Views
Chicago Loves and roof bar and we love a roof bar with a view and some of the best can be found at, Cindy’s and Signature Lounge at the 96th Floor, John Hancock.
Architectural boat tour
A couple of clients recommended this and honestly it was one of my favourite things we did. Such a great way to see the city. So much was pointed out that you wouldn’t have notice just from wandering round. And a lovely way to sit and soak up the sunshine. We lucked out with the weather with temps of early 30’s
Navy Pier
Nothing too out there but a great spot for food and taking in the water. It’s home to a beautiful carousel and a big wheel. You can pick up a few boat trips from here also.
Shopping
There is plenty of shopping from High Street to High End. Further out of the city a great outlet mall, one with lower end and high end such as Saint Laurent, Jimmy Choo and so on. Definitely made a few purchases and left some (should have got the little Tory Birch bag but we live and learn). A lot of stores like Hermes, Chanel and Dior are so much more expensive than at home (thanks exchange rate) so not necessarily worth purchasing.
Arts Institue
Loved this, so much art and some I had no idea was housed here. Claude Monet and Van Gogh. There were some beautiful pieces from Artists I didn’t know and it was lovely wandering round and soaking it all in. Something to note is they are cashless here, which let me tell you I find really offensive but it is what it is. Head to their website here.
Lincoln Square
Wouldn’t bother with Lincoln Square. A blog I read rated it but it didn’t really have anything there. It also was out of the city centre so expensive in an Uber. We made a mistake going on Memorial Day so a lot was closed. Would have liked to have had a look in Genes sausage shop, also soak up the roof terrace. Merz Apothecary looked cute also and Savory spice shop but otherwise not a lot going on.The Book Cellar was open and a love a book store so there was that.
The Loop – Fulton Market District
Mainly food and lots of it. Home of Time Out Market, which I’d have loved to have eaten at but honestly we over ate anyway so just couldn’t do it all. There are a few nice shops round this area too. It’s also where Levain is so worth heading there for a little explore.
Chicago Botanic Gardens
Johns favourite is to tick off the Botanical gardens in different states. It did feel a little closer to home, I guess due to the weather. I enjoy seeing the exotic plants. It was beautiful non the less. It is a little way out of the city so again you have to factor in Uber if you want to do this. You can check them out here. Side note, the food was really good here and lots of fresh options, salads etc.
The Bean and Millennium Park
It was like the Flat Iron in New York all over again. If you know you know. The area is under construction (date September 2023) so you’re not getting that close. The better view was from Cindy’s roof bar but obviously you’re not getting a picture next to it from that angle.
Didn’t do but looked at
If money wasn’t an object we would have done more but you don’t have a car (its not needed and insane parking charges) so to go out of the city centre and do more Uber will start to add up. You’ve also got the cost of activities so you see where I’m going. We would have loved to go to a basket ball game but unfortunately September is not season so there were no games. We did look at baseball but decided not to this time. We also eyed up the wine tasting at Chicago Winery but ran out of space to fit this one in.
I would have liked to go and listen to some blues or go to a jazz bar but with what we had planned in and going Friday to Friday we didn’t manage to fit this in. The music bars are open more over the weekend and we had booked things before we knew this.
I really loved Chicago, it certainly has lots to offer. I would say you probably don’t need a week, however we do seem to run at a million miles an hour. It felt a long way for less than a week so I would think a nice balance would be 5 days and then onto a beach/pool destination to relax after.
For Chicago food click here
See you in the next post.
Rach xx
