24 hours in Chicago

I took a hellishly early morning flight out of Reagan. I don't know what I was thinking with that. I don't even live near Reagan. I was enticed by the cheaper airfare. That was such a mistake. Early morning flights mean I also got to Chicago early, which I prefer so I can spend more time there. O'Hare Airport was also hell. Other than this trip, I have had only one other stopover in O'Hare, which was equally a nightmare. But anyway, let me actually get to being in Chicago.

I went to Chicago with my cousin. We stayed at an airbnb, my first time ever by the way. If you are looking into any airbnbs, I do recommend the one I stayed at. The place was very spacious and the host was great. Just click here to see the listing.

We began with an unexpectedly heavy lunch at The Gage. I had the poutine appetizer then a sandwich and soup entree. We then head over to Millenium park to see the famous Cloud Gate sculpture. Despite being a weekday, there were still a lot of tourists around. The sculpture itself is cool, but kind of dirty since there were fingerprints all over it.

The buildings in the city are all so cool and unique. Definitely living up to its reputation in architecture. We walked around Millenium park, which is pretty huge and we took a lot of stops since it was hot outside. We then rested by Buckingham Fountain, which would shoot a huge spray of water to the sky and basically bathing the people in a cool mist.

Afterwards, we went to the Art Institute. We made a mistake in thinking we could do this place in about two to three hours. Our mistake was thinking it was just one building. We didn't know it was also connected to the building across the street. By the end, we were basically doing a speed tour of the last few collections. I was pretty  amused by the collection on Antinous.

Afterwards we met up with my cousin's dad's friend. He was really nice and showed us the amazing view from his condo's rooftop deck. He showed us around the Magnificent Mile as well, which is around where he lives so he really knows the area. He then treated us to one of his favorite restaurants, Rosebud on Rush. They had the biggest mussels I had ever seen! Then for the entree, I got the Papardelle Bolognese. As if my stomach wasn't full enough, we got dessert anyway. After the Godiva Mousse Cake, I was basically done for the day. I could hardly move.

There ends day one. Although we were at first optimistic about getting a lot done in one day, the fatigue from such an early flight caught up with us and we retired early with a promise to do much more the next day.