Highlights of Route 66

with Archers Holidays, June 2015

We chose sleep rather than go to breakfast today, as we were meeting Tour Director Beth and our group in the lobby at 8.30am. This morning we had a city tour, though not with our regular driver. Today we were in a temporary bus with driver, Charles. We also had a local guide, whose name escapes me. We boarded the bus and headed North.

Our first stop was at the Lincoln Park Conservatory and Gardens, which is situated not far from Lincoln Park Zoo. We got some pictures of the Chicago skyline, including Willis Tower. The low cloud of the previous day was gone and today was warm and sunny. Here we were surprised to bump into a certain William Shakespeare (below right) - didn't know he'd made it to Chicago! The bronze William Shakespeare Monument was dedicated in Lincoln Park in 1894.

Entry to the Lincoln Park Conservatory is free and, while we didn't have much time to look around, there was time to head inside and get a few greenery pictures.

I was glad I did as I found a Sausage Tree inside! Seriously! It even had sausages dangling from it. Boy, the Twitter folks had got to see this!

We were soon headed back to the bus. We passed through the Gold Coast Historic Area where we saw Hugh Hefner's first Playboy Mansion (below centre). We drove by Chicago's Historic Water Tower and Pumping Station, the only public building to survive the Great Fire of 1871 (a very few private residences survived). Most of the buildings north of the Chicago River were destroyed (over seventeen thousand buildings), approximately three hundred lives were lost and many of the people were made homeless.

We headed along Miracle Mile, past the Wrigley Building (below left). This was home of the chewing gum empire and the first building in Chicago to offer air conditioning. Alongside the river we saw Trump International Hotel and Tower (below right) - a very subdued and discreet building. NOT!

We continued on our city tour, with our next stop at Millenium Park. Originally planned to celebrate the Millenium it opened late, in 2004. It is part of the city's Grant Park. The centrepiece of Millenium Park is the Jay Pritzker Pavilion an outdoor Amphitheatre. Overhead is a spiderweb which aims to reproduce concerthall sound ostensibly in a field, by using relay of the sound so it has the right clarity and volume as though it came from the stage. The distributed speakers also reduce the volume that centralised speakers would require, so the neighbourhood is less disturbed during a concert.

On the morning of our tour, the field was full of people in exercise gear. It was Saturday morning and apparently there was an open-to-the-public Free Summer Workout Zumba class about to start! I watched for a few minutes, even had a little go, but it soon wore me out!

We had a few more minutes to wander about while folks made use of the public restroom opportunity so we wandered over to look at The Bean. This is a shiny silver reflecting coffee bean-shaped art installation, hence the locals soon gave it the name. We returned to the bus.

Just off Michigan, on Adams St was a sign indicating the start of Route 66, so of course we all had to go get a picture. We piled off the bus again.

As we passed Grant Park, we saw the Clarence F. Buckingham Memorial Fountain, one of the largest in the world. During the day, every hour, a water display with jets shooting 150 feet into the air, can be viewed. In the evening, the display is accompanied by lights and music. We didn't get around to seeing this.

We turned in to pass the Field Museum and parked up outside of the Adler Planetarium. Sadly, we didn't have time to go inside. But, as the song says, what a difference a day makes! This time we could actually see the Chicago skyline! Isn't it fabulous?

In the middle of the road, were a collection of bronze animal heads, representing the twelve signs of the Zodiac. This was the Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads installation and it is part of a touring exhibition of the USA, Europe and Asia. My ear tickles!

We returned to our bus and headed back towards the city, passing a Walgreens (below left) with very flouncy gates. As we paused at lights we were told how the bridge (below centre) was used by Dolly Parton in the fabulous movie Straight Talk (well, I liked it, not many on the bus had even heard of it!)

We pulled up alongside the river where we were to take our optional Architecture River Cruise. A seventy-five minute boat ride along Chicago's rivers, taking a look at the buildings lining the shore. The boat had a large number of chairs on the outer deck, as well as some inside, and there was also a bar below but we didn't get to test it. Our guide was JJ (I think) and the boat was called the Evening Star.

Chicago was established where three rivers merged in a swamp. There were trading posts here in 1773 and by 1871 there were three hundred thousand people living here. However, the current city mostly grew up after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 when most of Downtown was destroyed. There are various architectural styles to be found in Chicago: Beaux Arts, Neo-Classical (used for Batman and Transformers), Modern, Chicago-Style and Art Deco.

