dublin, so we didn't mind too much. When we arrived at our hotel (Travelodge - very glamorous) we were delighted with the view (that's it). (I also like when an hotel room has a proper fridge - I would recommend it, it was clean and functional and nicely placed.) We (well, I) decided that as we had missed a day we should do something right there and then,so we went out in search of dinner and the Sears tower. Well, we got one of them - but after eating a large amount of pizza, none of us really felt awake, so we went to bed instead.

The next day, we went to the aquarium, and a truly marvellous aquarium it is, too.

There were,of course,lots of very exciting fish

However, there was also a gallery about local waters, the threats to local waters from imported species, and plans for the improvement of local ecosystems. Carp are apparently a big problem, so much so that there are plans to close canals to make sure they don't get into the great lakes. This section also had a mini 'camp':

There was a gallery about the Amazon, showing the cycle of rain, and this had monkeys! Which was surprising, but very cute. It was a nice visualisation, too, showing how high the floods are very effectively.

Downstairs is polar world

There are also dolphins and belugas! Belugas are extremely cool,as you'd expect, but I didn't geta picture.

After the aquarium, we went to the planetarium, because it's near. I didn't get any photos, but we did take in two shows, one of the night sky visible from Chicago, and one narrated by Whoopi Goldberg. Both were very interesting - in particular,I'd never seen a plan of all the satellites of earth before. We've put a lot of stuff up there.

Then we took a train to see Colin's coworker and family, and had dinner with them, which was nice.

Next day we went to the Chicago history museum, which is all about Chicago (and has a room full of stained glass).

Benedict is psyched to go to the World Fair

and he also enjoyed a swan boat 'ride'

We also learnt about the great fire of Chicago, read about sports through the ages, and had a great time dancing to jazz.

After lunch (and I forgot to get a World Fair brownie... oops) we looked at downstairs, with a big room of stuff to do, hear and smell and a giant hot dog

We all rode a penny farthing:

There was a room with dioramas, too, of various stages of Chicago history.

When we'd finished there we had loads of time before our dinner engagement, so we went up the Sears tower.

The ground is a long way down

Then we went for dinner with

areia, who is lovely, and whom Colin and Judith had not met before, and Benedict half his lifetime ago. We ate delicious vegetarian food until the sky was dark and it was almost a reasonable temperature. Thankyou, it was lovely to see you :)

The next day we went to the zoo for my birthday treat. It was hot and I got a headache, and the train to the zoo didn't go early or late enough, sowe had to walk quite a bit, but it was beautiful and filled with exciting animale and I had a great time.

I took lots of photos, but I like these best:

There were rays which we could touch (and feed), dolphins, butterflies, bison (and bison burgers), Asia Minor's only bear (on holiday) and a whole lot of animals both modern and from further afield. I wish we'd had more time, but we were there from opening to closing. Definitely worth a visit.

I collapsed in bed and Colin brought me sushi. He's a nice man.

The next day was Colin's last day, so we went to the Natural History Museum. Outside there was a 'child garden' full of globes so we played there for a bit

Inside the museum, we saw the animals first. There were some nice scenes of deer in different seasons, and a lot of dioramas of local animals.Judith was very excited to see moose, and told a curator later on (she signed 'moose.cuddle' because she has a cuddly moose). I explained the difference between a moose and an elk (in Europe, a moose is called an elk,but there's also a thing which is called an elk in America that we don't have in Europe, so it's quite confusing). We went to watch a 3d film about Sue, the most complete T rex ever seen, and we looked at Sue.

There was an exhibit about Tibet, which I knew diddlysquat about before.

We went underground and were shrunk

so as to get a good look at soil and its inhabitants.

then we looked at mammoths and the history of the Chicago area from the first known inhabitants onwards.I think we got to AD before the museum closed and we got herded out.

So we went and had an epic burger instead.

The next day was our last day in Chicago, but it was also the day we went to Indianapolis, so I'll leave it for another post. We missed some things I'd like to see; particularly the Science museum, African-American museum and I'd like to take a boat trip onto Lake Michigan.

In summary - I liked Chicago, I'd love to go back sometime.