Yesterday I regressed into tourist mode. At a party last week I befriended a Chicago native, who promised me a fun day out in Chicago, on him, because I am an impoverished intern and he has a great new job… and apparently Chicago has a lot to see. He basically took on the role of Ambassador to the City, and his first job was to reccommend somewhere fun to go first. It was a toss-up between the Aquarium (the biggest in the world) and the Museum of Science and Industry, and after much deliberation, we decided on the MSI.

That was a good call. We spent a good five hours doing all the sciency stuff, watching them recreate tornados, playing with liquid metal and magnets (coolest stuff EVER), pretending to be astronauts, watching WWII movies on the Omnimax screen, learning about Tesla, shooting hoops, making avalanches happen, taking a walk through 1800s Chicago, boarding a United Boeing 727 from the 80s, and having a very tasty Philly cheesesteak in the restaurant. It was a pretty good afternoon out!

After that, we went on a drive past Soldier Field, home of the mighty Bears…

… On our way to the Adler Planetarium. We actually had no intention of going inside (it was closed by this point anyway), but’s situated on a sort of peninsula thing that juts out into the lake, and we were there for the views, which are supposedly some of the best of the Chicago skyline you can get from the ground. Now I’m no expert, but I’d say that was an accurate statement.

Yep, This is now home.

After wandering about the peninsula for a while, we decided to go to Navy Pier. It’s a big amusement pier with rides, a theatre, a haunted house, and a bunch of bars, restaurants and tourist shops. A couple of drinks later, and the sun had gone down just about enough to be sufficiently aesthetically pleasing for some photo-taking. The view from here is not too shabby either, I suppose.

We didn’t go on the Ferris wheel this time cause the queue was on the verge of spilling into the lake, but I’m guessing the views from the top are pretty decent too.

If you frame your photos right, you can fool people into thinking you’re not in a city of 3 million people, and are instead on some deserted beach in on Long Island doing a bit of solitary evening lighthouse-spotting.

Did I mention that I live here and that you’re probably jealous? (unless you live somewhere equally as beautiful, which I suppose, is not completely beyond the realm of possibility..)

As if we hadn’t already done enough quintessential Chicago tourist stuff, a short drive later and we were parked outside Pequods pizza place waiting for our reservation buzzer to signal that it was time for the mouthgasming to begin. We had to wait about an hour to get a table, but apparently that’s pretty good for a Saturday night at one of the city’s hottest pizza institutions. And it was SO worth it.

LOOK AT THAT SAUCY, CHEESY GOODNESS!!!

The final stop of the night was a BYOB underground comedy show in someone’s attic, which was a delightful way to end a great day/night out., and the moral of this story is, if you ever need somebody to show you all the wonders of Chicago, John Strand is the guy to do it. Thanks pal. (also check out his artwork, it’s pretty cool. I hyperlinked his name so you have no excuse.)

Your move Ferris Bueler.