Chicago Day 2

This morning we had room service, Alexia wanted breakfast in bed. She explained to us how on Mother's & Father's Day we get breakfast in bed & she doesn't. So we gave in and spoiled her a little. It was so nice, they brought the little table with the food and drinks on it. You should have seen her face. She had her little robe (the thick terry cloth ones) on from the hotel and sat there and ate her omelet & strawberry smoothie.

After breakfast we headed to Buckingham Fountain but got sidetracked when we saw signs for the Art Institute. Alexia enjoys looking at artwork even as an 8 yr old. We have her teacher Mrs. Siedel-Slango to thank for that. We walked around and saw paintings from Monet and more(can't remember all their names). Unfortunately the wing of the building we really wanted to see, was under construction. That included Van Gogh and Michelangelo. We spent a couple of hours in here walking around, Alexia and I were getting bored and wanted to leave but Erick insisted on looking around more so I took Alexia downstairs to the kids area where there is hands on stuff. They had a new exhibition from ancient China. They had sculptures from the Ming and Tang dynasties as far back as 600 AD. It was really something to see.

After leaving the Art Institute we headed back towards the fountain. It was enormous and so pretty. The spray from the water felt refreshing. We admired that for a bit then began our trek to the Navy Pier. On that city map, it looks so close, we could even see the ferris wheel from where we were standing at the fountain. So we walked and we walked and we walked. Ok, we had been walking around this city for over 4 hrs now and both Alexia and I were tired of walking. Even though we were close to the pier, we didn't feel we'd enjoy walking around on the pier so we decided to head back to the hotel to swim and take a break. It was just what we needed. The pool area at this hotel is like a spa. It is really well done. Very classy. We had some really fresh sandwiches around the pool area with a caesar salad. The spa was serving tangerine and mint smoothie. Wow, I didn't think that would be good, but it was.

After that, we had dinner at one of Chicago's other famous deep dish pizza places. We walked to Ginos East. We gave our name and we told it would be about 40 minute wait. When they came by the line to see if anyone with 4 people or less wanted to be seated, Erick spoke up and got us a nice table outside. You should have seen the evil stares we got from the people ahead of us, but they didn't speak up so we were seated before them. One lady up front complained and the waitress just smiled and said "you didn't speak up". Once we sat & our waitress took our order, it was another 45-50 minutes before we got our pizza (remember, they take that long to cook). It was a great table outside and the weather was just perfect. It was pleasant, we were people watching, which is always fun in any city. Our waitress was so so nice and fun and we just loved her. Erick said the local brew ("131" which is the area code) was really good. After a 22 oz, Erick was feeling good.

On our walk home we stopped over a bridge near the hotel and checked out the boats along the river. It looked like some were rented out for entertainment. It looked like everyone was a having a great time. The city is so pretty lit up at night, very
full of life. Once we got back to the hotel we checked out the 2nd floor where the Grand Ballroom was and Alexia stepped inside and was so impressed, she told us she wants to have her wedding there.....let's not rush things.

We went back to the room and got in our comfy hotel robes and watched some TV and relaxed. The bed in the room is soooo comfy.

Tomorrow we're leaving for Minnesota to see family:)