Off to the Windy City!! - Part 2

Mardis Gras Etiffoue

The following day was a busy one!

Lucky for us - one of our fellow travellers had brought a guide book with him to the Windy City! So we decided to go for breakfast in this place which was highly recommended in the guide - Heaven on Seven. It is a restaurant that specialises in Cajun recipes located on the 7th floor of a building on North Michigan Ave. The slogan says..."People who come back from Heaven all say the same thing...try the Gumbo!" - and it's true the gumbo is amazing. Gumbo ...is quite hard to explain. Its like a soup, but its really thick more like a stew and it has rice in it. Most of us had this for starters and we chose different stuff for our main meals. I think I had the Mardis Gras Etiffoue, although I can't remember for sure. All I remember is that is was seafood in cajun sauce and I think it was served with rice - it was really good!

After our satisfying breakfast/lunch we took a wander through Oz Park which is a park dedicated to the author of 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz', who settled in Chicago later in his life. We took a lot of photos there as it had statues of the Wizard of Oz characters and also, it was a very nice location.

From there we went to Lincoln Park Zoo. It was quite a small zoo with various different animals including, tigers, snakes and otters (I can't remember them all now!). It wasn't busy when we were there...probably because of the time of year. Some of the girls I went with were uncomfortable because they felt like they were in small enclosures/cages and that the location was too cold. I had to agree with them, but at the same time - I couldn't believe there was a real tiger right in front of me. It's different from seeing these animals through a television. Their enclosures were rather small though and I was completely split emotionally, I was amazed at the same time I was appalled.

The zoo experience was cool but it was absolutely freezing! From there we took a bus to a different part of the city. I can't remember where exactly it was, but it was a place where we were able to see the Chicago skyline. It was near a beach. Of course, we took a lot of pictures (all of which I looked ugly in because of the intense sea breeze). I think at some point someone's hat nearly fell in the water but for some reason this memory doesn't stick out too clearly to me. I think one of the guys rescued it though and we were crapping it that he might fall in.

By this point it was late afternoon and we took another trip to a different part of the city. I didn't know much about Chicago before I went, but I had heard about the Sears Tower (now known as the Willis Tower) which I really liked the idea of visiting. I heard that it was the second tallest building in the world, however, according to Wikipedia, its the fifth tallest building! Who cares, its a tall building - and we went up it! The view was astonishing - it was like being on an aeroplane. From one window apparently you could see accross three states! I can't remember which ones but I think it coulda been Illinois (obv), Indianna and Michigan. It was really cool though. I think the most exciting thing about it was the section with the glass floor. It was terrifying but at the same time - thrilling. It almost looked like a screen-shot from Grand Theft Auto or something.

Our night did not end here. By the time we had visited the Tower, we decided to go to Navy Pier which is basically a famous pier there with lots of different attractions. We had dinner there and then took a look around. The night we were there, there was a party or a wedding or something going on as there were very dressed up people in a big place near the end of the pier. We walked down and walked back up. One thing I remember about this was going into a place which was like a garden centre (I think its the same place that's in that Vince Vaughn movie - 'The Dilemma'). I remember it because there were powerful jets of water that arc over you, yet you don't get wet. As gay as it sounds, I was fascinated by how they worked. Then I remember coming out of there and there being this 'Circus' show thing on. The place was done up, but the style was street theatre. We went to Chicago in October so it was close to Halloween and I think this is why the show was on. Basically these dressed up people took on characters and interacted with members of the public. Some of them really freaked us out, especially as some of them jumped out at us lol.

This one speaks for itself.

 All in all, it was an exciting day out. I couldn't believe how much we done in one day. It was fun, if a little tiring. Found out how the last day went by checking out the blog next Monday!