Photos from Chicago (Spring Break Edition)

This is a backdated post, this post should’ve been published on March 17th, 2025.

For the poor souls at UIUC that have nowhere to go during spring break, Chicago is the top tier destination. Whether its because your home is 11,500 km away, or because you wanted to “lock in,” staying in Champaign for all 9 days of break is quite depressing.

I honestly don’t think there is that much to do in Chicago. You could definetly be entertained for a week, but I feel like you can knock out all the top attractions in a day. And thats exactly what I tried to do.

With a few friends, we booked two Amtrack tickets. The first one leaves Champaign Terminal Station at 7:10 am, scheduled to arrive in Chicagp around 10:15 am (although we arrived almost an hour before this time). The second one leaves Chicago Union Station at 9:05 pm, and is scheduled to arrive in Champaign at 11>29 pm (our train back was late). Booking these two tickets on the same date allows you to get a lengthy day trip to the Windy City.

Fun Fact: Those two tickets we booked were the same train, called the “City of New Orleans,” because it goes directly from Chicago to New Orleans and back, for a 19.5 hour overnight trip. Usually the train uses the numbers 58 and 59. I’m led to believe 58 is the New Orleans to Chicago train, and 59 is the Chicago to New Orleans train. This train should actually depart earlier than 9pm from Union Station, but it seems like there was construction this month that is pushing the time back to 9pm, temporarily.

So what can you do in Chicago in day? Here’s what we did:

• Walked along the Riverwalk until we hit the malls of River North. This was mainly because it was also St. Patrick’s day, and the river gets dyed green in Chicago during that week.
• Took the Red Line down to Chinatown, where we had lunch at Ken Kee and got some snacks (like pastries).
• Took the Red Line back up to River North to explore some of the surrounding areas
• Walked down from River North, passing by Navy Pier, and then making it to the Bean
• From the Bean, we walked to the Harold Washington Library
• Then we walked south of State Street to get to Lou Malnati’s
• After we were finished with dinner, it was about 8pm, and we walked back to Union Station just in time for the 9pm departure

For the food, I think Ken Kee (强记) is a must try if you are in Chinatown. It’s not too expensive, but if you are getting a bigger bowl, it won’t be cheap either. I thought Lou Malnati’s Deep Dish Pizza was just alright, especially since a lot of people compare it to Giordano’s. Could be better.

I thought the Bean was underwhelming, but it’s still a must see because its a symbol of the city now. Chinatown is cool, but there isn’t much you can do except spend money. Same goes with the River North, unless you are walking down the Riverwalk.

We tried to walk whenever we could, and I ended up with around 27k steps by the end of the day.

It was super windy in Chicago that day. And yes, I know that Chicago is often called the “Windy City,” but I once read that the name came because of century-ago rival with Cincinnati, Ohio. Chicago, in general, is supposed to not be significantly windier than any other city in the U.S. Yet the day we went the winds were very harsh—making it annoying to walk around. My guess is that a lot of the winds from up in Canada blow right through Lake Michigan and hit Illinois hard, especially during Spring.

Overall, I think a day trip is super doable. I think we knocked out most of the big things. Obviously, if we had more time, I would also consider some of the museums and maybe the sky deck at Willis. But I honestly can’t think of any other must-do things for Chicago (maybe try some more food?).