Chicago Part II

As long as it has taken me to get to Part II, it may take the rest of the month to write about our trip.





We woke up early on Labor Day. We headed out around 9 am in search for a McDonalds. Well, the streets were literally quite empty. Since it was a holiday, people were not out and about very much yet. We found a McDonalds, however it was closed--yes what is that all about? Well, we ventured further to the River North district and found the Vintage McDonalds. It would suffice for breakfast and we were starving after our 2 mile walk to breakfast. Maybe it was not 2 miles, but it sure felt like it on a hungry tummy. I think that's the secret. If I lived in Chicago, I would be thin and fit. One literally has to walk quite far to go to a restuarant. Our plans were going to be to visit the Lincoln Park Zoo. However, since we did not see much advertising as to the best way to get there, we were still figuring it out. I was given a brochure on the way into McD's that was for the Chicago Trolley's double decker buses. It looked quite fun, so we decided to ask when we were finished with breakfast. The buses were waiting right outside McD's. We decided to take the ride on a whim. We got seats in the back on the top. It was the perfect time to ride. There was barely any traffic, the sun was gorgeous, and there was a nice breeze. I grabbed my camera and began snapping away. I have a penchant for architecture and historical buildings. The wealth of information that was spoken on this tour was unbelievable!! You could get off and get on at any stop you chose, or stay on the bus the whole time. We liked the guide, so we stayed on through all 13 stops...and a few more.






For example, this building is Merchandise Mart. It is the largest building in Chicago (most square footage). It takes up 2 whole city blocks and is a zip code all it's own. It takes 4 mail carriers all day to deliver the mail in this one building. Of course, there is so much info...I couldn't share it all on this blog or this post.

Chicago received this gem when a girl decided to go to NYC to sing in the Opera. Her hopes were dashed as they said she wasn't good enough to sing. When she came home to Chicago, her father had built her her very own Opera House and gave Chicago not only her talent but this beautiful Lyric Opera.
Do you know what this one is?? If you guessed Sears Tower, you are correct. This building has 16,000 windows in it. It has automatic window washers to take care of all of those windows. Also, it is said that the architect of Sears Tower, got his inspiration for the top of the building from a pack of cigarettes--the varying heights. This is the tallest building in Chicago.

I thought this building was lovely with the American Flag.
Chicago's flamingo.
Columns in Millennium Park

Thank this one for the gum...it is the Wrigley Building.
I will describe this just as the "Judy" the tour guide did..."this is Donald Trump's first erection in the city of Chicago". I could have died laughing. Anyway, I suppose so...it is the 3rd tallest building in Chicago and is quite magnificent. It sits right on the Chicago River and next to the Wrigley buildling.

Just across the street from the Wrigley Buildling is the Tribune Building. It looks beautiful in the day or at night. It features pieces of many famous places built right into the walls. This is not an exhaustive list, however a few: Coliseum, Great Wall of China, a moon rock, Taj Mahal, World Trade Center, Fort Sumter, etc... You can actually touch most of the pieces--not the moon rock. It is in a case.

The magnificent Jeweler's Buildling. Back in the day, the jewelers would drive their car all the way up to the middle of the building via an inside ramp. They would get out on like the 80th floor and that way, the jewels they had with them would be safe. The infamous Al Capone, would often sit up in the speak easy and drink cocktails.

Since I have hundreds of pictures from my visit, I will stop here for this post. I have many more to show and much more to tell. I told Josh that I easily would have 2 months worth of blogging out of this trip! I won't drag it out that long though. I hope to be able to post tomorrow. Hope you have enjoyed your mini-tour of the city of Chic-A-Go meaning "smelly onion" . Chicago got it's name from the Indians that settled there and gave it the name due to all of the onion plants growing along the river.