Weekend in Chicago

Over the 4th of July long weekend, my wife and I went to Chicago for a break from the kids and the market gloom and doom. We left Friday around noon and came home late afternoon Sunday. We took Amtrak train which run from Pontiac, Michigan to Union station, Chicago. It took 6 and half hours one way. Although it takes more time to get there than driving a car, it is more relaxing sitting in the comfy train seat without worrying about the traffic, and the hassle of finding the ways and parking space in downtown Chicago. We boarded the train at Birmingham stop. Really, it is more like a bus stop than a train station as you can see in the picture. There is no platform, no gate, etc. The train stops on the track and the conductor put a small step stool to help us get on the train.

This is Birmingham Train Stop. It looks like a bus stop.

And this is Union station located at the bank of Chicago River

Weather was perfect on Saturday, sunny with 78 degree temperature. We visited Shedd Aquarium in the morning. The aquarium is located on the shore of lake Michigan. The view, looking out from the the entrance of the aquarium is spectacular. You can see the high rises of Chicago downtown on the left hand side and the Lake Michigan on the right. We spent about 2 and half hours in the Aquarium, enjoyed watching the Beluga whales, beautiful fishes and the exotic komodo lizard king. We watched the acrobatic performance by the cute dolphins, and saw the diver in the giant coral reef feeding the fishes and the sharks.

Johh Shedd Aquarium from a distance.

Magnificent view looking out from Shedd Aquarium

Diver feeding fishes in the coral reef

Beluga whale enjoys its mi-day swim. We thought it was white dolphin at first.

After lunch at the restaurant in the aquarium, we opted for the walk on the lake shore to Art institute of Chicago. Its the best 20 minute walk you can imagine. On our right is the Michigan lake shore with the beach and pier with many yachts docking and sailing on the water. On our left is the park with people walking, biking, and jogging. Right before our arrival at the Art institute, we passed the "Taste of Chicago" festival in the park. It was a big summer event with thousands of people and hundreds of food stands. Unfortunately we did not taste any goodies because of the full stomachs. The art institute of Chicago has quite a collections of Picasso's work.

Many people at the Taste of Chicago festival

We were tired and our feet hurt after appreciating all the paintings in the art institute. We walked back to our hotel to take a rest. This is the advantage of staying in the down town area. We can easily access the attractions either by foot or by E/L trains. E/L train is the elevated train system that loops around Chicago down town area. With connecting buses and other metro train system, it provide citizen and visitors a very convenient way of traveling around Chicago. Each one of us bought a 2-day pass so we can take unlimited bus rides and train rides during our stay.

Elevated Train, Safe and convenient.

Chicago is famous for its architecture. You can see a lot of sculptures while strolling around. Sears tower is the tall black building one the left.

Sculpture in front of Thompson building.

Saturday night, we went to Navy Pier to watch the fireworks. To our disappointment the fireworks is not as grandiosely as we expected. We probably set our expectation too high thinking it may have bigger display because of the 4th of July weekend.

Sunday morning, we took the red line train heading south to China town for earlier dim sum since our train departs around lunch hour. With only a couple of dim sum restaurants opened at this early hour, my wife with her experience picked the one that was already half full. Without surprise, customers started forming the line at the door about 30 minutes later. After a nice meal, and 2 lunch boxes for the train ride, we went back to hotel, packed up, checked out, and headed for union station for the ride back home.