Navy at Night

After our lunch of Chicago dogs, we took a taxi out of the main part of town to go take a tour of the Robie House.  The Robie House is on the University of Chicago campus and  is considered one of the most important buildings in American architecture. It was created by Frank Lloyd Wright for his client Frederick C. Robie, a forward-thinking businessman. Designed in Wright's Oak Park studio in 1908 and completed in 1910, the building is both a masterpiece of the Prairie Style and renowned as a forerunner of modernism in architecture.  It was fascinating to take a tour of this landmark, all of Wright's houses are amazing.  And like all Frank Lloyd Wright houses, no pictures were allowed inside, so I took a ton of the outside and the windows.

Wright used a stylized wheat motif in most of the stained glass designs

I snuck a picture of the inside through one of the windows on the front patio.  This was my favorite room in the house.  All those windows are actually doors that open up to a side porch.  That must have been the most pleasant room on summer evenings.

After a wonderful afternoon out in Hyde Park, we came back to the city for dinner at Lockwood, the restaurant at the famous Palmer House hotel.  This hotel is stunning and beautiful at every turn.  Their icon is the peacock, one of my favorite motifs!

Everything on their menu was delicious!  Most of their dishes had a lot of unique flavors fused together to make a wonderful dish.  Such as, for dessert I got a ginger creme brulee.  The ginger was incredibly strong,  I was expecting just a slight hint of spice, but it was almost like eating a creamy version of the pickled ginger you get when you go out for sushi, it was extremely refreshing!

After our meal, we sat in the lobby for a while, soaking in all the glorious decor

After having such a big lunch AND dinner we needed to do some walking, my poor little tummy was about to burst!  So, my dad and I decided to walk down to Navy Pier to see it all lit up at night!

Why yes I did buy a Navy Pier sweatshirt and wore it when I went back, like a true tourist.  Those sweatshirts normally cost $50 but I got mine for $15!  Such a great deal!

We were excited to ride the Farris wheel and see the city all lit up from the top of the wheel.  The view was spectacular!

After our fun Farris wheel ride we walked around the rest of the grounds for a little bit, but the pier was closing soon so we couldn't go too far from the entrance.  All the cafes and attractions looks so fun all lit up in twinkle lights and neon signs.

Our walk back to the hotel was awesome.  We got excellent views of the Pier for half of the walk, and spectacular views of the city for the other half.

This was the path we took, right on the waters edge

We took a short cut across the amazing BP bridge to get to Millennium Park.  I'm glad we did because the Jay Pritzker Pavilion is a sight to be seen when it is all lit up at night.  The colors are constantly changing creating all sorts of different color combinations.