Morning
It was 8 when we first woke up. It was another hour before we actually got up. It felt like a lazy morning and that we had slept in. I guess that’s what the time change will do.
We went in search of breakfast and stopped at the first place we found – some place with Bakery in the name. We both ordered something that resembled an omelette, yet was scrambled instead, that came with toast and hashbrowns. It was good. We lingered over our breakfast awhile, talking.
When we left, i had an urge to walk. At left, you’ll see one of the many architecturally interesting buildings we passed – this one caught my eye because it is so completely phallic. Navy Pier was not too far, and i wanted to walk to the end of it. And so we did, feeling the wind off Lake Michigan in our faces. The weather has been wonderful the whole time we’ve been here.
No one can say we didn’t get our exercise this weekend. Walking is a lot of work. As we were walking back to the hotel, Lance asked me if we could please take the subway to the aquarium later, instead of walking. We were both getting tired of walking.
We headed back to the hotel for a couple of quiet hours relaxing before our afternoon and evening events with Adam and Nora.
Shedd Aquarium
We took the subway down to the closest stop to the Aquarium. It still took 25 minutes of walking before we got to the front of the place. We walked up the hill and saw a huge line snaking out the front door, several hundred people long, at least. Well, there was nothing to be done but get in line. Adam & Nora found us soon after. They are members, but they waited in line with us and we chatted while the line slowly moved forward. It was at least another half hour before we got our tickets.
I think we got inside sometime after 3. The place was a madhouse. There were so many people you could barely move. You certainly couldn’t properly see all the exhibits because you couldn’t get close enough.
We went first to the oceanarium to see the whales and otters and penguins. I was surprised by how little information was available to read about those creatures. Then we found the coral reef exhibit, which had an entire area all to itself. That was very cool, and did have a lot of information on the walls and counters, and i learned a lot. Then it was back upstairs to see the octopus and the huge crabs and sea horses and sea dragons (that’s a sea dragon, at left) and general ocean creatures. By then, we were famished and starting to go a little crazy from sensory overload. It was just way too crowded. To really appreciate that aquarium, we may need to go back at 9 am on a Tuesday or something. I did not particularly enjoy the experience with so many people.
Blue Man Group
It was 4:30 when we left, and we decided to head to the area where the theater was. Adam & Nora knew there were a lot of restaurants near there. We got there after 5, and found a cute little Thai place. It was delicious. Then we wandered over to the theater to pick up our tickets. It was still early, so we had to kill some time. Adam wanted some new sandals, so we went shoe shopping. I got some, too. It’s hard for me not to buy shoes in a shoe store.
The show was excellent. It has been 7 years since i saw them the first time, so i didn’t remember all the jokes. And while i’m pretty sure it was almost entirely the same, it was still fabulous. It makes me happy on the inside. And especially at the end – during the grand finale i experienced pure childlike joy and laughter that so rarely comes upon us as adults.