Taste the Museum of Ice Cream in the old Tribune Tower
By Eileen Ogintz
Ice cream for breakfast? Ice cream hot dog? What kind of exotic toppings can you dream up?
“Have as much as you want, I’m not your mom,” says our guide at the Chicago Museum of Ice Cream, located in my old stomping ground, Tribune Tower.
On a rainy Thursday morning, there is a line out the door for the quirky attraction with 14+ interactive art installations and plenty of ice cream choices including hot dog flavor ice cream on a bun complete with mustard and relish.
“It was my favorite,” said Graham Avsel,11, here with his grandparents and younger brother. “It was super gross and super fun to try,” he said.
We are staying a short walk away at the Royal Sonesta Hotel along the Chicago River.) Use the code SAVEMORE and save up to 30 per cent when you book two or more nights at over 250 participating properties. Sonesta is among the 10thlargest US hotel companies with 13 brands. Royal Sonesta promises an upscale stay without the formalities of many luxe hotels. (After an international flight, we were glad to simply grab a burger and drink at the hotel’s Hoyt’s Chicago when we arrived, catching the end of a Chicago Cubs game on the big screen TV.
We are walking distance to Millennium Park (can’t visit without seeing the iconic Cloud Gate sculpture). We can also walk north on Michigan Avenue (better known as the Magnificent Mile) and the Water Tower vertical shopping mall, Navy Pier. To the southeast is the famous Chicago Loop, with the Willis Tower and much more. There are roomy suites ideal for a family as well as conventional hotel rooms at the Royal Sonesta
If you are planning to take in some of Chicago’s major museums and attractions, check out CityPASS, which gets you deeply discounted admission and the chance to skip the lines at some places.
At the Museum of Ice Cream, There was a pool of giant plastic sprinkles to jump in, a magnet board where you can say what you are grateful for, carnival games, ice cream themed mini-golf, a place to smell different flavors and a lift up board telling you where ice cream flavors came from—even one featuring bugs.
“Our family would go anywhere for ice cream,” said Alaina Bane, here for the day with her family from Kenosha WI. “We love ice cream!” You could create your own mini ice cream truck out of folded paper or play some ice cream word games (Battle Cones anyone?)
Chicago, of course, is famous for its world class museums including the Art Institute, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Science and Industry.
But there are many quirky museums as well including The International Museum of Surgical Science, north America’s’ only museum devoted to surgery and the history of medicine, the National Museum of Mexican Art, one of the largest Mexican art collections in the country; the American Writers Museum which explores the influence of American writers in our history, identity and culture( check out the mural depicting 42 squirrel reading books that represent significant milestones in American children’s literature!) , the Museum of Contemporary Photography carrying the work of local photographers, the Bronzeville African American Children’s Museum (Bronzeville is named after Bronzeville where African Americans settled in Chicago after coming from the South and it’s the first African-American children’s museum in the country) and the Chicago History Museum where families can explore Chicago History with plenty of kid-friendly interactive activities. (Check out the list of Chicago free museum days)
“Sometimes we do educational things and sometimes just fun things like eating too much ice cream,” said one grandmother with her two grandkids at the Museum of Ice Cream. “I love these special days.”