Chicago: day dos.

It's been two months since I've been in Chicago.

...I'm a procrastinator.

I spent the first day mostly relaxing, eating pizza, and exploring the area around my hostel (Wicker Park). The second day I was there, I did a lot more touristy sorts of things. It was a blast. It's been long enough so I've forgotten a lot of the details. But anyways, here are some of the biggest highlights of my second day in the Windy City!

I used my three-day metro pass to get downtown. Downtown Chicago is awesome.

The Picasso!

Chicago.

Chicago skyline.

After I'd walked around the area for a bit, I got some Starbucks hot chocolate (it was cold!) and headed over to Millennium Park. 

nothing better than starbucks on a cold day.

millennium park.

millennium park.

the bean! millennium park.

obligatory selfie in the bean.

After playing around by the bean for a while, I took the Nichol's Bridgeway to the Chicago Institute of Art.

The Nichols Bridgeway--spanning the distance from
Millennium Park to the Institute of Art

View off the Bridgeway

View off the Bridgeway.

Inside of the Institute of Art.

The Chicago Institute of Art is amazing. There are so many awesome pieces from American artists (i.e. American Gothic by Grant Wood) and there is also a ton of work by international artists (Joan Miro, Picasso, Van Gogh, etc.). I could have spent so much time in that museum, but I only had about 3 hours.

After the museum, I headed back towards Millennium Park and decided to go ice skating in the outdoors rink.

The ice skating rink with the bean in the background.

Ice skates!

After ice skating, I headed over to the Willis tower. I decided not to go on the skydeck, mostly because I didn't want to wait for an hour and a half and also because I didn't want to pay $20. But still.

Willis Tower.

After that, I headed back towards my hostel at Wicker Park, where I ate dinner and rested for a bit. 

Downtown Chicago night skyline from the roofdeck of my hostel.

Later that night, I got back on the train system and headed to Green Mill. It's a bar that's been around for over a hundred years. It was also Al Capone's old hangout, and is a famous jazz club. Alfonso Ponticelli and the Swing Gitan was playing--it's a gypsy-jazz band and they were absolutely incredible. I shared a table with a middle-aged lady from Edinburgh and had a charming conversation during the music breaks. 

Stage Set-up at Green Mill

It was honestly a great night. I ended up peacing out around 1, took the train home, and crawled into bed, absolutely exhausted.