Recent x-ray spectroscopic studies have revealed spin excitations and charge density waves in thin films of infinite-layer (IL) nickelates. However, clarifying whether the origin of these phenomena is intrinsic to the material class or attributable to impurity phases in the films has presented a major challenge. Here we utilize topotactic methods to synthesize bulk crystals of the IL nickelate LaNiO2 with crystallographically oriented surfaces. We examine these crystals using resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) at the Ni L3-edge to elucidate the spin and charge correlations in the bulk of the material. While we detect the presence of prominent spin excitations in the crystals, fingerprints of charge order are absent at the ordering vectors identified in previous thin-film studies. These results contribute to the understanding of the bulk properties of LaNiO2 and establish topotactically synthesized crystals as viable complementary specimens for spectroscopic investigations. Published by the American Physical Society 2024