9-14 Chicago

We cruised 14 miles to Chicago and Lake Michigan was fairly calm.  It was exciting to approach the
Chicago skyline.  We docked at Du Sable Marina and noticed a number of Looper flags.
The sun was shining and we did not waste any time finding a trolley tour so we could see the town.

 

The tallest building in this picture is the 100 story John Hancock Center which is a self-contained world of apartments and shops.  The 94^th floor observatory offers a marvelous view of Chicago’s spectacular skyline and Lake Michigan.  Unfortunately, we did not have time to go up to the top.

Soldier Field stadium is a monument to the times and great sports places typical of the "Golden Age of Sport" and is one of the few such stadiums still standing.  Soldier Field was built in three stages between 1922 and 1939 at a total cost
 $13 million. The Chicago Bears began using the facility as a regular season home September 19, 1971. Chicago defeats the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-15 before capacity crowd of 55,701 in the Bears' first game since moving from Wrigley.

 

 

 

Cloud Gate, a public sculpture by Anish Kapoor, is the centerpiece of the AT&T Plaza in Millennium Park. Constructed between 2004 and 2006, the sculpture is nicknamed "The Bean" because of its shape.  Made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together, its highly polished exterior has no visible seams.

 

 

Under "The Bean".

The Trump Tower is a skyscraper condo-hotel in downtown Chicago on the river. The building named after billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump was designed by architect Adrian Smith.  This 96 story structure reaches the height of
 1,389 feet and as of today is the 12th tallest building in the world.

Aqua is the tallest building the world to have a woman as lead architect at 859 feet. This Chicago skyscraper, designed by Jeanne Gang, changes shape as you drove around it.  Check out the next three photos.  It was amazing!

 

 

 

 

Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park is patterned after the Latona Fountain at Versailles, but it is twice as large.  At night it provides a multi-color display of light and splashing water second to none.  The fountain’s 1.5 million gallons of water skyrocket 140 feet in the air, and its evening light shows fascinates everyone.

 

Chicago Water Tower and adjacent Chicago Pumping Station (not pictured) was built in 1869 and are one of the few structures that survived the Chicago Fire of 1871.  The pumping station still provides water to the city of Chicago.

 

Navy Pier is a 3,300 foot long pier on the Chicago shoreline of Lake Michigan. The pier was built in 1916 at a cost $4.5 million.  It is Chicago's number one tourist attraction.

 

Tom and Linda Ray on Radiance was docked at Du Sable Marina and we went to Pizzeria Uno. This historical site was built in 1943, and we enjoyed a Chicago style pizza, which is a deep dish pizza in a pan.  This pizzeria was the place where they first served pizza as a main meal. Great catching up with them!