Yujian's Exchange In USA: Chicago 5D4N

Day 3 (15/10/2007)
Day 3 in Chicago is by far the most intersting part of the whole trip! At around 10 in the morning, my travel buddy, Philip, and I went to rent a bike for the whole day. A whole day (i.e. 10am - 530pm) rental costs $25 for a mountain bike and its really worth it (in terms of US prices). It was a really good day for cycling and going around on a bike really gave us a superb view of Chicago.

We planned our route and decided to cycle approximately 5 to 10km north along the coast to check out the michigan lake as well as the skyline from different angles. The view along the coast was nothing less than splendid and we took some time to take pictures with the magnificent skyline.

cycling along the coast

cycling along the coast 2

posing with the wonderful skyline

Skyline silouette

another angle

After abt 1.5 hrs of cycling, we turned back to cycle into the CBD area so that we can check out the various buildings on bike. We cycled through the business district and saw the CBOT, CME, Sears Tower, etc once again. This time round, its a working day and the streets were sprawling with pedestrains. It wasn't really helpful since we arrived during lunch time. Nonetheless, the experience was still outstanding.

Sears Tower

Sears Tower 2

Planetarium

Before returning our bikes, we also visited the Chicago institute of art. It has many paintings from monet, picasso, etc. However, being an art-idiot, i really couldn't appreciate. Nonetheless, i tried my very best and found some pictures which i found really nice. Seriously, i was "appreciating" the art with layman eyes and I guess I would never be able to see it from an artistic point of view.

At around 5pm, we returned our bikes and took a short walk to the John Hancock Building. On day 1 when we went to the building, we were determined that we'll be back again. Not for the views, but for the Cheescake at the Cheesecake factory located at the ground level! Trust me, the cheesecake made by cheesecake factory was the best i've EVER eaten. Just check out this pics!

Cheesecake choices

Cheesecake Factory

John Hancock from the bottom

We ended our "last" day at Chicago by visiting rush street (their boat quay equivalent). The parenthesis for last is because I missed my flight on day 4 which made a 4D3N tour become a 5D4N tour. Anyway, back to rush street. It was really nice although it was a monday night. I found the original morton's but we didn't want to spend ALL our money on that. As we walk along the street, we admired the various restaurants and finally ended up in a posh italian restaurant. The whole meal costs about US$40 each but it was quite an experience. Live band, red wine, italian cuisine and hospitable waitresses.

The original Morton's