Bad Luck Rises
Buenos dias, compadres. Another beautiful day in the outskirts of Chicago, and thanks to the motivational prowess of the relatives gracing us with their presence, we managed to get out and about on time. The drive into the city took forever and a day once again, partly because of Kizmet and partly because we were taking a different highway and didn’t have any idea where the hell we were supposed to be going. We made it to Cumberland station eventually, with aunt, uncle, cousins and brother trailing safely behind us. The ride into the city was quite the event, especially with a two seater stroller and three kids under six. And, of course, the conductor had to make an indecipherable announcement, so we all hopped off the train just in case, and in the process I managed to leave Dad’s bag behind. Mum kind of freaked out a little. The part two of Natasha’s mishaps this fine week. What next, I push a random stranger into the path of an oncoming truck by accident. Just kidding. If that happened it would be on purpose and it wouldn’t be a random stranger. Watch yourselves. After we took a second train to the appropriate stop, we rose up to the surface and started walking in the general direction of the Shedd Aquarium. It was
about a klick away, not a very long walk, and we got to pass Buckingham Fountain on the way there, an up close and personal experience, wow! The line up to the entrance of the aquarium was unbelievable, all the way down the front steps and back on the sidewalk. Luckily, we had a stroller, so we got to go in the way with no lineup. Unfortunately, our City Pass things only aloud for the general admission, so we only had access to three areas out of six, and we didn’t get free entry to any of the shows. Our first line of duty was to find a place to partake in some food, as we were all hungry by this point. It was a simple matter to find the cafeteria on the map, not so simple to actually wind our way though the crowd and down the stairs on our way
there. The food was, of course, grossly overpriced, so it was almost eighty bucks for all of us, and the little ones don’t even eat all that much. Simon probably eats more than Kate and Claire combined. By this point it was two o’clock, so we only had three more hours to do everything we wanted to do, which didn’t seem like all that much, but, as we quickly found out, the Shedd Aquarium is highly overrated. It wasn’t really all that interesting, there were some fish here, some fish there, a turtle, some rays, and a brief glimpse of a dolphin. The building was so crowded, it would make you uncomfortable no matter how ok you happen to be with enclosed spaces. There was an area where you could touch sea stars, so that was fun for the little ones, but I wasn’t all that impressed. Finally, it was time to leave, but before we could actually vacate the premises, we had to go in the gift store so Isaac could buy yet another useless trinket. The twenty minutes we spent in the shop was the difference between the survival and the untimely demise of our dryness. Whilst we were standing in line for the water taxi bound for the Navy Pier, it started to pour. And the day had started out so sunny. It didn’t help that we didn’t even get onto the first boat and had to wait for a second, which took long enough for the rain to stop and start again. During the ride over to the pier the rain was coming down so hard it sounded like hail on the
roof. It had stopped again by the time we got off the boat and started to walk around. We wandered around the outside of the pier complex for a bit, and then we headed inside to buy some very expensive, average coffee that took forever to arrive in our hands. It was then time for dinner. Dad had looked up some restaurants, and told us the Mediterranean place called the Purple Pig looked quite good. The walk down was fun, as we stopped in some shops and stuff and I got to talk with Auntie Suz the majority of the way there. The wait for the Purple Pig ended up being over two hours long, so we headed a nearby Italian deli. The food turned out to be excellent, but the service was awful and the waitresses seemed offended by our very presence, but they should have been graced. On the way back to the subway we stopped at a froyo place for dessert and Isaac had to run across the street to Macy’s to go to the bathroom yet again because apparently he doesn’t know how to wash his hands properly and had an upset stomach. We all made it home safely, and I rode with the cousins to keep them company and because they were watching Madagascar in the car. When we got home we put the girls to bed and I did some blogging and reading and such before drifting off to dreamland myself. Peace out m8s.
