Old Saint Marys Paulist Church

After yesterday's adventures on the bikes, we decided to continue said adventure and cycle to Lincoln Park. The ride was beautiful along the lake and through the gardens. Kate and I started playing games with our bicycle bells. If we saw a good looking man it was one ring. If we saw a very good looking man it was two. If we saw Tom Hiddleston it was five rings and we'd give chase. I'm sad to say neither of our bells rang very much but it made us both smirk all the same.

Once arriving in Lincoln Park we headed for the free zoo which is where we did indeed FIND PENGUINS! I'm sorry, I don't know why this blogging website is called that either but I appreciate it's randomness all the same. After a few hours wandering around the zoo and lying down trying to cool down on shady park benches, we cycled back to Navy Pier. Here we had a splash in the fountains with hundreds of young people in an attempt to cool down!

From there we took a water taxi across the bay to the aquarium to admire the skyline from the water. It was well worth the trip and cost considerably less than any of the boat tours.

As we'd had rather a physical day on both the bikes and with the heat, we opted to head back to the hostel for showers and a rest before heading out for the infamous Chicago Deep Dish Pizza that evening and of course seeing 'the bean' by night.

We had spent most of the day deciphering the best pizza restaurant in town. We consulted the hostel, the internet, my lonely planet guide - we even asked strangers. We eventually settled on Giordano's which was conveniently situated just opposite 'the bean'. Despite a long wait, our 'Chicago Classic' pizza was worth waiting for and we even had leftovers for tomorrow's lunch.

Big day tomorrow as we board the California Zephyr bound for San Francisco. Eeeeek! It's all whizzing by so fast. I hope you're keeping up.Read more