Since the weather was perfect today, I decided to make this my day for the Chicago tours.
I started with the Sears (Willis) Tower Skydeck. In case you don’t know, the Tower is the tallest building in the United States.
My timing was perfect. I arrived just after the opening rush of visitors had finished. There was no wait. When I came by later in the day the line to get in stretched for a block.
There is an express elevator to the Skydeck, which is 103 floors above the ground, at 1,353 feet. The elevator is faaaasssst!
Since the weather was clear, I could see Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa from the Skydeck.
On July 1 they opened a new viewing area, called the Skydeck Ledge. It consists of clear glass boxes that extend out 4.3 feet from the building. The bottom of each box is made of three layers of half-inch-thick glass. If you go, stop lightly.
This is the view looking straight down.
After that death-defying feat I settled into a double decker bus for a two-hour tour of Chicago.
The tour was scenic and fact-filled.
After the tour I ate pizza at Giordano’s.
Then I took the Chicago River architectural tour.
During the boat tour the guide, Bob, pointed out a hole in the embankment of the river. He said water is shot from the hole every hour. It was worth the walk,
On the way back from the water spout, on Michigan Avenue I found two much-larger-than-life statutes of the two famous American Gothic characters. I am the size of their suitcase.
Since I had some time until catching the Metra back to Evanston, I visited the lobby of the Palmer House Hotel. It claims to be the oldest continuously-open hotel in the United States.
For dinner I returned to Wow Bao. That is the only place that has received two visits during my stay in the Midwest.
