Windy City?

Well after a good night sleep it was wide awake at 6am.....well that would be 12pm at home. We were both awake and both really fancying a cup of tea so after a while we thought we should get up and find some breakfast. We had a walk a couple of blocks around our hotel and stopped in a couple of shops that were open....... just! We ended up at The Cornerhouse Bakery on the corner of our hotel building. A cracking breakfast I had Pancakes Bacon and Maple Syrup, Donna chose Cheddar and Bacon Panini but as usual we went halves I can honestly say both were fantastically tasty. My favourite had to be the pancakes, well I have always wanted to try the authentic American breakfast......but have to say Donna's Sour Bread Panini with Bacon and a cheese omelette was cracking. The only thing missing was a cup of tea lol. We couldn't find any normal tea in the shop's so had to buy some Liptons Lemon Tea Bags.....$4.99 for 50.
Well we had decided yesterday to do the hop on hop off city bus tour so we set off to find the stop. We found one close by and set off. Must say we had a fantastic day for it, warm sunny with a slight breeze.

Our first tour guide was a young sassy Chicago woman who was very lively and funny. She gave us a great insight into Chicagos history from the great fire that destroyed the city except for 2 or 3 buildings to the furore that the Chicago Bears caused by creating a glass bowl inside their fantastically historic stadium...the smallest NFL Stadium in the country only holding 65,000! Chicago with 1150 Skyscrapers has the 2nd largest number of them in the US and 4th in the world behind Hong Kong, New York and Tokyo. and we saw the place Oprah Winfrey wasn't allowed to buy and then the building where she bought 2 condo's and lived for a number of years. Chicago is the only place I have been where some Roads have an upper lower and middle level, and there are Draw bridges with two levels of Traffic! It was interesting that in a couple of places there were wedding photographers taking wedding pics in the middle of the road!
Our second guide was a much older guy who gave us a lot of Architectural info explaining how builders got around height limits by buying a churches air rights how an Irish Pub was transported from Dublin to Chicago, Pointed out the 2nd Largest McDonald's in the world and explained how Chicago takes a billion gallons of water from a feed 2 miles into Lake Michigan that's purified just by the side of Navy Pier then is pumped from the old pump station... One of the very few buildings to survive the great fire. Well we got off the bus

after almost two hours time for a wander and a cheeky beer. Then off to explore on our feet we wandered back past the Big McDonald's past the Hancock Centre down to Oak St beach then a great walk along the shoreline to the Navy Pier, a 1000 Metre Pier that was extremely busy. We went on the 2nd Largest ferris wheel in the US, we will see the largest in Las Vegas. I must say that Chicago is a great looking city a fantastic skyline against the bright blue water of Lake Michigan. Well we hopped back on a bus but had to walk back further than anticipated as it terminated at Stop 1 but this was a blessing in disguise as we ended up waLking past Lukes...The finest Italian Beef Sandwich in Chicago. I had to try one Donna had A Chilli Dog and a slice of pizza ticking off things we both said we were going to have......neither of us were disappointed. We had a quick rest in the Hotel before going back out at 9 to see the bright lights of the Skyscrapers at night. Sadly we were both a little disappointed as it appeared that not many buildings were very lit up..... the only slight disappointment Chicago has given us so I am sure we can forgive it. A good day at home as well as England beat Slovakia 1-0.Well time to sign off now,time for bed and Donna has certainly caught the sun. Off to Springfield tomorrow and no it isn't the home of the Simpsons lol.