Day 56 - more of Chicago

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Another early morning start today...so didnt want to get up at the 6am alarm - Still tired from yesterdays adventures. Ready to hit the road just after 7am. CTA station is only a few minutes drive away and plenty of car parks available.

Arrived downtown just after 8am...grabbed a coffee and donut and headed towards the museum campus ready to explore the Field Museum - a natural history museum. The museum is part of our city pass.

We knew the museum would be huge as we have previously visited the museum of science and industry in 2011 - but were still blown away by the massive size of this place and the never ending exhibits over 3 levels. We were at the Field at 9.30am and left at close 5pm.

Also included was admission to a 3D movie experience - Titans of the Ice Age. This was a documentary narrated by Christopher Plummer. Well worth watching plus gave us 1/2 hour to sit and rest - bonus!

We also visited 2 other special ticketed exhibitions as well as the regular exhibits - underground adventure - an exploration of under the ground where everything is 100 times it's normal size and you get to see the web of life that lives beneath us. This exhibition is really designed for children but is also fun for adults alike.

The current showpiece at the Field is "Sue" the dinosaur who is sitting in the middle of the main foyer. Sue is the largest, most complete and best preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex ever discovered - making her the most important fossil in the world.

There is a spectacular mural in the Africa exhibition. It was painted by a Canadian artist named Carol who spent 15 months working on the project. The artist painted the mural in the museum and spent around 15 hours a day on the piece (mostly working through the night). Carol painted the scene without ever having visited this region of Africa - but many people who have lived or worked in the Rift Valley in Africa are sure they recognise that exact spot.

We saw too many exhibits to list them all but here are a few - world of birds, world of mammals, Africa, animal biology, plants of the world, dinosaur hall, hall of jades and restoring the earth. There were many more exhibits - all were so huge that by the end of the day you just couldn't absorb any more.

Seriously, you would need to visit this museum every day for at least a month to fully appreciate all the museum has on offer. There is an exhibit "Inside Ancient Egypt" which takes you deep inside an Egyptian Tomb to see over 20 mummies and loads of other ancient artifacts.

You are also able to see how the Field Museum Science Laboratories operate - it is amazing to watch newly excavated fossils being prepared ready to be used for display. The museum collected most of the animals that are on display more than 50 years ago on research expeditions around the world. The museum continues to collect animals to study and display, including specimens that die naturally in zoos, wildlife refuges or nature centres. They use the animals to research biological diversity which contributes to international conservation efforts and also for use in educational programs and exhibitions.

Chicago museums are a true delight to visit - just make sure you allow yourself enough time to do some exploring of the museums and surrounding areas - guaranteed you won't be dissappointed.

Our next venture was to locate a pizzeria that was recommended to us by a local Chicagoan. Lou Malnatis is located on State Street downtown and it has been serving Chicago with deep dish Pizza since 1971.

We ordered the Malnati Chicago classic pizza along with a chicken BBQ club salad, washed down with a beer! You definitely need to eat this pizza with a knife and fork. Pizza and salad were delicious and there was enough left over for us have for lunch tomorrow.

Our final destination for the day was the John Hancock Observatory - also included in the city pass. The John Hancock is on Michigan Avenue and is 100 stories tall - 3 stories lower than the Willis Tower but the John Hancock does have better views of the coastline of Chicago (in our opinion).

The views were spectacular at night and really highlighted just how big Chicago is. Geoff got some fantastic shots of Chicago's skyline - even though you are not allowed to use a tripod on the sky deck. The John Hancock sits in the "magnificent mile" shopping district - a busy vibrant part of downtown.

This was another long day - we returned to the RV at 9.30pm to find that we had been issued with a violation notice - for backing our vehicle into the parking bay - $30 fine for the offence....never mind in the morning Geoff made a call to the ticket issuing office and the supervisor told him to forget the fine they will take care of it! The supervisor was happy to do this as we are on vacation from Australia - no worries mate - it's little wonder why we like this country so much 😉 also the supervisor said his wife is in love with Hugh Jackman and wondered whether we personally knew him!

Well we have had a great time here in Chicago - the people and the places are amazing. Only thing we would have differently is not to visit in the RV - however we have managed and it's now time to move on. If you do visit in an oversized vehicle either be prepared to park up at the likes of Walmart or a truck stop or stay in a hotel outside the city centre unless you want to spend 4 hours a day travelling into the city from a RV park.

Next part of the road trip will take us into Michigan - on our way to Toronto.

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Photos

Statue "Agora" downtown Chicago

At the museum campus

Field Museum

Sue the Tyrannosaurus Rex

Marae exhibit...one of only 3 outside of NZ

Owl exhibit

Mural in the African exhibit

White Rhinoceros

Ancient Egypt exhibit

8 year old boy mummy

Mummy statues

The sad reality that so many species are becoming extinct .... this shot taken at 11:00am

This taken about 3 hours later

In the museum laboratory

Where do we begin?

Skeleton exhibit

Black opal set in gold brooch..87 carat..from Australia

Educational display in the Underground Adventure

Stone Inuksuk
We saw many of these in Canada and Alaska. They are used as directional markers of hunting & fishing grounds etc.

Downtown Chicago from the museum steps

Dinner at the pizzeria