Chicago

After two days of driving and two days of cleaning and unpacking, we all thought it was time for a break. So we found some walking tours online and headed down to Chicago. Both Bryson and his mom had gotten some great ideas for things to do in Chicago, so these ideas combined with our handy dandy walking tour made a wonderful day.

We had lunch atop the John Hancock building, where we had some great food and beautiful views of the city and Lake Michigan.

Isn't that just gorgeous?!

The Hancock building was at the end of our walking tour, so we decided to start there (since we were all hungry!) and work our way backwards. Our next stop was the beautiful Fourth Presbyterian Church, which was right across the street and looked like a little piece of old England had been transplanted right in the middle of Chicago. It amazed me that as soon as you stepped into the garden the sounds of the city melted away.

This is the covered walkway that separates the garden from the bustling streets of Chicago. I thought it just beautiful with the greenery that crept along the edges and the wonderful archways.

Of course we had to stop at the Hershey's building!

And what do you think was right across the street? Ghiradrdelli's! They gave us chocolate when we walked in which was delicious! We actually came back after dinner and had some of their wonderful desserts.

This is the Old Chicago Water Tower which, along with the Pumping Station was one of the few buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

The Wrigley Building (Yep headquarters of Wrigley chewing gum) is a beautiful and majestic building that sits right on the Chicago River. Although you can't see it, the building has a really cool four sided clock tower.

We wanted to go to Giordano's pizza to get some Chicago deep dish pizza, but the line just to get on the waiting list went down the street. So we walked across the street to an Italian restaurant called Rosebud on Rush. We got in right away and were seated outside, so we got to watch Chicago life as we ate. Oh my goodness it was so so good! The picture above is a salad that Bryson got. Isn't it gorgeous?! And it was good too. :) All four of us got something different and then shared and everything was amazing. We are definitely going again.

It was such a fun day to wander around and explore Chicago. I'm glad both of our moms were able to come out and help us and see where we will be living. I think it's so fun that we live so close to cities such as Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison, and we're so excited to be able to explore more of our new home!