Riding Metra
Leaving the Metra station downtown
I've been in Chicagoland since 1983 and have been almost everywhere, for today’s trip downtown I put together a list of the best things to see in the city. This was going to be mostly an "outside tour" that focused on Chicago's popular sites, we were not going to visit any museums today, we‘ll save that for Winter when its too cold to be outside. The forecast today called for mid 80’s temps and we were planning the spend the whole day outside.
Elevated train tracks downtown
The train system is pretty nice here in Chicago, knick named the "el" or "L" for "elevated" you can find trains running in every direction. Many people living in the city, have no need for cars. The trains that go in to Chicago from the suburbs are called Metra trains, they are larger then the trains running in the city.
A city train making a turn above us
Sears Tower
With 110 floor, the Sears Tower was the world's tallest building from 1973 to 1998. It is till the second for the most total floor space of any building in the United States, just behind the Pentagon. Even though the Sears Tower has an observation deck, Chicagoans know that the best view can be found from the Hancock Tower, and that’s where we are heading.
The Flamingo by sculptor Alexander Calde
Woman Chicago by sculptor Jean Miro
Chicago's unnamed Picasso statue
The Chicago Picasso is once of the most popular modern sculptures in the city of Chicago. This 50 feet tall, weighing 162 tons, unpainted, 3-D cubist sculpture is located in the Chicago's Daley Plaza. It is made form the same corrosive tensile steel as the Daley Center building standing behind it.
Wrigley Building, knows as the Jewel of "The Mile"
The Wrigley Building is unique because of its triangular shape. It consists of two sections connected by an open walkway at street level and two enclosed walkways. Located on Michigan Avenue on the north bank of the Chicago River, at the southern most point of Chicago's Magnificent Mile, among the many exclusive shops, museums, restaurants and ritzy hotels.
Flags on the Michgan Avenue bridge
The Chicago River
Marina City on the Chicago River
Trump's new building in progress
Old Water Tower
The oldest building standing on the Magnificent Mile. This tower built in 1869 is one of survivors of the Chicago Great Fire in 1871.
John Hancock Center
With 100 floors, when completed in 1969, the John Hancock Center was the tallest building in the world outside of New York City. Now it’s the third-tallest in Chicago and the fourth-tallest in the US.
Looking North from the observation deck at the top of the John Hancock Center
Looking West from the observation deck at the top of the John Hancock Center
Looking East from the observation deck at the top of the John Hancock Center
Looking South from the observation deck at the top of the John Hancock Center
The Hancock Center's observation facilities compete with the Sears Tower's across town but the Hancock Center is in a commercial district and closer to Lake Michigan, while the Sears Tower is in the financial district. So the views are much better from the Hancock.
We live somewhere over there, just west of the city
The road below is Lake Shore Drive, which we call "LSD"
Navy Pier, that's where we're going next
Posing with the Sears Tower behind me, wow, we just walked from there?
Back on the ground, John Hancock Center behind me
A view of the city from Navy Pier
Bikes parked on the Navy Pier, cars arn't allowed here
The Chicago light house
Flags blowing in the wind at the end of the Navy Pier
Chicago skyline from Navy Pier
Leaving Navy Pier
Navy Pier is a nice place to visit, but take it from a local, don’t eat there. There are way better places to eat in the city and less expensive. I’ve never had anything good to eat at Navy Pier and I’ve been to at least 2-3 restaurants. Bad and over priced food is all I found. If you must east while at Navy Pier, eat at the McDonalds there, the prices are a bit higher but at least you know what you’re getting, seriously. Or just avoid eating here all together, even a scoop of ice cream will cost you $8.
BP Pedestrian Bridge at the Millennium Park
Pritzker Pavilion
The main attraction of the of Millennium Plaza is the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, a band shell with 4,000 fixed seats plus additional lawn seating for 7,000.
Cloud Gate in the distance
The three-story, 110-ton steel sculpture officially called Cloud Gate is made of a highly-polished reflective steel. It’s meant to resemble of drop of mercury, but to many in Chicago it looks like something totally different and is frequently referred to as "The Bean".
Mike and "the bean"
The Prudential Building, Aon Center and the Cloud Gate
Reflection in Cloud Gate
When Millennium Park opened in 2004, the grid of welds around each metal panel were still visible, it wasn't until 2005 that the seams were polished to a smooth mirror finish.
Me and Cloud Gate, the way it looked in 2004 with the seams showing
A cop patrolling the area on a Segway
Crown Fountain
This fountain is the first of its kind in the world. Two 50 foot towers made of transparent glass block bricks, standing at either end of a black granite plaza submerged under an eighth of an inch layer of water. Behind the glass bricks are LED video screens which show faces of nearly a thousand individual Chicagoans.
Every 5 minutes or so the video shows the person spit water out of their mouth
The only thing left to see on my list for today was the Buckingham Fountain, which was not very far away, it was just on the other side of Grant Park, but we just didn’t have the energy to walk there, since it was in the opposite direction of the train station, so we called it a day.
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