Chicago Trip Day 2 Museum Visit

I will have two posts for day two. This first one is from our trip to the Museum of Science and Industry. The second will be pics from the wedding of Jim (Rob's cousin) and Lisa.
Our main draw to the Museum of Science and Industry was to see the Harry Potter Exhibition. Within 5 minutes of purchasing our plane tickets to Chicago I was purchasing our tickets to the Harry Potter Exhibit. This was a big deal for these Potter fans. We woke early to catch the shuttle to the train to the bus..for our 9:45 entry to the HP Exhibit. No pictures were allowed in the HP Exhibit, but before I knew that and before the actual entry to the exhibit area I got a great pic. The pic is not so great ; ) but what is in it was a big highlight. The woman who welcomed us asked for a couple of volunteers, Jack - always ready to volunteer for anything was the second child picked and was sorted by the sorting hat. He was sorted, proudly I might add, to the Gryffindor House. He is so very brave and I have said that before dozens of times on my blog, I am glad that even though it was just for fun, that he was put in Gryffindor, the bravest of all houses. My brave boy Jack.

We wished that the exhibit was a bit longer, but what we saw was very fun and exciting to see the props and costumes from the movie. I was amazed at how little Harry, Hermione and Ron were in the first couple of films. Here is a pic of the group after the exhibit.


The museum was amazing. We were there most of the day and still didn't get to see much of it. Here are some fun pics of Derek along the way.


Some Chicago memorabilia. Blues Brothers, Wind and Hanging Laundry.

One of the most spectacular exhibits was the U505 Submarine. The actual U505 Submarine was within the museum. We paid the on tour guide fee and went inside for the tour. It was so fun to see the inside, and the tour guide really made the tour fun and entertaining. I wish I would have taken a couple of pics but we were crammed inside and the lighting was pretty dim most of the time, like it would have been if the sub was under water. Here are some pictures of the sub exhibit area.





Jack was having his afternoon low ; ) All of our feet were killing us by this point. We packed our comfy tennis shoes, but we had been walking and standing for what seemed two days straight at this point. We all felt what Jack looked like, but we kept on and still enjoyed several more hours at the museum.

Playing some sort of submarine game here.

Another very cool exhibit was the Coal Mine Exhibit. We waited in line for this about 20-30 minutes, but this was free as part of our admission, no extra $ needed which was great. Our Coal Miner was John and he took us in an old klanky elevator down below the museum to the coal mine. He told us about how coal mining was done back in the 1800's up to current day. He was also in character which was fun. We rode on a coal train and saw a lot of the machinery in action. At the end of the tour we entered this station looking room and he asked who was the luckiest person in the room...ofcourse Jack again raised his hand first and so that meant he got the extra chair.

There was a chicken hatching exhibit. One side of the exhibit is filled with eggs that are hatching or about to. It kind of looks like the baby chicks are dead, but they aren't. They poke there little beaks through the shell and rest, which is the theme. Once they get the shell cracked open they are worn out so they sleep or rest, then get up and move around a bit before resting again.

The other side of this exhibit is where the hatchlings are moved to and they get to hang out while we oogle over how cute they are.


This is a weather exhibit. Sophie was under a cloud mist.

Here she is in a Space Suit.

Jack is driving a rover on Mars.

And ofcourse I had to get a pic of Ron's car from HP.

We loved Chicago so much and this museum exceeded our hopes for how wonderful a museum could be. We would definately return with or with the HP exhibit.

Coming up next...Jim and Lisa's wedding.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wow! Chicago is not on our list of places to go in the immediate future, but your report makes me want to take the family!
Thanks for sharing.

Sharon Winkler

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