| The road from Toronto to Chicago runs through Michigan. There isn't much along the way. To quote my travelling companion, "It's one big boonie." We did, however, find one thing of note, Battle Creek Michigan. For those of you who grew up on any one of the Kellogg family of cereals you must have read the site of origin for your Frosted Flakes. In Battle Creek, there isn't much that would lead you to believe this was a town built on cereal, but there was this odd little museum at the end of town. Cereal City USA is the homage to breakfast. Horray! |  |
| On our first night, I insisted we find the deep dish pizza which made Chicago famous. Our hotel attendant sent us to Giordano's. The stuffed pizza was more like a stromboli, filled with cheese and toppings, baked and topped with sauce. The crust was very breadlike and I don't know if I would call this a pizza. Besides, how could you order a slice of this gooey mess? I had 2 slices of a 10 inch pie and was stuffed. It was very delicious though and well worth the trip. Sadly, Cindy's Italian Beef sandwich sits behind the pie, in envy of the pizza's fame. |  |
| Chicago is noted for its architecture. Here is a crowning example. This building is the Chicago public library. It was re-dedicated in 1991 and was just a stones throw away from our hotel. The subway (the red line) escalator is also pictured in the background. |  |
| This is the inside of the library. Marble, security guards, it reminded me of the Federal Justice Center where I served jury duty in Philadelphia, except in this case you wanted to have the book thrown at you. (bad joke, i know, i just finished driving a different leg of this trip, it's 11:30 pm and it rained for the last 2 hours of our drive, cut a brother some slack) |  |
| Continuing with the tradition of "Find the City's Highest Spot and Take Christopher There" we all struck out for the Sears Tower. It used to be the world's tallest building, but there is another that has topped it. It is now North America's tallest building, and wouldn't you know, we were going to the top! |  |
| Standing on line for tickets, the recorded message and different plaques tell you how high you are going up (103 floors), and all the useless conversions for how high that is (611 baseball bats?!). In my mind, it was just how far you had to fall. Cindy tried to interview me for video, but I had to use the men's room. In case you didn't know, or couldn't tell, I am not that fond of heights. |  |
| I cannot claim to have taken this picture, but it is facing east of Chicago onto Lake Michigan. Where the buildings stop and the green starts, is Millennium Park and Grant Park. I was looking at the wall displays while on the observation deck. Did you know that the Chicago fire was allegedly started when an Irish woman's cow kicked over a lantern? |  |
| Another shot from the observation deck. This time you are facing south east. Just on the lake front, about half way across the shot, you can see Soldier Field. In front of Soldier field is the art museum. You can also barely see my scared reflection, standing about 4 feet from the glass. |  |
| When I finally ventured to the railing of the observation desk, I reached out my hand to the railing first. Mind you the railing is a good 2-3 feet from the glass, but you never know these days. Cindy was kind enough to photograph my white knuckle grip of death on the railing as I try and take video of the view. |  |
| We were lucky enough to have a tour guide in Chicago as well, meet Alison. |  |
| Chicago is one of the levels in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4. For those familiar with the game, can you say grind fest? The game designers did an excellent job rendering the city, including the buildings and this area on the Chicago River. We are on board a water taxi resting our tired feet. |  |
| More architecture, this time it's the Tribune building. It's home to the offices of one of Chicago's largest daily newspapers. On the extreme left is the Wrigley building. Temples for big business. |  |
| Millennium Park was built to commemorate the turn of the century. Lots of polished steel all over the place. On the right you can see part of a concert shell that was constucted. The park itself had lots of exhibits, one of which was the Family Album of Earth. It featured pictures of families and their stories from around the globe. |  |
| Another attraction of Millennium Park was The Bean. This spot welded, polished mercury-like drop seemed very popular. I kept expecting something fromthe Terminator movies to come out of it and shake my hand. |  |
| The underside of the bean had an odd shape which made you feel as if the center was much higher than it actually was. You can see our reflection just left of center. |  |
| The bean's reflective surface also made for some interesting self portraits. It also allows you to capture other folks doing things that they think no one sees, like the lady in the upper left of this picture. I wonder what she's doing?? |  |
| From the park, there is a foot bridge to the Lake front. Here we are on the bridge. The grid canopy is a green area in front of the concert shell. They also had this attraction where 2 towers with huge faces on that morphed on a timer. Then at certain times, the face would purse its lips and shoot water at unsuspecting on lookers (or anxiously waiting kids). |  |
| Cindy and Alison on the foot bridge with Chicago and the concert hall in the background. |  |
| Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park as displayed by our gracious tour guide, Alison. Says Alison, "I love Chicago!" We do too. |  |
| After our guide left us, we met up with one of Cindy's high school buddies, Katie and her friend Dave. We had a nice supper of sangria and tappas in a bustling resturant. Katie took us to see her new apartment (condo) which she described as "small" (freakin' huge). |  |
| Next Stop: The Twin Cities, Minnesota :: << prev trip :: blog :: next trip >> | |