5) Chicago

Thursday early morning (21.4.) we flew to Chicago, and the blue line brought us from the airport to the city center. We quickly dropped our luggage at the Chicago Downtown Hotel (we were lucky getting a rather cheap room in this 4* hotel), and we went for lunch to The West Egg Café. Right away we fell in love with Chicago’s food culture, and in particular with the great diner options. Although the weather was misty, we went for a first sightseeing trip. Chicago is huge and has many great spots to visit. From West Egg Café we walked north along the promenade of North Lake Shore Drive and came past the Oak Street Beach and the North Avenue Beach – it wasn’t exactly beach weather though^^ Given the weather, we visited Lincoln Park Zoo, which offers free entrance and harbors many exotic animals. We had a lot of fun in the zoo and stayed there for 2 hours :D From the zoo, we walked back south via the Astor Road, which harbors many small mansions with various styles. We went south along the Michigan Av back to our hotel for a short nap. As I couldn’t await seeing the Cloud Gate (alias The Bean), we went to see it during sun set. On the way to Millennium Park, we saw the Chicago Theater. The Cloud Gate had many visitors, but I found it amazing nonetheless. After a number of fun photos and the sun set, we walked through Millennium Park and took a loop via Jackson Drive and Michigan Avenue, heading for dinner at Giordano’s, where we enjoyed one of Chicago’s famous deep dish pizzas. On the short way back to our hotel, the night sky was illuminated by an almost full moon.

Breakfast at West Egg Café

"rough pavement" along the promenade of North Lade Shore Drive

Charming Lincoln Park Zoo visit

Hippo at Lincoln Park Zoo 

Chicago skyline (black Hancock Tower left) seen from Lincoln Park

again :)

West view from Bataan-Corregidor Memorial Bridge 

Chicago Theater

Having fun at the Cloud Gate...

An amazingly huge mirror :)

Cloud Gate after sunset

Harris Theater at Millennium Park

Chicago's night skyline seen from Van Buren Street Station 

River Esplanade by night

Almost full moon - quite a nice sight

Friday morning (22.4.) we took the train south to 47^th Street, where we started the day at The Original Pancake House. The diner was very scenic with mostly African-American customers, finest attitude and most delicious breakfast offers. Well strengthened through the breakfast, we walked to Chicago University campus and came past Barack Obama’s birthplace on the way. Chicago University was nice, but not as impressive as I hoped (not as nice as Harvard :P). Although it was rather cold and windy, we walked to Jackson Park, which unfortunately was under construction. Thus we walked along Midway Plaisance and past Washington Park to take the green line back to the city center. After a short nap in our hotel, we went Michigan Avenue north again to visit 360 Chicago – the observation deck on Chicago’s 2^nd highest building, the Hancock Tower. The view was great and – as usual – we watched sun set and got to see Chicago during daylight, sun set and dark. The latter was the best though, thanks to the impressive city lights^^ For dinner we went to a Potbelly Sandwich Shop, and then we visited Howl at the Moon Chicago to enjoy a drink and some music before heading to bed.

Chicago city center seen from the Hancock Tower

Oak Street Beach and North Shore Lake Drive

Full moon over Chicago's Navy Pier

City center at night

:D

The sun greeted us the next morning (23.4.) and we had breakfast at Waffle Café, which was good but not as outstanding as the two previous diners. Given the great weather, we visited the Navy Pier and enjoyed the sun while drinking some coffee. Next, we headed to Chicago’s Chinatown. Unfortunately, Chinatown was a disappointment. So we walked to the Shedd Aquarium and saw the massive Soldier Field, Chicago’s football stadium. From Shedd Aquarium we had a great view of the city center’s sky scrapers. We took a detour via Dearborn Station on our way to the Cloud Gate. Following another photo-session at the Cloud Gate, we took another 1h afternoon nap in the hotel. The nap fueled us with energy for an additional walking tour. We walked along the Wacker Drive around the city center to see the Willis Tower, Chicago’s highest building – and I didn’t manage to capture it properly on picture from close distance. From the Willis Tower we walked zigzag through the city center. The Chicago Board of Trade is quite a sight, as it is the only building which does not align with the checkboard-street-system, but is built to be seen from distance through La Salle Street. Further we came by the James R. Thompson Center and the Oriental Theater. We finished our day of exhaustingly long walking tours with dinner at the Flat Top Grill.

