We finally made it to the city on our own terms and we were exciting to see some sites other than the bus. Finally after figuring out the L, we made our way to “the bean” otherwise known as Cloud Gate in Millennium Park and preceded to have fun snapping photos. You know the drill; check them out in the photo section. Adjacent to the bean is the Jay Pritzker Pavilion designed by Frank Gehry, although no one was performing; the structure was impressive to say the least. Remember Frank Gehry from the building at MIT, he’s also known for the EMP and the Disney Concert Hall. We made our way to Crown Fountain, for those of you who haven’t been to it; it is two 50 foot glass towers with pictures of faces projected on it, all the while water cascades down the sides and periodically shoots out of the faces mouths. We continued our stroll through the park making our way to another lovely water feature called Buckingham Fountain, just as classy as the palace, but with no lines or fees. As we debated current politics, we meandered down the waterfront towards the Navy Pier. Upon arriving at the Navy Pier, we went to the McDonald’s Ferris wheel which was disappointing for a number of reasons; one being it was 100 feet smaller than the original, two being it was six dollars a person for one rotation, and three being it didn’t stop. On a more positive note other than the great views from the top, the best part of the experience was being one of two dudes on Lieu’s first Ferris wheel ride ever. Also from our unique vantage point we spotted a couple Lamborghini’s in the nearby Crystal Gardens, naturally we went over to check it out. As it turned out the function was some sort of showcase of Italy featuring Lambos, Ferraris, Mazeratis, Vespas, cheese, wine, and fashion. The fashion show provided much needed rest for our feet as we had just walked a few miles around the city, and I’m pretty sure we gave one of the models the giggles which is definitely frowned upon while on the runway. We were laughing the whole show because the models were supposed to be super serious about their walking. It was like watching a little kid walk, they’re concentrating really hard almost surprised they are doing it without falling, but they have the presence of mind that they’re supposed to look cool. After leaving the show we walked part of the Magnificent Mile, ate at one of the nicest and most efficient McDonald’s ever, and made our way back to the campsite to call it a night.

Naively thinking we had the L all figured out we hopped on the blue train at the end of the line and quickly got off at the Oak Park stop. We walked around pretty much the entire town and indirectly found our way to our desired destination, the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio. Tickets that day were hard to come by, but we got the last three for the 3 o’clock tour of the complex. With time to spare we strolled down Forest Ave. and looked at several other F. Lloyd creations. For the second time on this tour we had a tour guide named Chuck, I don’t know where I was going with that, I just thought it was funny. Chuck was a very knowledgeable guy, we learned all about compression and release as well as a whole bunch of other fun terms to use at a dinner party. The house was very innovative when you consider the fact that he created it over 100 years ago when he was only 22 years old. Oak Park was a nice neighborhood and it had tons of Frankie’s work in it so it was fun to walk around, but we needed to see the city so we got back on the L and headed for the skyscrapers. I guess I shouldn’t say hopped on, it got a little more complicated than that. See the first day we spent about an hour getting these 1 day “fun passes” which turned out to be not all that much fun because they only lasted one day and we needed 3 day passes. Interestingly enough three day passes are only available to visitors, which was perfect because we were doing just that, but unfortunately the CTA believes that visitors must first go to one of only three locations in the entire Chicagoland area to purchase said passes. I don’t know if absurd is the right word, maybe ridiculous, but either way this makes no sense. Passless, we paid the fair to ride downtown from Oak Park on what latter became known as the first leg of our wild goose chase. We quickly realized that the CTA headquarters in the loop was one of our stops, if any place was to have the passes surely it would be the transit headquarters, but no, it was closed at 4. Next attempt was the official tourist information center a few blocks away. We ran inside and asked the lady for some passes, she said we only sell those in the gift center (Who gives visitor passes as gifts anyway). We checked it out and returned to the lady’s desk with no passes, she replied, “Yeah, everyone tries to get out of here at 4:45 on the weekends; everything in the loop closes early.” Time 4:32. She makes a few calls and locates a few passes in the Mag Mile at some grocery store of all places. At that point Chicago and eBUS live were not getting along to well, but to make things worse on the way out of the visitor’s center, Graham was denied access to the bathroom by some security guard. Spirits were down and Lieu was chanting O’fer, but we forged ahead and made our way to the Jewel Osco (For those of you that don’t know O’fer, it means zero for x attempts which in our case was something like 4 at that point, we were zero for four). We finally were allowed the right to purchase visitor’s passes at the Osco, but at that point it was like 6 at night, the Visitor pass debacle was now behind us. We grabbed a bite to eat at our favorite MacD’s and proceeded to walk around the Mag Mile doing a little bit of shopping to try and salvage the evening.

Armed with our visitor’s CTA passes and dressed in business casual we arrived at the Ralph Lauren Grill and Bar for a nice Sunday brunch. It was probably the nicest place we’ve been to eat on the tour, but going there for brunch was a smart move because we managed to all eat for less than $50. From the RL G&B we shot down to Hyde Park and the University of Chicago. Another lovely neighborhood, though slightly surrounded by ghettos, we again walked around to check out the sites. Our main destination was the Robie House, another F.L.Wright design. It is known as his quintessential Prairie style house and is recognized the world over as one of the most influential buildings of the century. The only downside of the tour was that the house was still being renovated. We got some pics of the outside so you can get a feel for it, remember he built it 80 years ago when all homes were a Victorian style (Google that for more reading). After Hyde Park we went back to the Loop to take some fun pics of the Sears Tower, it’s really tall. From there we went to the second tallest building in town, the Hancock Tower for a better view of the whole city. The observation deck was closed so all the tourists decided to join us in the Signature Lounge, it was a zoo. Somehow we managed a table next to the windows. If you ever make it to Chicago, drinks in the signature lounge is a must do, if you can try and get a table on the south side windows, spectacular views. We saw a beautiful sunset, the Navy Pier, fireworks at Soldier Field during the Bears game, and a great view of the Chicago skyline. Can anyone guess the last stop during our stay in Chicago? That’s right, PIZZA, did you expect anything less from Carson, and not just any pizza, Giordano’s Chicago style pizza, we polished off the whole pie, it was a phenomenal ending to our stay in Chicago.

- eBUS live crew

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