It's our last day in Chicago. How time flies when you're having fun. Arlington International Hostel, our cheapie snooze den is located at Lincoln Park; a very chic and hip area north of Chicago City. Just like Hoboken, New Jersey. The night scene is brought to life by students from DePaul University and the demographics of the area. Students = lots of bars, eateries, shops, etc. Definitely an area for those who love to people watch and have a good time.
Anyway, the first order of the day was the Lincoln Park Zoo & Conservatory. Followed by a short rest and dinner at Giordano's! I wasn't leaving Chicago until I had eaten their famous deep dished pizza. Though I prefer thin-crust pizza, deep dish is a must-have while visiting Chi-town. Blues music is also a biggie but I'm not a blue-y. I know die-hard fans will faint with disbelief. So pardon me, please.Lincoln Park Zoo
One of the few free zoos left in the U.S. of A.
This camel's pee was so powerful, you could sniff him out from the entrance!
He/She was pacing up and down the whole time.There was definitely something in the air that morning. All the animals were sleeping!
Sea lion zzzzzzz...
Even a nice juicy red meat could not rouse this tiger from his slumber.
Two lioness left a souvenir on top of the rock and retreated to the grassy spot below for their beauty sleep.
Sand cat had her eyes shut. Gawd! I must find myself some interesting animals to write about.In an attempt to keep my visit less ho-hum, I headed toward the reptile house. Confession: I am terrified of all slithery reptiles but I had to perk myself up.
Snakes don't sleep do they?
Boa was in its usual still position. Sedentary but deadly.
An albino/fair looking rattlesnake. Definitely deadly *shudder*. Its steely gaze? Scary. Good thing it's behind the glass casing.Things started to turn interesting at Lincoln Park Zoo after a while. Some critters started to indulge in some "recreational" activities.
A pair of tortoise getting it on right before our eyes.What were the doing? I'll leave it to you. I prefer to think otherwise for some wicked humor. Hee..hee!
Then, there's this hyper-penguin flapping madly in the water. Maybe the zoo keeper gave him some sake sashimi for lunch. Happy Feet gone wild.
Spot the gorilla. He came out to play just after lunch. But, quickly went into his indoor enclosure to escape the hot sun. Did I hear lunch being mentioned a couple of times already?
Time to eat. We found ourselves a shady spot and ate a simple lunch. I gotta make room for my deep dish tonight, right?! This was Adrian's meal. I had a vegetarian Bruschetta sandwich. Nothing fancy.Lincoln Park Conservatory
For those who are disinterested in gardening or don't care much for plants both exotic & non, perennials, ferns, etc. you'll have to scroll much to get to my farewell dinner in Chi-town.Slipper orchids: An exotic plant that inspires a world of fanatical devotion. People have died, killed and gone to prison in the name of the slipper orchid.
More orchids...I wished my Grandpa was here to enjoy his favorite plant :(
Let's take a breather and look at other parts of the greenhouse.
A nice fountain and benches for visitors to rest their weary legs.
Angel's trumpet.
A bromeliad plant.
The familiar daffodils.
And the ever lovely peonies and pansies, ahhh...Dinner time at Giordano's, Lake Street Branch
Giordano's World Famous Stuffed Pizza - another long wait before we could get a table. DejaVu *sigh*. Had to fight with those Cardinals fans from St. Louis and some Cubs fans. I think they had a game that night or something???
Our order - special (that's the name) deep dish pizza. Size: S.
Another angle of the pizza placed on top a square wooden stand ;)
My portion of the pizza...dig in! Everything tastes good when you're hungry. A little bit too much for me to handle, though. In spite of the Size: S, we still went home with left-overs in the doggie bag. Burp! I thought we could have done better if we had skipped the hot wings. No more deep dish pizza for me.That's it for Chicago!
