Day 4: 4/10/2012

Chicago, IL

Mathew and I woke up to a great simple breakfast with Pim of British muffins (just go with it, they're English) and fruit. After so much eating out and on the run, it was a real treat for both of us. Mathew started our laundry, which means the Starbucks Coffee aroma is officially gone from my black work pants! The three of us walked to the Glenview Metra Station this time, the bigger of the two stations nearby, so that we could buy a ten ride ticket card from the agent, and then we bought two single trip ones so we'd have enough for the three of us into the city and back both days.

Once we arrived at Union Station, Pim lead us over to where Bruce works so we could bring him something, and see his office! I guess he used to be on the 7th floor in an inner cubicle, but recently moved up to the 14th floor. Wow! He has an office next to windows now, with great views into the city. As the train station is right next to his building, no tall buildings are really close to it. Bruce walked us around to the kitchen area, with even more amazing views in a different direction! And then around to a corner conference room with curved windows for yet another view! Pretty awesome.

We stopped at Starbucks for a quick lunch, the fabulous numbers are still working so far :-) Pim loves the green tea frappucino, which made me think of a regular customer who always gets a green tea latte. Yay Starbucks regulars, I shall miss you all.

We walked over to the subway/metro or "L" station as they call it here because of the loop all the trains make in downtown and were checking the balance of some transit cards from Ina when we were kind of accosted by a rather overly helpful transit station manager... Woah. Despite he incredibly pushy method of giving information (and slightly scary... I think I actually cowered and Mathew ran away to leave Pim and I to fend her off ourselves) she did tell us about a one day pass from CVS. We would have spend $6.75 each that day, and the 24 hour "fun pass" is only $5.75, so we lucked out. Plus there was a CVS across the street! She also told us to take a bus after the L to get to the Field Museum, a maybe two block walk :p I guess we look lazy? 

We successfully snuck past the transit lady without her noticing us after getting the passes across the street without her stopping us again and caught the orange line a few minutes later. The gates to get in are more confusing than in D.C. because after you put your ticket in and get it back, you have to push the gate, rather than it opening automatically. And then we saw a dinosaur! Or rather, a sculpture of a skeleton, outside the Field Museum. 

Bruce and Pim had a family pass that got us in for free, which was awesome. It also got us into the special exhibits, which normally cost extra. We went to the exhibit on Ghengis (sp) Khan first, which was very interesting. The man who lead to the largest world empire, ever. Crazy! The exhibit was set up very well, too, with a few artifacts and such, information to read, and short videos about various aspects of his life and his armies. We also walked through the Early America's section, which quickly became overwhelming with the large amounts of artifacts and info, but very interesting. It lead to a section on Arctic People's, and older exhibit that looked very similar to the old section of the Museum of the North in Fairbanks! They had totem poles brought down from Canada for the World's Fair in the 1890's. 

We saw the diamonds, gems, and jade before deciding to head outside and on to our next stop! The bus took us right to Navy Pier, where we walked down to the end of the pier in the wind, stopping for churros just as the booth was closing, yum! Then we walked back through the buildings, which was more interesting than expected. At first it was fairly empty, and then we walked through a surprisingly well done stained glass museum in the hallway, with art from Tiffany and Co. and various others. Beautiful! (And free...) 

Inside there Mathew and I also found our flattened penny for Chicago :-) After that it opened up to where all the vendors and shops were located, way more activity than I thought! Upstairs above all that was "Crystal Gardens," which was a highlight for us. An indoor area with huge trees and fountains. One fountain had four corners with water spraying across the center each way, and you could easily walk under and stay dry. The other fountains would spray ever few seconds onto a mat, making a little "plop" sound as the water hit and disappeared. Those ones were hidden among plants at the base of most of the trees. A really fun place! 

Mathew and I went on the ferris wheel while waiting for Bruce to arrive for dinner. We originally thought it was from the World's Fair, but found out the next day on our Architecture tour that it is much newer. This one held six people in each car, while the original held sixty, and was twice as tall! Understandable why that one isn't around now... Also nice, because the original apparently took 23 minutes to go around, and a ride was two rotations! That's a very long time to sit on a ferris wheel. Mathew and I really enjoyed it, kissed at the top, and even bought the photo they took when we were getting on :p 

Bruce was looking for us on the ride, but we were already off it by then, so we met back in Crystal Gardens where Pim was waiting. We all decided on Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co. for dinner, and showed Bruce the stained glass museum while waiting for a table. It was a fun place to eat, but maybe not the greatest food... Still good though :-) Back to Bruce's office by bus for his bag, then to Union Station, arriving early this time and not running. We played games on Bruce's Google tablet thing on the train, then rode home in Bruce's VW Beetle. 

And as if the day hadn't been enough fun yet, time for dessert! Pim had apple pie and marble pound cake, plus some really delicious coffee ice cream. And -then- (yeah, still not done) time to Skype with my cousin Ed, his girlfriend and their adorable little boy. Strange, but alot of fun :-) And then.... Sleep. Thank. Goodness. :-)