Below left is the Trump Hotel and Tower. It was going to be the tallest building in the world until the tragedy of 9/11 hit and plans were scaled back, although, when complete, it did become the second highest building in the western hemisphere. Alongside the Trump Tower is the Wrigley Building (below centre). The Bertrand Goldberg Marina City (below right) is the building with two towers in a circular style - an example of Modern Architecture.

Another example of Modern architecture is the World of Whirlpool building (below left), originally the Reid-Murdoch Building, in a Chicago School style. Below centre is the Art Deco Merchandise Mart building. When it opened in 1930 it was the largest building in the World with four million sqare feet of floor space. It was once the Marshall Field warehouse. There are a large number of road and railroad bridges crossing the river.

Where the river splits into three (North, South and Main branches of the Chicago River) is Wolf Point, where Chicago's first three taverns, first hotel, first ferry, first drug store, first church and first bridges across the Chicago River were located. At least, according to Wikipedia they were! The one below was for the first railroad in Chicago. There are several of these draw bridges across the river which have a small motor assisted with concrete to lift the bridge.

The Civic Opera House was built in 1929 (restored 1996). It is a hybrid of Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles. The theatre seats more than 3500 people and is the second-largest opera auditorium in North America.

Below left is the Old Main Post Office. It was the largest in the world before it closed in 2006. Now it is vacant and up for sale.

Below left are the River City Condos, built in 1983 by Bertrand Goldberg. We spotted the Willis Tower (below centre) - in front of the Willis tower is a Post Modern building with neo gothic elements. The bridge below right is for Roosevelt Road. Great name!

This next building (below left) is Riverside Plaza. The Willis Tower can again be seen below centre.

Below centre is the shiny and bright Trump International Tower and Hotel. Below right is the Neo-Gothic Tribune Tower, home of the Chicago Tribune newspaper and more.

We passed by NBC Tower as we passed into Lake Michigan. From here we had a short pause while we waited for Nicholas J Melas Centennial Fountain to spray a stream of water across the river, which it does every hour on the hour. This was installed to celebrate the the 100th anniversary of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. This was the organisation that reversed the Chicago River flow back in 1900.

While we were stationary out in the Lake, I got Di to take a panorama shot. Weather was a bit different from the previous day!

I got a quick (bad) shot of Navy Pier before we turned back around and headed for our dock. It was a great day for a cruise, but being architecture-based, it meant that there was a lot of information that I've already forgotten (lucky for you!) Still, we got to see a bunch of buildings!

We disembarked and returned to our bus. We could have chosen to make our own way back but we thought the hotel was nearer Willis Tower than the river location was. In hindsight, we'd have been better off walking!

Instead, we caught the tour bus back to the hotel. We regrouped, picked up Frank and Theo and headed out. We were going to try to get up Willis Tower Skydeck again, but at least this time the weather wasn't against us. There was a long line outside to almost the edge of the block so, being British, we joined it. We weren't sure how long it was going to take but didn't want to hang around as we had tickets for the White Sox baseball game later. I got Di to go online on her phone to see how much it would be to get an express pass, but it was ($45!) which was $25 more than the price of a regular ticket which seemed a little expensive. Maybe in hindsight, we would have been better off paying!

We slowly edged inside the building and then moved back and forth along a winding line to the ticket booths. There was no air conditioning and no phone signal, making for an incredibly boring wait (hence the dropped Ted!) It must have been more than a two-hour wait by the time we finally got to the ticket booth to buy our tickets. This took us to another line for a small movie theater.

After the short film, we finally made it to the elevators! As we climbed the building, a screen in the lift displayed other buildings of a particular height such as the Taj Mahal being the height of the 18th floor (below right).

We whizzed up to the 103rd floor where we were let out. There's a great view up here and we got a few photos but we were rushing as we still had to get across town to the White Sox Baseball Stadium for 6.15pm. We had been planning to get there using the CTA (public transport system) train but time was running out.

There was a great view through the regular windows. The ground is a long way down!

Even up here there were more queues as folks were standing in line for the glass bays that jut out from the side of the building - The Skydeck Ledge - each one has a glass floor, revealing the street below (a long way down!) We got in line, after all, this is what we'd come in here for but there was a bit of a crush. The promotional video online shows some people present but there are several just "you and your family" images as you take your time posing, lying on the floor, etc. The reality is free-for-all mayhem and chaos as you try to take your photo while a bunch of others are all trying to do the same thing - some oblivious to the world around them.

