Wednesday, August 29, 2012

This morning we risked life and limb to walk from DuSable Marina to Navy Pier.  The passage over the bridge is narrow and full of runners and bikers and walkers like us.  One out of a hundred bikers will announce their presence with a "to your left" warning, the other ninety-nine zip by.  Navy Pier has great shops and restaurants inside and outside are interesting kiosks, amusements, bars and goodies.  

Betsy's best friend, Katie, and her sweet 6-month-old baby, Declan, picked us up at the round-about next to the marina and took us to lunch at Gino's East -- the original deep-dish Chicago pizza.  Gino's is quite unique as the whole place is covered in graffiti inside -- in fact, they encourge it.  It takes 45-minutes to bake this wonderful pizza but it is so worth it.  It was delicious!  Thank you, Katie, for bringing us our mail and various bundles (including the Captain's repaired watch) and for sharing time with us.  And thank you for the delicious goodies!!

In the afternoon we took the Chicago Architecture Foundation Tour.  We spent 90 fascinating minutes on a Chicago River cruise looking at the amazing architecture in the city.  Our docent was even more amazing, sharing tons of information about the various architects, periods when the structures were built, designs, compositions, and other interesting factoids.   I'll post the photos separately.

Our friends, Charlotte and Dean, met us at the round-about and took us to dinner at Bacchanalia Restaurant in Little Italy, Chicago.  We had a wonderful dinner, good conversation and lots of laughs.  How thoughtful of them to think of us.  It was a sad day for me with the loss of my brother and I was glad for the numerous diversions.

Declan McCormack

Katie, Ralph and Declan

Inside Gino's East -- they encourage grafitti

Mmmm...Chicago Original Deep Dish Pizza

Katie brought us goodies from her favorite bakery cinnamon strudel and smiley face cookies

Charlotte and Ralph at Bacchanalia in Little Italy, Chicago

This whole street in Little Italy has been raised about 5' so what you see is a walkway to the front door but you're looking down to see the first floor of the house.  It's really unique.

The treacherous walkway to Navy Pier

Navy Pier, Chicago

The entrance to Navy Pier

The 150' tall ferris wheel at Navy Pier

We stopped at this candy shop for goodies for Katie and her family -- If I worked there....well, I just couldn't work there...I'd be my own best customer.

One of the corridors inside Navy Pier

Fire works at Navy Pier