Tourist Day 2: Adler Aquarium

 Thursday May 29th, day 2, consisted a lot of the same. We rode the bus in and from there hopped on our tour bus to get to the Adler Aquarium. Museum Campus is where the planetarium, aquarium, and museum are all located and we had tickets to all three. Of the three we were most excited for the aquarium and so that was our first stop. Along the way, we took pictures.

 

As we got to the museum, the sun was coming out and fog was clearing. I am so glad too because this is the view from Museum Campus. Absolutely stunning. 

 The aquarium was a lot of fun. Kelsey didn't love it as much as I thought she would be Ethan and I had a really great time. The only thing I didn't like about the aquarium was the dolphin show and the 4D movie. The dolphin show was actually a 20 minute show on how they train whales and dogs and in the last 5 minutes they bring out dolphins. It was not a fan favorite. The 4D movie was lame because 4D means they like shake your chair and shoot air at you and stuff which would be cool, but halfway through one of the effects was going through like a mine field, and they shot this metal rod into our backs to simulate getting hit by a rock. It was AWFUL! It hurt for days.

 

The jellyfish exhibit was my 2nd favorite thing to see only next to the shark tank

 It was so majestic and set up so pretty.

 

 

 

 One of the coolest things about the aquarium was the sting ray touch. I say it was cool, but I actually hated it. Way too slimy for my taste. The idea is cool.

 

Cool glass floor

The shark tank was so cool and so eerie all at the same time. Part of the tank was on top of our heads so it was cool to see them swimming above us.

 

Kelsey's favorite part was the metal turtle in the tropical room. We couldn't get her off it. She even started pushing 9 year old boys to get back on the head. It was ridiculous. 

After the aquarium, it was time for lunch. We stepped outside and what did we see.. A HOT DOG STAND!!! It was awesome and even though the peppers are super spicy for my taste, I was a huge fan of a Chicago dog.

Here's me ordering a Chicago dog

 It was delicious

After the aquarium we got on our tour bus and head or to Navy Pier for some free popcorn. Our tour bus had a bunch of free samples all over the place and it was delicious. Worth noting in journal anyway. The tour bus not only has tours around the city, but it had neighborhood tours of the North, South, and West neighborhoods. We didn't have time for all of them, so we decided to just do the West tour which included Greek town, China town, and Little Italy. It was a lot of fun to see more of the city, but it was  a little too long for Kelsey.

We didn't get out and walk around in China town, but we were in a trolley so we were able to get some really cool pictures.

This is the Chicago fire monument. Its really far from downtown, but I really wanted to see it so I'm really glad that it was part of the tour.

This is in little Italy but I love it because all the house here look like this. Well, like tall and narrow.

one of the hospitals in Chicago

 

This is the Millennium pavilion and while we were there, there was a free orchestra concert. Concert is a loose term. It was 5 people playing wind instruments but is was still really fun. Kelsey started dancing.

This is a picture of the pavilion from the air. It was hard to capture the whole thing with my camera.

More random photos of day two. A lot of the same buildings because they were awesome even on day two.

 

 

This is the bank in the Dark Knight in the opening scene when the Joker robs the bank

The best part about day two was the train ride home. Ethan helped me buy a train pass and showed me how to do it. It was so much faster than the bus. I kinda loved it. Baby steps, but I am kinda getting the hang of this whole Chicago thing.