This was our last full day in Chicago as we were heading up to Milwaukee the next morning. We had purposely not planned anything for the day so we could fill in what we had missed. I still got up early that morning and headed out to see what photographic opportunities awaited me. I walked about 3/4 miles to the Buckingham Fountain at 6:00 am, only to find it was turned off until 8:00 am. Had to go back later. But you can still see the photos below for the fruits of my early-morning traipsing around.
As for the rest of the day, Kathleen stayed in. We had already done too much walking on this trip for her poor knee. Mike, Cathy, and I went across the street to the Chicago Cultural Center to see the exhibits, but mostly to see the incredible building. I would say more, but this is a case where the photos and captions will do a better job. See below. Don't forget: if you click the first shot, you can scroll through using your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE... don't look at my photography on a phone. Please... (WOW! I haven’t said that on this whole trip yet, but keep it in mind.)
After we visited the Cultural Center, we walked Cathy back to the Airbnb, and Mike and I set off to take photos of the Buckingham Fountain, which our guide on Day two told us was the largest fountain in the USA or the World…I don’t remember which. I am sure Mike will remind me. It is a pretty spectacular fountain. We got those (see below) and headed back because we had big plans for the evening.
First was dinner at Corcoran’s Irish Pub, which turned out to be our least favorite so far, especially after our experience at Rose Mary the night before. Just kind of sad. My brother Steve and his wife Jamie joined us for dinner and afterward. Afterward, we went across the street to see the current production of the world-famous improv troop—Second City. If you are unfamiliar with Second City, it is easily the most prolific contributor of cast members to Saturday Night Live. Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Phil Hartman, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Seth Myers, and a lot more started there. The show was knockout funny, and we had a great time. It didn’t end until around 10:00, and then we had a Lyft incident that I won’t go into, but it kind of capped the evening poorly. We had to get to bed because we were driving to Milwaukee early the next morning.
"I went down to Chicago to try to go into a place called Second City. I auditioned for that and got in pretty quickly, but I couldn't stop partying. They gave me a warning: 'If you do it again, we're gonna kick you off the main stage."—Chris Farley
Your pictures and commentary bring back so memories of a fantastic trip Sandee Lenker and I had a few years ago to Chicago. I particularly loved the fountain pictures, but can’t get those darn bricks out of my head!!!
The photos of the fountain were gorgeous, and I’m sorry to say you couldn’t get all the colors you want. Always good to get some rest time in before your big embarkation day. Good to see Jamie and Steve joined your group, but I’m so darn curious about the Lyft incident? Your visit to Second City was definitely a great choice.
We ordered a Lyft. The guy showed up. Parked across the street from us, got out and went into a drugstore. Said nothing to us. We knew it was him because the license plate and kind of car, as well as his photo, matched. We were totally mystified. We waited and he finally came out and immediately went into another store up the street. We gave up and ordered another one. This guy got there and started taking us back to our AirBnB but after we told him what had happened, we got quite the lecture about how we had it coming because we have driven the taxi drivers out of business and that he can barely make a living.