Waffle breakfast at Waffle Café

West view from North Shore Lake Driv

We in front of Chicago's skyline at the Navy Pier

At the Navy Pier

Franzi in front of Chicago's skyline at the Shedd Aquarium

in front of the Field Museum

Grant State Park

The Cloud Gate

Tower of Club Quarter's Hotel in front of Trump Tower 

Trump Tower and Tribune Tower lit by late afternoon sun

Franzi at State Street Bridge

Oriental Theater

Chicago Theater

Sunday (24.4.) was our last day in Chicago, and we started it with breakfast at West Egg Café. We went shopping on Michigan Avenue, in particular in the Disney Store, and we dipped our feet into ice cold Lake Michigan at Oak Street Beach. The weather was great and we didn’t want to leave the city and even more so we didn’t want to leave each other. Yet, we had to catch our planes, Franzi flew back to Germany while I returned to Boston.

Dipping our feet in ice cold Lake Michigan

4) Portland, Acadia National Park, and Boston Marathon

Together with Christian and Romy, we visited Portland (ME) on our way to the Acadia National Park (15.4.). First, we visited the famous light house near Portland. I really like the Atlantic cliffs, the sea breeze and the waves that splash towards a lonely light house – it’s really scenic.

We walked around the harbor near downtown and spotted the Polar Express near the Railroad Museum! Right away, I remembered the cartoon movie I saw many years ago :D As the sun set, we looked for a dinner place and tried xxx. Ribs and pulled pork – quite a fine way to end a day. We stayed outside of town at the Hampton Inn Portland Airport.

Portland's light house

Porlar Express near Portland's harbor^^

Love locks at Portland's harbor :)

The next morning (16.4.), we continued to the Acadia National Park where we were to meet Timo, Elena, Karo and Carl. Our first stop was the Visitor Center, which provided us with helpful information on the best hiking trails in the park. We were lucky, the park had just officially opened early April and now was a park week offering free entrance^^. The others arrived a little later and took a break at the hotel, and we hiked the first trail – the Cadillac North Ridge Trail, which leads to the highest peak (466m) in the park on Cadillac Mountain. We really loved the views of Acadia National Park: Small mountains right at the sea. The weather was perfect for hiking – sunny and somewhat warm. We met the other at the parking lot of Beehive and Ocean Path trails. Unfortunately, they had already hiked the Beehive – a trail we didn’t want to miss. Thus, we went for separate hiking again. The Beehive, however, was indeed the most spectacular trail in Acadia National Park. The trail involved some easy climbing and offered amazing views down the cliffs while hiking and climbing at the edges of a small mountain. The way down was smooth and the sun was setting. We used the Ocean Path trail to get back to our car. After a break at our hotel (Acadia Inn), we had dinner at the Side Street Café in Bar Harbor. After an IPA and some Lobster Mac&Cheese we finished the day playing Ligretto in the hotel.

Acadia National Park view from Cadillac Mountain

Climbing the Bee Hive

Adrenaline while climbing the Bee Hive...

and spectacular views :)

Bee Hive summit: I, Franzi, Romy, Christian

Bee Hive's back side

From the Bee Hive to the Ocean Path Trail

The next day (17.4.), we went for one long trail. We parked our cars at the Bubble Trail parking lot, and Bubble Rock was our first stop. The rock looks amazing, as if it would drop any moment. We had quite some fun taking pictures there :D From Bubble Rock, we hiked down to Jordan Pond. While the others went straight for Penobscot Mountain (4^th highest peak in the park, 360m), Franzi and I took a detour via Sargent Mountain (2^nd highest peak, 419m). The longer tour was truly worth it. Climbing Sargent Mountain from Jordan Pond offered superb views and the hike was much fun. We picnicked on top of Sargent Mountain and then continued to Penobscot Mountain, which was a rather easy walk. Penobscot Mountain offered some great views south to the sea. The way down to Jordan Pond from Penobscot Mountain was not great and included some climbing. At Jordan Pond Christian and Romy were waiting for us. Together we drove to Bar Harbor and all of us walked to Bar Island thanks to low tide. We then left beautiful Acadia National Park and drove back to Boston. When we entered Massachusetts, we stopped for dinner, before Christian returned our rental car in Boston.

Fun at the Bubble Rock... 

...and group picture :)

Jordan Pond

Hiking up to Sargent Mountain form Jordan Pond

Sargent Mountain's summit

Sargent Mountain summit

Jordan Pond from Penobscot Mountain

back at Jordan Pond

The Boston Marathon took place Monday (18.4.) and was quite an event in the city. Streets were blocked and plenty peopled flocked near the marathon path. The streets were extremely packed and our only chance to get a glimpse of the Marathon was entering Prudential Center from Huntington Av and exiting towards Bolyston St, and the German flag just happened to wave in front of that exit :D

Boston Marathon at Boylston Street

The next days we enjoyed weather in Boston, as spring had finally arrived together accompanied by some warmer temperatures.

Boston city center seen from the Esplanade

Our love lock at the Esplanade

Cycling along the Esplanade during spring weather