Chicago...Days 4 and 5

Sunday was another beautiful and sunny day. Unfortunately, Daniel had gotten very sunburned the day before while we were on the double decker tour. We were hoping for a cloudy day. We decided we would take a taxi to Navy Pier instead of walking and we would work at keeping Daniel out of the sun as much as possible. Plus he wore his newly acquired House of Blues hat.

We were told by all of the tour guides that Navy Pier was one of the highest ranked tourists spots in the country. Our taxi driver didn't have the same positive attitude. Instead, he reminisced about the days when he had his friends fished from the pier and spent nights out there before it became a tourist trap...uh, I mean draw.

We first checked out the IMAX, thinking it would be a great way to keep Daniel out of the sun. But we missed the 10:00 am showing, and the next thing coming up was Kung Fu Panda. If it had been in 3D, Daniel and I might have been tempted, but the price of 15.00 for an adult ticket to see a movie we could see in Bloomington for 1/3 of the cost at a matinee wasn't much incentive to see it.

So we walked along. We quickly spotted the Spirit of Chicago, the ship we were to take for our Sunday brunch cruise. Something we had all been greatly looking forward to.

We walked through the Navy Pier and were delighted that the shops were under roof and Daniel could stay out of the sun. We bypassed the shops and the eateries and headed out towards the end of the pier for the Stained Glass Window Museum. I love, love, love the beauty of stained glass and I took several photos. The one that came out the best, I will share here. The rest you can see on the above photo link.

Isn't that beautiful? We also stopped and looked at some art. I got a couple of fun pictures of the Katrina and then of Jack, Katrina and Daniel sitting on the fun art/furniture.

After perusing through the stained glass section, we still had almost an hour before we were to board the Spirit of Chicago (boarding at noon, leaving at 1). So I took the kids up to ride the Carousel and the Ferris Wheel. Both left something to be desired. The Carousel was one of the slowest things I have ever been on in my life and it only went around a couple of times before stopping. The Ferris Wheel only went around once, and you never went around at a speed greater than a slow walk. They did this because they are constantly loading and unloading people. It was nice to see everything from high up, but I felt like I had been cheated out of a good ride.

So then it was time to get our ship. We go to the kiosk where the agent politely tells us that there weren't that many people signed up for the cruise so they had moved us to the next ship which was The Odyssey...okay, no problem. We start heading down the dock, then realize our ship is pulling out! Apparently, we were supposed to have been contacted (along with the other people who had arrived on time for the Spirit of Chicago's departure) and told to come earlier...but we were not contacted and so we missed out on our ride. They offered to put us on the dinner cruise, but we had picked the brunch because it was the one that served kid friendly foods.

We were not happy, but what could be done?

We went into the Navy Pier and grabbed lunch, then we took a taxi to Adler Planetarium. While we were there, we enjoyed the exhibits and three shows - two that were planetarium shows, one that was 3D. After all the walking and three nights of not sleeping well (not sure why, the beds were amazingly comfy and it was quiet, I just couldn't sleep). Anyway, I was bushed. I almost fell asleep on the taxi ride back to the hotel. We ordered a yummy dinner of gyros, kabobs, feta cheese and baklava. But by the time I was done eating, the headache that had been threatening all afternoon arrived in force. I went to bed within an hour of dinner (hate doing that) and slept for about 11 hours...I finally slept!

We were supposed to get up and go to the Museum of Science and Industry today, but we were just all tuckered. So we took our time packing and waking up, then headed back to Bloomington.

All in all we have a lovely time. I will be making a separate post about the Sofitel, but it is time for me to head to bed. So that will wait until tomorrow. Thanks for coming along on our travels with us! Hope you enjoyed it.