A couple of weeks ago, I had a conference in Chicago and dragged The Mr with me. He vacationed, I worked. At least some of the time. I did take a couple of days to enjoy myself. Here's a quick pictorial summary!
We walked around downtown the first day we got there. This is inside Water Tower Place. We enjoyed being inside because it was quite a downpour outside!
They have a fabulous Lego store there - The Boy would have loved it.
After the rain stopped, we walked down to the
Navy Pier. Lots of restaurants and shopping and activities... and lots of opportunity for walking (one of our favorite vacation pastimes).
We never quite got around to riding the Ferris Wheel. Something we can put on our list for our next visit.
A quick break and a couple of Diet Cokes.
We also went to the
Field Museum. They've got the largest, most complete, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered (her name is Sue).
This is how big her footprint would have been!
At the
Museum of Science and Industry we saw a U-505, a German World War II Type-IXc Unterseeboot (submarine) that was captured in battle. Uber-cool!
The Mr has a friend who is a professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee... which is just about a 90 minute drive form Chicago, so we went to Milwaukee for a few hours to see him. He took us to see the
Milwaukee Art Museum - the fountain out front was dyed pink in preparation for their Breast Cancer Race.
We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel, right downtown. Next door is the Chicago Tribune building. An interesting fact is that the Tribune Tower contains many famous stones incorporated in the wall, including rock fragments from the Alamo, the Colosseum and the Chinese Wall. A steel fragment from the World Trade Center in New York is also added to the wall. All these objects are labeled and visible from the street level. The most famous part of the collection is a moon rock which is not incorporated in the building but on display behind a glass window.
We also went to the top of the Sears Tower (actually called Willis Tower now). The one with the glass box the goes out over the street. About a million miles above the street. Here I am trying to explain to The Mr and this is NOT a good idea.
He wasn't having any part of that. See how far down it is?
Those little boxes way up there? That's where we were.
A bronze statue of a cow outside the Chicago Cultural Center. Kind of random.
We got to have dinner in the
Signature Room at the top of the John Hancock building. Magnificent views!
I'll do a food recap this weekend. Lots of good eating in the windy city.
The Mr took a segway tour while I was working. His tour guide Joe took these photos. He had fabulous weather for his tour!
We did a lot of walking while we were there, and saw a lot of sights. This is the aquarium (we decided not to go as we live near a couple of world-famous aquariums) in the background.
Buckingham Fountain - lots of wedding pictures taken here.
Our reflection in "
Cloud Gate" (The Bean) in Millenium Park.
We even got to walk by Soldier Field. Where the Bears play. I am NOT a Bears fan.
We really had a wonderful trip. We had the opportunity to meet up with a bunch of old friends, have a lot (oy!) of wonderful food and generally enjoyed ourselves!
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