24 HOURS IN.....CHICAGO!!

Hi everyone! I’ve just come home from the most amazing layover in Chicago so I’ve decided to share with you my ‘must-see’ and ‘must do’ list for 24 hours in the Windy City.

Chicago- home to the Cubs, the Bulls, the Sears (Willis) Tower, Ferris Buellers day off and possibly most importantly of all, the Deep Dish Pizza (I’m capitalising because it’s THAT good). If you’ve never tried deep dish before, imagine a hybrid of like a pie-lasagne-pizza, it’s basically heaven. But before you overdose on deep dish here’s what to do in your 24 hours in Chi-Town. Start on East Bellevue Place and begin your day with a huge breakfast at The Original Pancake House- sweet, savoury, these guys have it all. If pancakes aren’t your thing they also have all sorts of omelettes, eggs, hash browns and skillets. Breakfast at the pancake house is the perfect way to begin your day because not only are the breakfasts delicious but they are super filling so you’ll be ready to rock and roll and sightsee all day!

After you have filled up on food, head on down the Magnificent Mile. This is the main street for shopping and hustle and bustle in Chicago and takes you right across the city. You can see everything here from high end shops like Gucci and Prada to Forever 21, it’s a shopaholics dream come true. Keep going on past the shops and skyscrapers (it’s so hard to keep from craning your neck to see everything in the sky!) and head towards to bridge over the Chicago River. Don’t forget to take a moment while crossing the bridge to admire the view of the river and the lake on one side and then to turn and boo at Trump Tower on the other. 

Just passed the bridge its only 5 more minute’s walk before you arrive at Millennium Park, home of the Bean! Inside the park , its lovely to walk around and explore the monuments and view of lake Michigan or if you are lucky enough to be there in winter you can go open air ice skating down beside the bean for around 10 dollars. I have to admit, the bean itself confuses me, I’m not entirely sure why it’s there but I do love it. If you can fight your way through the crowds and get right up to it, it’s a little bit amazing. Much bigger than it looks in the photos, you can see reflections of yourself and all of the buildings around and if you face it on the side of the Magnificent mile, you get an amazing up-close panorama of the Chicago skyline and it’s so surreal, as if you can actually touch the buildings by touching the bean! 

Once you’ve finished wandering around the park and reading all of the facts about the city posted around the bean, head down East Adams Street towards the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower). Just a word of warning, there is very rarely NOT a queue for this so brace yourself for 20/30 minutes standing around both inside and outside the building (or less if you are a savvy tourist and pre book your tickets online beforehand) but I promise you it’s worth it. If you are a regular reader of this blog or know me at all as a person you can pretty much guess what’s coming next; a tall building with amazing views of the city. The Willis Tower Sky deck is an amazing interactive way of discovering the Chicago skyline. Once you buy your tickets you head through a maze of informative and fun wall displays, a short film on the history of the tower and then a little chart that shows how many of you the tower is tall.  If you’re curious, its 346 of me tall! 

103 stories up in the lift, sorry elevator, and you reach the sky deck. Despite having been a flight attendant for 6 months, my ears popped TWICE on the way up! The sky deck is AMAZING! Walking all the way around you can see the whole of Chicago as well as the borders of Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. For fans of Ferris Buellers Day off, which EVERYONE should be, will recognise the famous and terrifying ledge. You can step out onto the little glass ledge and see straight down into the streets of Chicago under your feet. NOT an activity for the faint hearted but completely exhilarating none the less. When you are selfie-d out and fully content that you have seen all that the sky deck has to offer, head back down the ear popping lift. 

  At this point you have two options, if the weather is not nice head into Panera, get some French onion soup in a bread bowl and chill out for a while. If the weather is nice, head into Walgreens, grab some food for a picnic and make your way towards the lake. The bank of Lake Michigan is gorgeous; the walk around the edge is full of all sorts: fitness fans jogging, bookworms reading and day drinkers doing their thing. Grab a little section of ground beside the water, but not too close, the crystal blue can be mesmerising and you don’t want to go for an accidental swim! It’s so easy to see why people love Chicago so much sitting by the water and not being able to distinguish where lake ends and sky begins, there’s something so peaceful about it all! When lunch is done and you’ve finished staring at the waves, head over to Navy Pier.

The walk along the water’s edge to navy pier is so lovely and when you reach the pier, look behind you for another pretty panorama of the water, beach and buildings. At navy pier, take a walk through the park that borders the water and enjoy the stark contrasts between the big city concrete jungle and the calm water and greenery. Inside Navy Pier is the perfect place to stock up on souvenirs, for you, your family and there’s even a store of Chicago themed dog clothes! From May 24^th, the Ferris wheel will be opened so thrill seekers can enjoy a moving view of the city but for now you can walk all around the pier, stopping for a mid-walk beer in the beer gardens facing out onto the lake. If you have time, take one of the lake cruises that departs from the right hand side of the pier. 

It should now be getting on towards sunset, so walk alllll the way back along the banks of the lake towards the little beach and head to your hotel to get changed into something a little classier and then head towards the Hancock Tower.  Like the Willis/Sears Tower, the Hancock tower has great views of the city and you have 2 ways of seeing them. Either you can pay to enter and do the 360 leaning experience or (my preferred option) you can go to the Signature Room on the 96^th floor and enjoy them for free with a cocktail (the cocktail you have to pay for). I recommend doing this at sunset because the views and atmosphere are amazing.

 I have to be honest, the cocktails in the Signature Room don’t really fit in with my usual ‘trips on a budget’ style but hey when in Chicago, right?

 After enjoying the music, views and cocktails of the Signature Room, it’s FINALLY time for the Deep Dish that I mentioned at the start.

Leaving the tower, head towards North Rush Street and the famous Giordano’s Pizzeria (this is the flagship store by the way, so although there are chains all over the city, this is the best). Once you get into Giordano’s and smell the pizza and see the flocks of people queuing for a slice, you will understand why I’ve sent you there. Like the Willis Tower, there will be a wait but also like the tower it will be worth it. Order at the counter, get a beer at the bar and wait for your table. This process is slightly unorthodox but the pizzas take 45 minutes to cook so it means that by the time you are seated at your table, you don’t have long to wait for food! For the Deep Dish, there are loads of options for toppings (fillings really, if we’re being accurate) but in my experience you really can’t go wrong with straight up cheese. Take note from my mistake though, just because you can finish a small Dominoes on your own does not mean you’re equipped to do the same here, Deep Dish is a whole other ball game and a small between two is more than enough to fill you up. Plus if you are still hungry afterwards, the cannoli there are a dream come true!

Chicago is a city wealthy with bars, clubs and music venues so if that’s what you’re in the mood for after dinner, from Giordano’s you’re not more than a stone’s throw from somewhere you can continue the party. If pizza has ended you then pat yourself on the back, you just completed a jam-packed whirlwind tour of the Windy City in 24 hours!