Chicago Adventures

Zach and I took a quick trip to Chicago for our birthdays and to see Lewis Capaldi in concert! I’ve never been to Chicago, and we had so much fun exploring the city and spending time with friends.

Selfie on the plane

O'Hare airport

We stayed at the Hampton Inn Chicago Downtown/Magnificent Mile (Note--there are three Hampton Inn Downtown hotels. So if you go, make sure you end up at the right one!

He considered reenacting Buddy the Elf with the elevator buttons.

Our room

We flew in on my actual birthday, so we *had* to get a birthday coffee at a Starbucks!

Two things I love to do if possible when visiting a new place are: river boat tour and a view from up high. We got to do both on this short trip! We did a Chicago River Boat Architectural Tour the day we arrived, and it was marvelous. You know it's going to be good when the tour guide says "Let's go back to the 1600s."

Beautiful weather for a river cruise tour!

The tallest building designed by a female architect

Navy Pier. Chicago was home to the very first Ferris Wheel. I also knew this because I read Devil in the White City (a nonfiction Erik Larsson book about the World Trade Fair and a serial killer)

Complimentary drinks because it was my birthday!

We visited our friends Katya and Carlos this trip, and Katya had great ideas to help plan the visit! I spent a long time picking the hotel, and almost as long deliberating about where to eat on my birthday LOL. But we decided to go to Bar Mar, a Chef Jose Andres' restaurant. The restaurant served seafood tapas, and the interior had giant windows to make it feel like a patio. The food and drinks were so good, as was the company!

Fancy drinks! My salt foam margarita and Katya's Floral Cloud.

Neptune's Pillow.

Octopus!

Our group. Look at that giant octopus chandelier!

Y'all, I really love food. This was a deconstructed key lime pie and a flan. We shared amongst the table.

On Saturday, we had the day to explore before going to the Lewis Capaldi concert. So we walked around the Magnificent Mile.

Tiffany!

Our hotel was very close to a new Harry Potter store. It was very cool inside.

We planned to go to Hancock Tower, but wanted to wait for clouds to burn off, so we took the bus down to Millennium Park.

Mandatory pic with The Bean.

This art installation is interesting from every angle.

We decided to get pizza at Giordano's for lunch! First time to have Chicago deep dish; and I’m so glad we listened to our waiter to try it. This pizza was excellent (look at his cheese pull!) and I fear I’m ruined on deep dish pizza forever. Will have to come back

LOOK AT THAT PULL

We had a timed entry reservation for the 360 Chicago floor in the John Hancock Center. Unfortunately it was cloudy all day. :-/ No refunds! So we went anyway.

You can't see the top of the building!

View from the 94th floor. This is the place that has "Tilt" where you can lean out further than the wall. We only paid for the observation deck--good thing. You really couldn't see anything worth doing the Tilt for! Even so, just the observation floor is really cool.

Cocktails in the clouds

The clouds did blow away a bit.

Later that evening, we went over to Katya and Carlos' house, and had a yummy charcuterie board before the concert.

Sparkling rose from Angers, France, where I studied abroad!

Headed to the concert!

The concert was so good--I have loved Lewis Capaldi for years, and the first/only time he's gone to DFW, it was right after the Eras Tour in 2023 and I couldn't swing a ticket, even to a small venue. Later that year, he struggled with  Tourette's syndrome and had to stop touring altogether. It's been three years, and after finding the right therapy and treatment, he's back touring. He was only visiting a handful of cities, so we decided to go to Chicago to see him. New city to us, we have friends who live there, and it was my birthday weekend. It was a wonderful way to celebrate both Zach's and my birthdays!

Katya was both Wilder and Felicity's kindergarten teacher before she moved to Chicago. We love you Miss Sido! :-)

Sunday was our last day, and we packed up to visit Zach's college friend Eric before heading to the airport.

We rode the L there!

I did not get a photo of Eric! We went to brunch, and then the airport, and I only took a pic of his and Jackie's sweet cat. 

We had a wonderful time, and thought the whole time that we'd love to bring the kids. Chicago is a great city with a lot to do and see, and I am sure we'll be back.

The Boatwrights Abroad: Itinerary

 

Here's a recap of our trip, for easy reference!

Introduction and planning the trip

March 8: Fly to London

March 9: London - Harston visit

March 10: London - double decker bus tour, Thames river cruise tour

March 11: London - Harry Potter Studios

March 12: London - Tower of London, Churchill War Rooms

March 13: London - British museum, chocolates and dinner with Harstons

March 14: London -> Paris - Seine river cruise

March 15: Paris - Visit the Powells in Versailles, dinner with Claire and family in Paris

March 16: Paris - Galeries Lafayette, visit Charlotte and Maxime

March 17: Paris - Arc de Triomphe, Louvre museum

March 18: Paris - Photo shoot, Musee d’Orsay, Musee l'armee

March 19: Paris - Marche President Wilson, Tuileries, dinner with the Gulledges

March 20: Paris - Notre Dame, Deportation Memorial, Montmartre

March 21: Paris -> DFW, final thoughts and sharing portrait gallery

The Boatwrights Abroad: Portraits and Final Thoughts

                            

First up, I would like to share our photos from our shoot with L'Amour de Paris!These were the very best souvenir, and we've already started putting them up in our home! The photo shoot was so fun to do together, and the photos turned out better than I'd even hoped. (More about our last day at the end!)

One final update from the trip! On our last day in Europe (March 21), Zach and I woke up at 5 am to learn our flight had been delayed by several hours. I think it was due to Heathrow in London (where we flew in), being shut down that day due to a fire. We went back to bed for an hour, then got up, packed and prepped to leave.

We took an uber ride to the airport and the flight was delayed another hour for maintenance. But we made it! Thankful those were the only hangups.

Excited about the return flight home!

                

We had such a good experience on this trip overall. Wilder and Felicity handled everything so well—no complaints about all the walking or sightseeing. We had really good conversations with them and enjoyed our time together. Of course there were rough moments, but on the whole, we had such a good time traveling together. I look forward to being able to go to other countries with them in the future.

Traveling with the kids at this age is SO different than when they were 6 months and 2.5 years old. It’s even different than our last big trip together to California, when they were 5 and 7. They’re able to entertain themselves when we have downtime, they sleep well, they enjoy our meals, and take in the sights—all while happily walking 5-6 miles a day, and hopping into public transportation. It’s really been a gift to get to do this with them at this age. I feel so grateful for this time with our family.