10%

Chicago Culture

The Windy City and its perks.

By Paige Annelayne

April 14^th, 2015

Write your story here. (Optional)

DRINKS OF CHICAGO.

When you’re in a new place drinking up every single detail of every single happening in your vicinity, your thirst for adventure is usually subdued; possibly even quenched! But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go out on a limb and get a drink you normally wouldn’t think about ordering. It’s nice to order a nice fruity drinks to complement your lunch.

Along with the occasional refreshing drink, coffee is a vital way to stay on top of your game when traveling. I‘ve noticed coffee seems to be a huge part of life where temperatures in the single digits are common. It’s the perfect way to warm your bones on a particularly chilly afternoon and it also allows you time to either socialize or study. I felt like there was a coffee shop of some sort on each city block I strolled passed

An apricot ginger soda from Terzo Piano was a break from all the amazing artwork.

Basil acai smash: A tangy and delightful soda from Summer House Santa Monica.

Coffee is vital to getting your day going when you're out and about, even room service coffee will help.

The Bourgeois Pig's Pooh Bear, a honey nut latte, was a nice afternoon pick-me-up.

Blood orange tea: a warm welcome after a hearty dinner at Russian Tea Time.

The prettiest accessories for a nice cuppa at Russian Tea Time.

Bites of chicago.

Walking around a new place works up a mean appetite — all of the adventuring has to be fueled somehow. Here are some of the places I dined during my travels in Chicago. From appetizers to desserts, the culinary side of the Windy City does not disappoint. Some people like to order the same food off of different menus as often as they can, but I think that is a waste of our glorious taste buds. Let those taste buds experience new and amazing flavors!

The Baby Beet Salad at Summer House Santa Monica is filled with avocado, grapefruit and gorgonzola.

There's nothing like a burrata ball from Terzo Piano to get you through a day spent at a museum.

This carrot cake from Summer House Santa Monica was topped with fresh cinnamon whipped mascarpone. It was heavenly.

This triple-decker BLTA style sandwich that has inherited the title, The Hobbit, is from the Bourgeois Pig.

A picture-perfect cupcake from the Bourgeois Pig.

Toast's warm and fluffy mascarpone pancakes topped with roasted pine nuts, honey butter, fruits and rosemary flowers.

Nigiri Sushi decoratively encircled at Summer House Santa Monica.

Toast's famous stuffed French Toast with dark chocolate, mascarpone and strawberry puree fillings.

Pistachio Gelato is always the way to finish off a meal from Russian Tea Time.

the art INSTITUTE of chicago.

It was jaw-dropping to see such a vast collection of art accumulated in one place. The Art Institute, an art museum that resides in Chicago’s Grant Park, has been taking people’s breath away for 136 years. The multitude of paintings, sculptures and so many other mediums of art was borderline overwhelming. I could spend an entire week strolling through the halls of that museum. The highlight of my six hours spent within the walls of the museum was hands-down the room filled with Monet paintings — An entire room dedicated to the most artistically evolved painter in the history of the world (in my humble opinion). I could spend hours upon hours in that room alone.

A quirky fun fact about one of Chicago’s numerous museums: In the basement there are two rooms that are extraordinarily unique. The first is the paperweight collection, courtesy of Arthur Robluff, a man with a passion for detailed and elegant paperweights. Out of Robluff’s massive collection of 1,472 paperweights, 1,200 were donated to the Art Institute and more than 800 are on display.

The second room hosts a multitude of rooms. Confused? The Throne Miniature Room is situated in the basement, just next door to the paper weight collection, and is home to 68 miniature rooms on display. Every single detail in these rooms is analyzed by the museum guests, and in truth, I didn’t notice one thing amiss in any room I saw. It was like looking into a doll’s house, if that doll lived in a miniature replica of a “California Living Room in the late 1940s“ or a “French Bathroom and Boudoir of the Revolutionary Period“. All in all, the Art Institute was a thrilling and informative experience filled with tiny wonders.

The Art Institute is nestled in the hub of downtown Chicago.

The dedication it must've took to grow that beard...

The Blind Flower Girl was one of the many perfectly sculpted statues in the museum.

The paperweight collection in the lowest floor of the museum was so intricate and very visually pleasing.

This mountain range reminds me of where my family and I have traveled to every summer for my entire life.

Claude Monet is known for painting series. Here we see the Vétheuil at two different times of day.