Maybe it was for the best as it meant we didn't have time to worry about the view - [1353 feet (412 meters) straight down]. Now Di is not that thrilled with heights but there was no time for nerves as the boys and I grabbed a corner of the glass floor and, with the flatties, got some photos. Di even managed to take a photo of her feet to the street below (bottom of the picture, below right).

After about twenty minutes, topside, Dave was keen to move on to the baseball. Sigh. Well, it could take a good forty-five minutes to get over there so we had to run. We waited for the next elevator down and headed back outside. Our luck was in. There were a number of taxis parked outside the door to the SkyDeck so we grabbed the first one and set off. It would cost more but it saved us figuring out where to find the CTA stop and how to pay for it. We pulled up outside the White Sox Stadium - US Cellular Field - at about 5.50pm. As we walked around the outside to find the gate, we found the store! I do like a store!

As it was match day, we had to have our tickets scanned and our bags checked to enter the store as this counted as entrance to the park. Inside was a surprise however. Having been in the stadium store at the San Francisco Giants game, which was totally manic and we were hardly able to move, we found this store was really quiet. It was quite a large two-storey store, but the official merchandise and shirts were pretty expensive. One of the sales team said there was cheaper sales stuff upstairs so we went to take a look and Dave was able to find a shirt he was happy with. I got a couple of sporty souvenirs for my pals Pete and Bill, in Australia. Done with shopping we started to climb through the stadium to the cheap seats - good job they had an escalator for part of the way! (Very fancy.)

As we climbed, we got a great view of the Chicago skyline. We walked along a walkway all through the stadium where purveyors of a variety of food and drink, including craft beers, hotdogs, nachos, pizza, burgers and popcorn could be found. Probably more than that. We finally found our door and stepped out into the seating area.

Even then it was quite the climb up to our seats (what do you expect for $7 tickets) and we just about made it in time for the first ball.

Now, I'm not a baseball expert (stop laughing, I know I don't really do sport at all) but I can follow balls being thrown and guys running about. The innings seemed to go fairly quickly (my favourite kind) although it wasn't a high scoring game.

We managed to participate in the most important baseball ritual - at least to me - which is the food. We sent Di to go get food and she came back with a hot dog and nachos, as well as some craft beer. She juggled it all very well. Paul missed most of the game as he disappeared. It was pretty cold up in the sky - around 50F and he'd only come out with a t-shirt on so it's understandable. At least we had our fur coats.

Theo was mostly focussed on the beer - an Eliot Ness from the Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland, Ohio and Revolution Brewing's Anti-Hero IPA from Chicago.

At half time they had some family fun with mascot races including some kids as well as honouring a Veteran.

The game continued and somebody won. Oh yeah, my pal Jenni's team, the Detroit Tigers!

We had planned to go back to Navy Pier to see their fireworks after the game, but the White Sox announcer said there would be fireworks at the stadium after the game [I can't remember why!] We figured there would be a few and it would be quickly over, but being cold, and still not having had dinner, we thought we'd make do with these, save making any more of an effort. Wow! We must have had about twenty minutes of fireworks and they were really good! See for yourselves!

We were glad we stayed and happy with the result. Once the fireworks were over we set off for the CTA to get back to the hotel, in the hope we'd find a restaurant nearby for dinner as it was gone 10pm already. Boy was it busy. We stood in line to buy tickets until we heard someone shout that cash payers could just pay to enter at the turnstiles so we did that. The train was packed when we got on and we had a nice chat with an American Manchester City fan - who assumed we would support Manchester United as we were from England - we put him straight. No thanks. We only had to go a couple of stops so soon left our happy (inebriated) new friend and went looking for a restaurant.

We found a couple that were closed and continued walking along the road that was supposed to be where all the action was - apparently not on a Saturday night! We approached Lou Malnati's where we'd eaten the previous night and figured that'd do. We headed inside and got seated straight away. We ordered different pizzas (cheese deep pan with mushroom and deep pan sausage with extra mushroom) this time but they were still good. We were a little tired as it was about 5am UK time by the time we arrived back at our hotel. We were setting off on our journey along Route 66 tomorrow so headed to bed for our early-ish start.

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