We blew into Chicago. It certainly lived up to its name “The Windy City”. The flight had been quite turbulent, but it meant that our flight arrived a bit ahead of schedule. The journey from O’Hare to downtown took forever during rush hour, bit we eventually arrived at our hotel “Congress Plaza” which was on Michigan Avenue.
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| Congress Plaza Hotel |
It had been THE hotel in Chicago in its heyday at the beginning of the last century. It was where the US Presidents and foreign dignitaries stayed when they visited Chicago.
Our room on the 9th floor had a side view which looked towards Sears Tower to the south and Lake Michigan to the north.
Our first priority in Chicago was shopping.
Our son Chris is a great Chicago Blackhawks fan and had asked us to get him a jersey from the Blackhawks store, so we took the bus along Michigan Avenue and made the purchase.
We wandered around downtown Chicago admiring the architecture.
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| Wrigley Building |
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| would you park your car here? |
It is a beautiful city. It had been virtually destroyed by fire many years ago and at that time they made a city plan which has been used ever since.
There are many different types of skyscrapers but they all seem to complement one another.
The Chicago Tribune building was rebuilt and they decided to incorporate stones from various iconic buildings throughout the world.
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| Tribune building |
We spotted stones from various places that we had visited including Ta Prohm and Banteay Srei in Cambodia and The Opera House in Sydney.
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| The cloud in Millennium Park |
The city has quite a lot of green areas with different types of sculptures,
water features
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| BP bridge |
and bridges.
Chicago is known for its music.
We spent an evening at Buddy Guy’s Legends, a Blues club.
They had three different acts on the night we were there.
The bands were fantastic.
On Sunday we went to the House of Blues for the Gospel Brunch.
It was great, the gospel singing was beautiful, very passionate and powerful voices.
We took a trip up to the Skydeck at Sears Tower, which is now known as Willis Tower.
The viewing deck is on the 103rd floor with 360 degree views over the city. There is a part of the viewing deck which protrudes out over the side of the building. The whole section is glass including the floor.
It was a bit unsettling to be standing on a glass floor and see the street 103 floors below you.
The viewing deck is on the 103rd floor with 360 degree views over the city. There is a part of the viewing deck which protrudes out over the side of the building. The whole section is glass including the floor.
It was a bit unsettling to be standing on a glass floor and see the street 103 floors below you.
The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry is just east of the city, so we took the bus there and spent a day viewing the exhibits.
The museum is huge with lots of scientific hands on displays pertaining to weather,
genetics, toy making,
farming and
transportation. The world’s first electric car was produced between 1915 and 1923 and had a top speed of 23 mph with a range of 50 miles between charges.
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| Museum of Science & Industry |
The museum is huge with lots of scientific hands on displays pertaining to weather,
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| Tornado |
genetics, toy making,
farming and
transportation. The world’s first electric car was produced between 1915 and 1923 and had a top speed of 23 mph with a range of 50 miles between charges.
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| 1923 Electric car |
During World War 2 the US captured a German U-boat which is on display at the museum.
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| German U-boat |
Chicago has been a great final destination, but our time is up and we have to head home.
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| Chicago street with train above |
We’ll let you know how that feels when we get there so stay tuned for the final chapter.
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