Continued from Chicago Day 1 Part 1.

We got back to the hotel, but didn’t have to wait long for AB and LL to get back from having breakfast with AB’s parents. Then it’s out the door to Millennium Park just one block away from our hotel. Loving the location of our hotel.

Look, 3 coffee shops right next to one another.

The bean.

AB did not know what The Bean was. Did I mention that he’s from Illinois? Did I mention that he grew up right outside of Chicago, about an hour’s drive from The Bean? Did I mention that he’s been to Chicago more times than all the rest of us added together? Did I mention that he recently finally moved from the rock in which he’s been living under all these years? Hah.

They are taking a selfie, time for me to prank them.

Success! My fat finger timed perfectly for their selfie!

The crotch shot of The Bean.

One of these two didn’t know about the existence of The Bean until today…

Next to The Bean is the Frank Gehry designed pavilion.

KL points.

KL points some more.

Let’s see, we need to catch a boat tour. Trying to see how to get to the boat dock in time.

“Look at this cool post…”, says RL. My wife is strange.

We all really like this building. I just kept on thinking about how expensive it must have been to build with every floor needing a new floor concrete form.

Is this a drainage ditch or what? It’s very tall and very wide, but doesn’t seem to lead anywhere.

Such a cool building.

OK, we’ve reached the river, now time to get down and walk along the river.

RL took this cool photo. Love the colorful chairs in front.

Crap, it seems like our architectural boat tour is on the other side of the river. Now we’ve gotta climb back up to street level and back down again. We’ve been walking all over downtown all morning already, I am ready to just sit my ass on a boat and rest my legs.

OK, there’s a midlevel pedestrian walkway on the bridge. Hopefully this will lead us to where we want to go.

Our boat is the blue and white one on the left bank.

At the end of the bridge, we ran into construction and couldn’t find a way to the riverfront again. I guess the only way is for us to keep walking in this giant underbelly of the city and see if we can find a way out.

Errr, we’ve been walking and walking and no exit in sight. Shit. This walk to the dock has taken much longer than expected. At this rate, we might not actually show up on time for the cruise.

Finally, made it back to street level. Due to the construction, we had to walk way past the docks before we found a staircase that led up to street level. Now, we’ll need to walk all the way around this parking lot, and descend at the stairs right in the middle of this photo on the other side of the parking lot. Not happy with all this extra walking.

Finally made it.

Stupid construction caused our massive detour.

Construction is apparently killing their business. Pretty empty boat today.

And, we are underway.

Look at that other boat filled with passengers!

And now look at our super empty boat.

Under one of the many bridges that our boat passes under. I am always afraid of a rock falling down through the cracks while we are under it.

Merchandise Mart. Once the largest nongovernment building in the world. It was owned for over 50 years by the Kennedy family.

Such a cool building.

It’s like a sphinx with the two extensions like paws. Cool.

KL points. I love how everyone is looking one direction, and I am the only person pointing at something on the opposite side. I was pointing at the Amtrak train that was parked under the building. There are tons of railroad tracks in Chicago with skyscrapers built on top of the tracks.

A map of Chicago with the building itself being the red block.

See that window without the glass, that was in the opening scene of The Dark Knight.

Old post office. That’s a giant building. This is the “Bank” building of The Dark Knight.

Same architect who did the two corn on a cob buildings.

Cool mural.

Ceres, the goddess of agriculture atop the Chicago Board of Trade Building. Neat.

Homeless camp right along the river. We noticed that there are a lot of panhandlers here in downtown Chicago, and they are all pretty aggressive about it. Aggressive in asking for money, but yet, not meanly in a Midwestern way. It’s odd.

Odd that the city allows the homeless just to sit up semi permanent camps here.

Of course, Sears Tower. Willis Tower just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

We loved the building with the real gold plated top. Nicknamed the Champagne Building.

Look at it, it’s so different from all the other buildings.

Reached the end of our tour, time to take more photos and head back.

Well, that was a fun tour. It was kind of cold on the boat, but it was great being able to sit and see the city while listening to a guide. Now back on our feet.

Such a cool building.

We are hungry and a little cold from the boat tour.

After our quick snack, AB and LL went to go have dinner with AB’s brother. We were supposed to join them originally, but the thought of having to take a long train ride during busy traffic hour to the suburb, and then take a train back into the city after dinner just seemed to defeat part of the purpose of this trip-take as many naps as possible. We haven’t been able to take an uninterrupted nap on our own timeline since our older daughter was born year and a half ago. Must nap every chance we get!

Zzzzzzz….2.5 hours of napping later! Oh, it was glorious napping! Time to eat dinner. Chicago dog for lunch, so deep dish pizza for dinner.

Found our dinner spot, at the red sign.

There were several contenders for deep dish pizza, but at the end, it was decided by proximity to our hotel.

It’s 6:40pm on a Tuesday night, did not expect it to get this busy. There was a 30min wait just for a table. Since deep dish pizza takes so long to bake, they gave us an option to preorder our pizza while we wait. So, it’ll probably be 30min for a table, and then 30 min after we get our table until the pizza comes out.

Can’t believe it’s so crowded. Many tourists here. Did not expect that actually. Quite a bit of foreign tourists from Asia and Europe here in Chicago. Did not expect that either.

Even at the bar it’s crowded while we wait for our table.

Got our table. Now, we wait some more.

Some wings to eat while we wait. Hungry.

The pizza finally arrives, and it’s glorious.

Seriously, how do you go wrong with that?!?! Love deep dish pizza, so much better than that super thin NY style crap.

Building with the gold top. Love it even at night.

They literally had like 5 of these posters all one after another. I guess no one’s complaining.

It’s 8:12pm and we are calling it a night. Woke up super early this morning, walked around all day long, and just ate a big meal. Really enjoying our break away from the kids. I missed them earlier this morning, but less so right now. It probably helps that I know I’ll only be away for 3 days, so it doesn’t seem too bad.

To be continued at Chicago Day 2 Part 1.