Wednesday, June 3, 2026 – Chicago
We covered a lot of ground today, and now we are tired.
We began by catching the hop on hop off bus and riding it through the first part of the route – the Museum Campus and Lakeshore Drive. Once we crossed the river, we got off at the Navy Pier. Our first stop was the Butterfly House. We had spotted this on our first tour on Monday and had added it to our list of things we wanted to see.
It was well worth it! We began by looking at the pupa house. This housed the pupa that turned into butterflies and moths. They were in all stages, from new, to translucent, to actual butterflies. It was fascinating to see. After that we went into the house. It was warm, humid, and full of lovely plants and over 30 species of butterflies from all over the world. We talked to one of the staff, a young woman from Ireland, who was in Chicago working for the summer. She had just graduated college, and 8 of her peers were in Chicago as well. She told us how much she was enjoying Chicago, and this kind of summer work in the US was a sort of right of passage for young people in Ireland.
The butterfly house was just full of butterflies flitting around. They were hard to catch on camera as they were flying, and I couldn’t do them justice. Lee however, seemed to be the butterfly whisperer. They loved her, and would land on her and stay for quite a while. We had little sticks with butterfly food to feed them, and it was fun to see them latch on, and let us carry them around. There was also a net box full of butterflies. These were newly hatched, and they were waiting for their wings to dry before turning them loose. We were told that they only had a life span of about 2 weeks, so more butterflies were also being added. It was a wonderful, peaceful place, and we stayed for quite a while.
At about noon, we headed over to the navy pier, where we had been told that Giordano’s had the best Chicago Style Pizza. We had decided that at some point we were going to have deep dish pizza, and this was the day. Unfortunately, this was not our day. It took over an hour and a half for our pizza to arrive. By then the manager had comped our meal. And to top it off, the pizza really wasn’t all that great. But so far, that has been our only dud for a meal, so we just went on our way.
I can say it was a nice view of the fountain across the street as we waited. It was an intermittent fountain made for kids to play it, and there were always kids in it! We were seated outside, and the weather was perfect, so it wasn’t all bad. There were lots of people around the Pier. It is the biggest tourist attraction in Chicago. Again, another place to explore more fully another time.
We got back on the bus, and had planned to stop at the Water Tower (a really cool castle like building), but we spent nearly 2 hours at lunch, and wanted to get to the Riverwalk, so we skipped that stop. Another time for another trip.
The Riverwalk was lovely. This is somewhere that I would like to spend more time in the future. The water was the most amazing color of tourquoise green. Lake Michicgan had been a vibrant blue. And honestly, the city just sparkled. Everything is so clean, and well kept.
We went to the Architecture Center and looked at the exhibits and the scale model of the city. On another visit, I’d really like to take the architecture river cruise. I guess I’ll just have to come back!
Then it was back on the bus, and one of the stops was the Willis Tower. This Willis Tower has the skydeck – glass boxes that you can walk out on and seem like you are suspended over the city. No thank you! I’ve enclosed a picture of Willis Tower and the sky deck boxes are circled in red.
Then it was back to our familiar stop at the Chicago Art Institute. We made a quick stop at the gift shop before it closed, then cruised the Millenium Park. We looked at Crown Fountain – a black granite shallow basin between two glass brick towers. The sections that face each other feature video faces that move. The towers are really tall, and kids were running and playing in the basin. I found the faces rather unsettling so I just took a picture of the glass side (with a seagull on top!).
Then we saw the Cloud Gate sculpture, otherwise known as ‘The Bean’. Again, there were lots of people around, but nothing felt over crowded. The people we’ve interacted with on our travels around have been lovely. Helpful, friendly, and generous. I’ve really enjoyed Chicago, and I’ll definitely come back again.
After sitting in Millenium Park for a while, we walked a few blocks over to Macy’s, which is located in the historic Marshall Field’s building. It was practically deserted. I’m not sure how they are staying in business. We thought we might eat dinner there, and the expensive restaurant on the 7th floor was a ghost town. But we did get a little shopping done, and I did get to see the Tiffany Ceiling. It was completed in 1907, and is 6,000 square feet with over one million pieces of glass. The store reminded me a little of Galleries LaFayette in Paris, France, where the central dome of the ceiling is stained glass.
I hope Macy’s survives. The history in that building as the once flagship of Marshall Fields is still there, and they have a lot of the historic window displays on the 7th floor. But departments stores are all that frequented any more, so I’m not sure how long they will be there. But I’m glad to have seen that ceiling!
It was 6pm by that time, and we were tired. We ended up at the Remington Steakhouse, and wow, that was another winner. The food and the service were excellent, and we both thought we might eat there again.
We grabbed a bus down Michigan Street to near our hotel, then walked in the park the rest of the way. The park and the city in general (at least what we have seen) is very clean. There aren’t many garbage cans around, but there is no garbage or litter in the park or the streets. It really is a tourist friendly city. It was lovely and twilight, and I’ve added a few pictures of Grant Park.
We are staying at the Grant Park Best Western at the far end of the Loop, but the Museum Campus. It’s much quieter (as well as less expensive!), and we’ve been really happy with the location. I’ve enclosed a picture of the hotel.
It’s been a long day, and we will up and going tomorrow morning to see the Frank Lloyd Wright house and studio, so I’m calling it a night.
More pictures below:
More Pictures from the Butterfly House:
More Pictures from the Riverwalk:
Pictures of some of the amazing detail that you see on buildings all over the Loop. I’m still working on my building post. It’s coming. But in the meantime:
And finally, a picture of the type of bike taxi that we took back from the museum last night. Not the tame one, but similiar:
