Day 2 - 16th Feb 2009

Early start today. Still feeling the effects of the jet lag we were wide awake and out of the hotel just after 7. Stopped in at Dunkin' Donuts for a bagel breakfast then onto our first destination: Lincoln Park Zoo. After a relatively short tube and bus journey we arrived at the zoo at about quarter to 9 a little early we thought for the 9 O' clock opening, but we figured we could have a wander round for 15 minutes. However on getting to the Zoo entrance we found that it didn't actually open till 10 in the winter! Well 15 minutes wait was one thing but an hour 15 wait was a definite bad idea in the still rather cold weather. So feeling pleased we had bought 3 day bus and train pass tickets we jumped on a bus back towards the city centre and got off near the Hanncock centre, which is a big skyscraper. We thought about going to the obsrevation deck, but it seemed a bit expensive and we had already planned to go up the Sear's tower later in the day. So in the end we spent the time window shopping round the water tower shopping centre before heading back to the Zoo for 10.

Lincoln park zoo is unique comapred to any zoos which I have been too before in that it is free to get into. This gives a bit of a strange feeling to begin with as you get off the bus walk a few hundred yards and just wander in to where the animals are. No queing for tickets; sourvenior shops or the usual. It is quite a nice zoo with a varied selection of animals and exhibits. Unfortunatley the star attraction we had come to see: the polar bear (plus a few others) refused to come out of his home; so we couldn't see him. And I thought polar bears liked the cold weather! But all in all we had a good time looking round at the different animals. We also enjoyed the conservatory that is just next door to the zoo, which is a large greenhouse kept at tropical tempatures with a large collection of plants in it: a most welcome escape from the cold!

We jumped on another bus back to the city and had lunch in a mexican fast food place. We then headed to the Chicago Arts Institute which was running a free February promotion. After that we went for a ride on the 'El' an elevated railway which runs in a loop around downtown. We rode the entire circuit then got off near the Sear's tower and went up to their observation deck. The tower was at one time the tallest building in the world and when it was built housed just one company. The views from the top were amazing. We headed back to the hotel for a quick rest before going out for dinner at Miller's pub. Managed to stay awake a bit later tonight, though early start tomorrow for our flight to Vegas.