Illinois - Chicago

Today is our last day in Chicago and we decided to take in a tour on the river - Architecture Tour of Chicago (another recommendation from Katie). Most visitors get a view of Chicago from the sidewalk, the back of a cab and on the L train, but the best way to see the city is from the water. We cruised down the Chicago River with Skyline Tours ($37 USD/PP) and learnt about the city's history and the buildings that make this city so great.

A few of the great building we saw were:
1. Willis Tower

For decades, what was known as the Sears Tower was the world's tallest building. Designed by Bruce Graham and Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the supertall skyscraper became an important symbol of Chicago's architectural legacy when it was completed in 1973. It's now known as the Willis Tower, but Chicagoans still call it the Sears.

2. Chicago Board of Trade
The Chicago Board of Trade Building is an Art Deco masterpiece and a symbol of Chicago's former industrial might. Designed by Chicago's Holabird & Root, the tower features iconic Art Deco ornamentation and symbolism, including a 30 foot statute of Ceres, the Roman goddess of grain. The 2 story trading floor was even featured in Ferris Buller's Day off

3. The Merchandise Mart
The Merchandise Mart was completed in 1930 and was the biggest building in the world in terms of total area. The 4,000,000-square-foot building has its own zip code and has in recent years become the center of Chicago's tech renaissance. The Art Deco building is the definition of the big shoulders that Carl Sandburg described in his famous poem about Chicago.

4. The Tribune Tower

In 1922, the Chicago Tribune held a design contest for its future headquarters and the neo-Gothic tower that stands on Michigan Avenue was the winning submission from John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood. The building is also famous for having a vast collection of stones from many of the world's most famous structures. Fragments of the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, Angkor Wat and Abraham Lincoln’s tomb can be found in the exterior facade of the tower.

5. Wrigley Building
When one thinks of famous Chicago companies, names like Sears, Allstate, Motorola and Wrigley may come to mind. Built by the Wrigley Company in the early '20s, the terra cotta-clad skyscraper was one of Chicago's earliest icons. In 2011, the building was purchased by a group of investors that includes Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell of Groupon fame.

Everywhere you turn in Chicago is another architecture marvel. It reminds much like New York city in that there is never a dull street to walk down and marvel at the beautiful buildings.

After doing some exploring downtown we headed over to a Diners, Drive Inn's and Dives location for lunch - Mr. Beef. It is little place on the north side that serves up Italian Beef Sandwiches - much like a

beef dip. You can get it straight up or "juicy". So Rick had the "juicy" and I had a roast turkey on a bun. They load it up with fried onions and peppers to top it all off. Delicious!

Today was a cool day, with the wind blowing. We originally thought that we would spend a bit more time downtown exploring, but after lunch we decided to pack it in and head home.

Today we decided to take the bus home instead of the train. It was only about 3 blocks away and comes every 15 mins.
Chicago is a such a great city. I think that you could easily come here for a week and still not see everything there is to see.
We will definitely be back again; timing it to see another great broadway production.

Tomorrow we are starting our journey towards home. We originally planned on seeing a bit more of the northern states, but given that it is November we want to make it back home before the snow really starts to fly. Luckily the weather forecast is pretty decent for the next 2 days that it will take to get home.