Chicago, Day 2...When in Chicago

 Day 2

Thursday, August 13, 20

   I did consider getting up early and heading out to Lake Michigan for sunrise.  It was only a few blocks east of the hotel.  One look out the window and it was clearly too overcast to bother.

    The hotel has breakfast in the lobby starting at 6:30A.  If you want a hot breakfast, the chef doesn't come in until 7A. Pretty good breakfast for $20 in the big city

     The only plan for the day was for dinner tonight with friends.  With rain expected late in the afternoon, that left me plenty of time to just wander about the city.

    First off, more of Chicago in bloom..

      Ducking under Lakeshore Drive... the pedestrian tunnel smelled heavily of pot.

     The cityscape from Ohio Beach..

     Next stop, Navy Pier.  The pier was used for Army and Navy training during WWI and renamed Navy Pier in 1927.

   The curves and lines..

     This is The Windy.  They do regular sailing tours.  Though it's not exactly cheap.

    

    There was a young couple trying to figure out this sculpture...

    They didn't know it's Bob Newhart

     Not wanting to go too far with the impending rain, I simply cut back to the River Walk, this time starting on the north side.

   These are the size of a cake plate..

     The one brewery stop of the day was the Adams Street Brewery.  With a wide and tasty variety, I'd definitely recommend this one.  

     This was on the menu.  First time seeing it...

     After a light lunch and the usual flight, it was back outside. The plan was to poke around Grant Park.  Unfortunately, the promised rain arrived a bit early.  Instead, I just walked the mile back up Michigan Avenue to the hotel.

     It felt good to be out of the rain for a bit.  But, there was somewhere I had to be

      I was meeting some friends for some authentic Chicago style pizza.  They picked Pizza Due since it was close to the hotel and central to everyone.

      Pizza Uno is the original location, just up the street.  Ike Sewell came up with the idea for deep dish pizza and opened the restaurant in 1943.  When there was no more room to expand, he opened the second restaurant, Pizza Due.  

    This gadget on the server's belts clamps onto the pie plate so they can pick it up.  

     That's Despina on the right, John behind her.  Lower left is Astri and behind her, Aaron.  It was a great dinner and a great time catching up.  The restaurant was busy, but not too much that we felt guilty lingering.  But, we did leave the server a generous tip.  

     After dinner,  I walked Despina to Union Station for her train, caught a Lyft to the hotel and called it a day.