8.10.18 - Big Bus Tour and Sears Tower

We slept in, which worked out just fine because it turns out The Purple Pig, where I’d marked us to have breakfast, didn’t even open until 11:30am. We walked over there and arrived at about 11:40am. We were sat immediately and not 15 minutes after we’d been there every single table was full and there was a wait. So I guess our timing was perfect.

The food was excellent. It might have been the best food we had the entire trip. I got eggplant caponata (grilled bread with goat cheese and a chopped eggplant spread) and Jack got the daily special (not on menu) that involved arugula and some kind of bass that he said at least four times was so flaky, haha. But the style was more tapas so we shared each other’s food and went ahead and ordered a third plate: English muffin with foie gras butter, fried egg, and truffle sausage. It was all excellent. I also got a cocktail called Cool Rumings (“Appleton Estate Signature Blend, Braulio, Cruzan Blackstrap, Lime) and Jack got Oathkeeper (“St. George Terroir Gin, Lillet Rose, Pamplemousse, Montanaro Extra Dry Vermouth”). They both came with single giant ice cubes and we talked about how smart that is because they keep the drinks cool but take longer to melt.

We sat outside on the open air patio and it was pretty nice out. Eventually an older couple sat at the table next to ours and they were kind enough to take our picture together. Our drinks were strong enough that we decided to get only one each, and we were way too full for dessert, so we headed out shortly after. It’s worked out really well that we’ve been doing so much walking because it helps settle the amazing amount of food and drink we’ve been having.

We walked down Michigan Avenue toward the river but first we dropped into a Walgreens (at the bottom of the Wrigley Building – fanciest Walgreens ever) and picked up some caramel m&m’s, a diet cherry coke for me and a Starbucks double shot for him. But most importantly we picked up a portable battery charger, which allowed me to keep using my phone (especially to take pictures) throughout the entire rest of the trip despite it’s terrible battery life. Then we crossed the river and boarded one of the double decker buses for our big bus tour. It’s the first stop of the tour so there were plenty of open seats. They weren’t leaving for a bit so we had time to put on sunscreen and take a few pictures.

It was a “hop on, hop off” tour meaning we could get on any Big Bus at any of their stops all day. So we “hopped off” at stop #3: the Sears Tower. (It’s actually called the Willis Tower now but we’ve bene told native Chicagoans refuse to call it anything other than the Sears Tower, which was its name for so long.) We walked in to find two lines: General Admission and City Pass/Fast Pass. God bless City Pass. We skipped the first section of General Admission, stopped to get our virtual picture taken, and then followed the family in front of us to the next section. City Pass meant we had these cool Sears Tower-shaped stamps on our hands. The family in front of us did not. A Sears Tower employee told them they needed to go to general admission and the dad responded “But we have the Fast Pass.” The employee said “That is just for skipping the ticketing line, not the entire line.” After the family moved on we showed the employee our stamps and she let us take the other hallway—a completely empty hallway other than Jack and me—toward the elevators. Jack looked at me, grinning, and said “I feel so VIP!” Haha. We walked down the hallway past a huge winding line of people. I didn’t even want to look them in the eye because I almost felt guilty for how much easier it was for us than them. Their line was estimated to be a two hour wait, and we waited less than 10 minutes to get on one of the gigantic elevators to the Skydeck. It was a fantastic feeling.

The elevator fit perhaps 15-20 people not sure. They told everyone to face forward, though I’m still not sure why. The ride up was pretty cool. There was a TV screen that showed different famous landmarks as the elevator passed their heights. It was interesting to think about how high we were going and how quickly we were getting there. Jack said he had to pop his ears eight times.

When the doors opened for a moment we thought we were about to stand in another huge line, but it turned out that was the queue waiting to take the elevators back down. There was no huge line to go stare out the windows at the distant ground. Jack and I took a few pictures, including trying to imitate the part in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off when the three of them lean over the rail and rest their heads on the glass. There aren’t the same kind of rails there anymore so it wasn’t exactly the same pose, but it was a nice homage.

There are four skydecks—two sets of two—and there was a fairly long line to get on to the first two. I actually wasn’t sure I even cared enough to wait in line since the view wouldn’t be that different than the one we just saw for no line. Jack wanted to do it though and we weren’t in any hurry. Then we realized the line for the second two skydecks was considerably shorter, so we waited there. It was probably less than 10 minutes before it was our turn to step onto the see through flooring. I was surprised by how nervous I felt, actually. I know it’s perfectly safe, but when I looked down it was dizzying (and I don’t have a problem with heights) and I had to try not to look down again in order to be able to stand out there and I instinctively wanted to stay near the doorway. Amazing how instinct takes over. In any case we got some great pics (they have staff there to take pics of everyone with their own cameras) and then we headed back. The exit had us wind through not one but two gift shops, but it wasn’t too bad. They even had some Ferris Bueller themed shirts! Overpriced, of course, but a nice idea. Later, after the entire trip, Jack looked back on the Sears Tower as possibly his favorite single event that we did.

