After a late night last night, we were a bit slow to get going this morning.

Earl and Sue met us mid-morning in the hotel and we lingered over a long brunch, which was very enjoyable.

Brunch.
Brunch.

It was about 1:45 pm by the time we left the hotel to walk around the beautiful city of Chicago. The sun was out but, nonetheless, it was pretty chilly! We walked down North Michigan Avenue, admiring the architecture of the city.

On North Michigan Avenue.
On North Michigan Avenue.

Our first stop was the beautiful neo-Gothic Tribune Tower (the former home of the Chicago Tribune newspaper). Interestingly, the spire of the Manchester Unity Building in Melbourne is modelled on the spire of the Tribune Tower.

Earl, Sue, Andrea, and Keith, in the lobby of the Tribune Tower.
Earl, Sue, Andrea, and Keith, in the lobby of the Tribune Tower.

Next, we walked across the DuSable Bridge (an historic drawbridge over the Chicago River) to Millennium Park. We viewed the Pritzker Pavillion and then stopped at Cloud Gate, a 100-tonne sculpture that has been nicknamed “The Bean” because of its shape. It is very popular for photos because of its highly reflective nature.

Our reflection in "The Bean".
Our reflection in "The Bean".
Looking across North Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park.
Looking across North Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park.

We left Millennium Park and crossed North Michigan Avenue to the Chicago Athletic Association. We admired the beautiful building and even stopped for a game of shuffleboard while we were there.

Inside the Chicago Athletic Club.
Inside the Chicago Athletic Club.
Playing shuffleboard (with Sue very focused on her next play!).
Playing shuffleboard (with Sue very focused on her next play!).

We headed back outside onto North Michigan Avenue and walked to our next destination, the Chicago Cultural Center.
This neoclassical building (opened in 1897) has only recently been renovated. Two beautiful glass domes sit atop the building.

The Tiffany dome in the Chicago Cultural Center.
The Tiffany dome in the Chicago Cultural Center.

From the Chicago Cultural Center we walked down E Washington Street to look at the Picasso sculpture in the Daley Plaza.

Untitled Picasso sculpture in the Daley Plaza.
Untitled Picasso sculpture in the Daley Plaza.
Sue and Andrea in the Daley Plaza.
Sue and Andrea in the Daley Plaza.

We left the Daley Plaza and backtracked up W Washington Street and turned down State Street to walk past the Chicago Theatre.

The Chicago Theatre.
The Chicago Theatre.

After a lot of walking around the city, we decided to head back to The Peninsula. On the way, we crossed the Bataan-Corregidor Memorial Bridge and passed the interesting-looking Marina City complex, which has a very unique spiral-shaped car park.

The spiral car park at Marina City.
The spiral car park at Marina City.
Looking down the Chicago River from the Bataan-Corregidor Memorial Bridge.
Looking down the Chicago River from the Bataan-Corregidor Memorial Bridge.

We got back to the hotel around 5:00 pm. Earl and Sue headed home and we went up to our room for a short rest before dinner.

Around 7:00 pm the hotel’s driver dropped us at the renowned Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse on Rush Street, where we were meeting Earl and Sue for dinner. Earl and Keith started with a martini, for which Gibsons has a well-deserved reputation. It was an incredibly smooth martini. We had a magnificent steak dinner (with sides of potato, mushrooms, and brussels sprouts), followed by cherry pie. The single serve of cherry pie was so big that one serve was enough for four of us!

Dinner (vegetables omitted!).
Dinner (vegetables omitted!).

We finished dinner and headed out into the (cold!) night air for a short walk to Sparrow, a speakeasy on W Elm Street. Amusingly, we all had to show ID to get in (although we wondered if they were trying to establish whether we were all too old to be in such a cool bar!). We sat and enjoyed cocktails before calling it a night at around 10:30 pm.

We said goodbye to Earl and Sue, our time with them over all too quickly. We headed back to the hotel to grab a few hours of sleep before our alarm goes off at 5:30 am tomorrow to get us up in time to get to the airport for our flight to New Orleans.