As I have mentioned before, September was a crazy month. We arrived back from London on 31 Aug. We went to a wedding and away for the weekend on 4-6 Sep. We moved apartments. We came back and we had our first guest the following week. Ryan had to go away on a school camp for a few days. He came back and on 10 Sep I left for SA for 2 weeks. It was pretty nuts. That being said, I am so glad that we were back in Chicago when we were to have Kyra over and catch up. Kyra came to stay midway through her whirlwind US tour in between New York and Las Vegas. Kyra, I am so glad that we had good weather and we could do some cool touristy stuff that neither of us had done before. I'll try fit everything into one post, although this is going to be a bumper issue as even though Kyra was only in Chicago for 3 days we managed to do a lot and take lots of pics!
Architectural Boat Tour
I think I should collect commission from this blog post as after this, I don't think anyone will actually have to take the tour any more.. I'll try and keep it brief but there are just so many cool buildings to see in downtown Chicago.
We begin at Navy Pier which is about a 20-30 minute walk from my apartment. Navy Pier is a waterfront style collection of shops and restaurants around the marina. The Ferris wheel in the background lights up at night which is pretty cool. As winter approaches though and the lake starts to freeze over, Navy Pier goes into hibernation. It was nice to see it up and running in the summer time though and a good place from which to launch the tour!
Views from the boat.
Tribune Building.
Looking up at Trump Tower - on the water's edge. You can dock your boat beneath the building!
Corn cob style building or 'the mielies' as I like to call them. They were designed to mimic the corn fields and have an all inclusive village bellow to keep Chicagoans living downtown and to halt the migration out the suburbs. Beneath the generous floors of parking are dry-cleaners, shops, gyms, I think a cinema, you name it, so that you never have to leave the comfort of your building except to go to work!
The Merchandise Mart which takes up a whole city block and has it's own zip code. It's mostly empty now but it used to be a showroom for furniture. I think the Kennedy's bought it in the 60s when the owner was going bankrupt. For an empty building this size, you'd think they would have found more furniture to fill it. Maybe apartments will spring up there too one day - prime real estate on the river!
Steel "X"'s provide all the support for these buildings so that you don't need any pillars indoors and you can save tons of space inside.
John Hancock tower - where Ross from friends will narrate your visit using your audio guide. The ladies' loo also has the best view in the building apparently. The highest widdle in the world.
Take me to the Ball Game!
Wrigley field and our first baseball game ever! We of course had to buy some caps, traditional baseball food and drinks. Although the cubs always lose at Wrigley and we didn't really understand all the rules of the game, we had a great time and got to experience the 7th innings stretch where everyone stands up and sings "Take me out to the ball game". There's another song they sing if the cubs win, but seeing as that never happens at Wrigley (the stadium is cursed apparentely) we just got to experience the national anthem and the one other song. Still it was great!
Old school style scoreboard - if I am not mistaken it's one of the only ones left of its kind in the US. Wrigley has been declared a national monument so it can't be altered and advertising is restricted. Me likey.
A genuine hot dig man!
Genuine hot dog merchandise!
Mr Cubby, sorry you lost (again) are you ok?
Seeing is believing! "Take me out to the ball game" caught on tape!
The Sears (ahem the Willis) Tower
Previously known as the Sears Tower, the Willis group (a British Private Equity Firm) bought enough shares a few years back to claim owning rights of the tower. Generally Chicagoans refuse to change the name from Sears to Willis although the word 'Sears' is no longer seen near the tower. The Sears/Willis Tower is the tallest skyscraper in Chicago (and in North America!) and has a special viewing deck on the 103rd floor. The cool thing is that the Sky Deck juts out above the pavement and you can see little ants (people and cars) far down below. Not for the faint hearted. Of course Super K and I had to go.. We put on some brave faces for the photos!
Views from the Willis Tower.
Looking super brave..
This is not some weird hand pose - my hands are touching the sides of the Sky Deck.
Holy Moly. This is taking bonding to a new level!
Ice-Cream in Wicker Park
On Kyra's last night in Chicago we met up with family friends of hers for dinner in the trendy Wicker Park. After dinner we took a saunter around the neighbourhood to a new ice-cream shop where they make the ice-cream right in front of you. The fact that there are so many ice-cream parlours in Chicago boggles my mind (I think this one does soup in winter!) but this particular shop called I-Cream (not sure how I feel about the name) is very innovative. They use liquid nitrogen to freeze the ice-cream instantly and because of this you can choose your flavour and colour along with your scoops and topping. Previous customers have put together their favourite combination up on the walls. So you can ask for green peanut butter flavoured ice-cream with a scoop of purple chocolate fudge or blue strawberry sorbet. Pretty nifty and definitely confusing the brain taste-bud connection. Blue chocolate? Pink caramel? Awesome!
Farewell Super K! Come back and visit soon! We need to do some more exploring!!! xxx
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