We went back to wait for another Big Bus. We had originally worried there would be no rooftop seats or there would be a line of people waiting to get them since there had been a line waiting to board the bus we hopped off to go to Sears Tower. However in this case we were the first people in a short line when the bus arrived and we got seats together on the roof with no trouble.

Our new tour guide, Lance, was pretty funny. He used his mic not only to give tour information but to talk to passersby and other cars, for example telling a car to get out of the bus’s way in an intersection, haha. At one point our bus was passing one of the competitor’s buses, and Lance told us all he’d say some joke and we should all laugh loudly. At the right moment he announced he was giving us all cash at the end of the tour and everyone cheered. I don’t remember how the competitor tour guide responded but I’m pretty sure it was something along the lines of smiling and shaking her head.

The tour itself was also pretty interesting, with all sorts of background information on the city. I was particularly moved by the guide’s description of the Agora sculpture on Museum Campus, which was transported there by donations including a large sum from Robin Williams, and which was created by a Polish artist and then moved to Chicago, which apparently has one of the largest Polish populations of cities around the world. The guide said the statues were supposed to represent how the artist viewed adults when she lived in Poland during WWII: armless and headless, uncaring and uncomforting and frightening. It was a sobering description that made the sculpture much more interesting than I’m sure it otherwise would have been.

Anyway the bus took us past the strange Parthenon/spaceship duality of the nearby stadium, past the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and Adlper Planetarium (complete with a statue of Copernicus), back through Grant Park, down Navy Pier, through Streeterville (apparently named after basically a crook), by the water tower and pumping station, the John Hancock building, the Magnificent Mile, and ultimately back around to the riverfront where we had picked it up that morning.

We disembarked and walked back over the river and to the hotel to take a break before dinner. It was kind of a crowded walk, being Friday already. When we got back to the hotel I was already feeling pretty tired, not sure why. Maybe just a lot of sun and not enough sleep the night before. Jack tried to call the place we were going for dinner (Au Cheval) to see what the wait looked like, but no one picked up. We decided to splurge and take a Lyft there instead of walking. We got to Au Cheval a bit after 5 pm, so even though it was Friday it was early enough I was hoping the wait wouldn’t be too terrible. However when we got there the restaurant was packed. So I expected a long wait just as there had been the day before for Wildberry and later Malnati’s. If Au Cheval had the same process as the others, they would take our cell phone and text us when it was our turn, so we’d be free to wander for a while and come back to eat. Unfortunately, when we got to the restaurant it was not only packed but the hostess apologetically told us a table for two was a five hour wait. Of course we weren’t going to stay for that.

I didn’t want to burn more of our budget on a Lyft back, so we decided to walk. We doubted there was anywhere in the area that would have walk in seats on a Friday night, so Jack suggested we order Malnati’s pizza for pick up and by the time we walked there it should be almost ready. So we did. In fact we even had a coupon for free bruschetta from our Big Bus Tour (the tour guide came with several local coupons). We took the River Walk back, and it was pretty lovely. We walked past some live music and some kind of ice cream social thing. Even though it was nice I was feeling increasingly exhausted. It was pretty crowded to on a beautiful Friday evening by the river.

By the time we were near Malnati’s we still had a few minutes before the pizza was supposed to be ready, so we stopped into Starbucks to get some caffeine (iced mochas). The Starbucks was so peaceful; there were only a couple customers there and there was zero music playing. Given how tired I was it felt just right. We asked the baristas if it would be okay for us to go pick up our pizza and bring it back and eat it there, and they said that was fine. So we did. It was actually perfect. The Starbucks was right on the corner of a busy intersection and we got to watch lots of people all dressed up going to different clubs and bars. It was fun to watch them but I was also glad it wasn’t me. All I really wanted to do was finish eating, saunter back to the hotel, and watch Netflix and relax.

When we did walk back it was a little bit after sunset and Trump tower looked so pretty glittery blue in the dusk light. It’s a very pretty area of a very pretty city.

Once we got back to the hotel it wasn’t even 9pm yet, so not even 7pm in California. We were able to video chat with the girls for quite a while and sing “Down by the bay” to Clara’s delight. It’s wonderful to be able to see them each day despite being so far away.