Here's a picture of me getting lost in Monet's Water Lilies. As I like to say, it's all about the Monet.

The field museum.

On my final day in Chicago — and after a failed attempt at the Willis Tower (it was 0 percent visibility) — we headed over to the Field Museum, one of the largest history museums in the world. Walking up to such a massive building made everything around me seem slightly more important for some reason. It was pretty early in the morning and it seemed that no one thought of wandering to a museum at that time. The eerie quiet was the perfect complement to my anticipation. Inside the museum were rooms upon rooms of different exhibits.

First on the list was the Vikings exhibit. The exhibit told the achievements of the Vikings through artifacts, stories and interactive displays. It was informative and interesting at the same time, which is sometimes hard to achieve. We also visited the Native American exhibit. We got lost amongst the collections because it was so huge. I swear, it felt like it took up half the museum.

Most of our time, though, was spent staring at the magnificence of the Jewel and Jade Rooms upstairs. Every item behind the display cases shone with brilliance and sparkled with beauty. I’ve never been one to gape at jewelry before, but the pieces on display in each room were definitely worthy of every open jaw and wide eye. Some of the items were designed specifically for the museum’s display, which I thought was pretty nifty. We didn’t get as much time to explore the different collections within the Field Museum, so the next time I return, I will definitely have to visit again.

The tent outside is meant for an easier trip into the museum when the weather outside isn't the best.

A glorious set of a necklace, earrings and a ring located in the Jewel Room.

This lovely lady stood tall and proud in the Jade Room.

Details are everything, especially when it comes to putting intricate jewelry on display.

A city view from the gates of the Field Museum, complete with a stegosaurus structure.

Once you walk under this bridge, you can chose to head to the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium or the Adler Planetarium.

A display case of sparkling jewelry in the Jewel Room.

Museum attire = leggings, comfy sweater and my camera.

the bean.

AKA the Cloud Gate. AKA the Electric Kidney Bean. AKA the coolest architectural display/artistic structure I have ever seen. We were only here for about 10 minutes but I could’ve covered the circumference of this monument at a very slow pace. Its distorted shape makes it entertaining to watch all the onlookers mill around in the reflection. Also, its mirror-like quality is perfectly placed; you can see the towering building of the city in the round curves of the bean.

The city line is reflected in the shiny surface of the bean. I wonder if they polish it.

Reflections on reflections on reflections. The multitude of views are all distorted by the shape of the bean.

Just your typical 'bean and me' picture.

My cousin and tour guide, Skylar DeTure, for my time in Chicago.

Three generations of awesome adventurers.

Sue.

During this trip, I was most excited to visit Sue. I watched a documentary with my dad a while ago that covered the story behind Sue — the most complete, best preserved and largest T-Rex fossil to be discovered thus far. I became enamored with getting to see her in person, as weird as that may be. I just thought she was the chillest dinosaur to ever roam the Earth. She’s been at home in the Field Museum for nearly 15 years, but she was discovered in 1990. That’s a long time to wait for a home. Everyone wanted to have Sue (I don’t blame them), but the Field Museum won the battle for this majestic fossil with a $8.36 million bid, the largest sum of money ever paid for a dinosaur fossil.

Yup, that’s how cool she is.

And her fossil isn’t the only cool thing about her. Studies have shown that she lived to be 28 years old, the oldest known lifespan of a T-Rex. And during those 28 years she broke bones, tore tendons and was afflicted with infections and arthritis. Yet, all of these infirmities were not the cause of her death, which is still unknown to scientists.

Most people think it’s odd how great my fascination is with a simple fossil, but I don’t see her as a fossil. I see her as a story. Just from some trivial bones we have learned so much about a life that existed millions of years ago. Even the discovery of Sue has a story behind it! (I highly recommend the film Dinosaur 13 for any other Sue fanatics.) If the fact that science allows us to see millions of years into the past isn’t the most interesting thing ever, I don’t know what is.

From top to bottom, Sue stands at a whopping 13 feet.

Sue measures 42 feet from the tip of her snout to the tip of her tail.

Uma trying to be funny. (Hate to break it to her, but Sue is a fossil -- she doesn't eat humans.)

Fun fact: the head on the full display of Sue isn't her real head. It was too heavy to be held up! (600 pounds!)

Button Label

Story Told With

Start publishing stories like this