Chicago has been very allergy friendly. They have to be. With how populated the city is, and the crazy number of tourists on a daily basis, it’s a must. 
This morning we woke up (after a restless night of sleep, had to put my R.A. skills to go use, again. Noisy Lollapalooza neighbor!) And decided to head over to Grand Luxe Cafe. 

The decor at Grand Luxe was fun to look at. Very opulent and whimsical. We were seated in the round room, floor to celing windows with a giant floral Chandler in the middle. Huge murals above. It was quite striking and made for great conversation with the kids. They were very helpful with handling food Allergies, and had sticky stix for the kids to play with, a clever alternative to plain old crayons and paper. 

Pancakes were deemed “safe” and we really enjoyed our brunch. 
Next, we decided to check out the Museum of Contemporary Art on Chicago St. The featured artist, Murakami, has an install called “An Octopus Easting it’s Own Arm.” It’s supposed to be a metaphor for life post-war in Japan + survival. The octopus knows when a tentacle is injured and will eat it’s own arm in order to grow another one. The same was shown in various art form in this exhibit about life and mortality. It wasn’t a dark exhibition, I would call it true to life. 



The use of the mushroom was symbolic of the cloud after major bombing. 
The piece that stood out most to my kids is also one of my favorites. 

It was a small TV mounted with a video on a loop. The video showed a woman building a few layers of drywall then trying to break them down with her arms, legs, heels, whatever it took. The artist was depicting life for women and the struggles they face, not always easy to get through to the next level or layer, but so gratifying once you do. I really enjoyed talking about this with both kids because they understood the concept.
We are way off the topic of Allergies…
After the museum we were next to the John Hancock building so we went to the 95th floor to the observation deck and got a 360 view of Chicago. It was amazing. 
Lunch was an easy find after it began to rain, we ducked back into the John Hancock to eat lunch at Cheesecake Factory. I usually avoid this restaurant due to their high nut usage in salads, and dessert, but was pleasantly surprised with their menu, specifically stating Allergies and double checking on things for us anyway. The kids enjoyed an oversized portion of spaghetti and meatballs and the hubs and I had white chicken chili. It was wonderful.
We decided to move our train ticket back to 3pm rather than 5. Kids were tired and getting punchy. Wise choice. It was a low key train ride home with both kids sleeping in their own beds!!!!!
Highly recommend the Ivy Boutique Hotel in Chicago. It’s in the Gold Coast and walking distance to all the goodies 🙂
Fun time in Milwaukee ahead! 


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