For day 2 of Chicago, we started the morning off by grabbing breakfast at the hotel, then we hopped on the L and transferred to a bus to take us to the Field Museum. As the bus started to approach the museum, I was shocked by its sheer size. It was humongous! Luckily we got there close to opening, so we had enough time to go through all the floors.

The museum had a couple of special exhibits that were included in our City Pass. One was called The Machine Inside Biomechanics and the other was called Underground Adventures. Our tickets also included one 3D movie, so we ended up watching this one called Tiny Giants about a squirrel collecting acorns for the winter. =)

While the museum looked like a fortress from the outside, inside was actually a lot smaller in comparison. I’m sure only a fraction of the museum is actually opened to the public. Spending 3-4 hours inside was pretty sufficient for us. After we left Field, we took a short walk over to the Shedd Aquarium. It was already past lunch hour, so we were hoping to grab lunch after we got to the aquarium. However, once we got to the front, there was this incredibly long lineup that ran from the front doors down the staircase. I was absolutely astounded seeing the amount of people waiting to go inside! Even though we had our City Pass, we still ended up waiting in line for 45 minutes. All of us were famished by the time we got in, so we headed straight for the cafeteria without even glancing at a single tank of fish.

After grabbing lunch, we then leisurely spent the next few hours strolling inside the aquarium. I vaguely remember visiting Shedd 15 years ago, but it seemed like a completely new experience going through the aquarium again. While we didn’t watch any of the shows inside, we did stop by the sting rays tank and the penguin pavilion, then took some nice photos outside of the harbour and the nearby Alder Planetarium.

We left the aquarium as it was about to close, then had to find the bus to take us back to the city. We switched to the L at the Harold Washington Library station before making our way to Lincoln Park for dinner. I really loved taking the Loop around during our time in Chicago. The outdoor platforms were gorgeous and it gives you a great view of the city from above. I just wonder how noisy it is for the people working right beside the tracks. Hehe.

We arrived at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba just in time for our dinner reservations. After getting seated and poring over the menu, we decided on a pitcher of their mango sangria, spinach & manchego stuffed mushrooms, beef tenderloin & blue cheese, then two servings of their seafood paella with shrimp, bay scallops, monkfish and green beans. The food was excellent and all left with a bit of extra weight.

For the last event that evening, we used our City Pass to visit Skydeck Chicago. It was pretty quiet when we got there, so there was no lineup to take the elevator up to the 103rd floor. Up at the top they had a glass ledge similar to the glass floors at the CN Tower. It was pretty seeing Chicago lit up at night. <3