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Monday, June 29 - Chicago
We went to the Chicago Board of Trade and learned that they no longer admit visitors other than to a little room that is sort of a museum for the Board of Trade. There was a live TV feed showing the trading floor and the museum was informative and well done, but pretty small. Next we walked up State Street and saw three works of art. Whoopee. Then we went up in the Sears Tower. That was an interesting visit. It was fun to pick out various landmarks around Chicago. Then we walked over to Millenium Park and knocked around there a little bit, but soon decided we needed to head North over the river to see the Magnificent Mile, the Water Tower and then head over to the Navy Pier. 
Then we walk up north of the river to the Magnificent Mile and found it not so magnificent. There were some really up-scale stores - we saw a purse on sale for $2000 and dresses for $600, and a little flimsy top for $300. Those were just typical items for sale, but these stores can be found in any big city in the US.. nothing unique. We walked on up to the old water tower and water plant, both of which survived the great Chicago fire of 1871. Inside the water tower they had on display about 30 or 40 photos from the fire. It was quite impressive how much was damaged. I think I heard something like 18,000 buildings were destroyed.
Then we walked over to the Navy Pier. We took a boat tour of the river... the "Architectural Tour." We nearly missed our boat because the young gal who sold us the tickets didn't bother to tell us that the boat didn't leave from the Navy Pier where she was selling tickets, but rather that it left from another dock off the Navy Pier and acrsoss the park. Just a few minutes before the departure time I asked where the boat was and she then she told me where. We were on the run to get there in time. The crew of other boats that were standing around all seemed to expect to see us running as if it was a common probelm and they directed us to the boat. The guide did a nice job of point out many of the buildings and describing their architecture and giving some history behind some of them. It was sunny while we were on the boat and we got rather sunburned. I got sunburned on top of my head. I guess I don't have as much covering there as I once did. Next we went on the Tall Ship Windy, a four masted schooner. That was the fist sail boat I've been on. I enjoyed the trip albeit short. The boat has desiel engines and uses those to get out away from the pier but then hoists the sails and sails across the bay and back. The whole trip lasts less than an hour. After the sailing, we walked to an Italian restaurant on Monroe Street and had dinner. Just saying we walked there doesn't really express the effort that was involved. By this time our legs were aching. Mrs. Boyd had to stop once for a bit while I scouted out the shortest route across Millenium Park. After about a 15 minute break, we finished the hike to the Italian Village restaurant and had a nice dinner. (Spicey Spaghetti!) Once dinner was finished, we were ready to walk the remaining six or seven blocks back to LaSalle Street station to board the train and head back to Tinley Park. We arrived back at the hotel about 7PM. |
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