Today, we were all woken up by noises outside of our seventh floor hotel room. We were very curious to see what was going on and we couldn't believe our eyes! Part of the marathon was being ran RIGHT in front of our hotel. Unfortunately, I was unable to obtain a shot for you that included me, Abby, because Steph's battery in her camera was being charged for the events coming up today. We had to use Steph's ancient digital camera, which really did nothing but make blurry figures on the street. Sorry about that.
After we ate our meal while watching the marathon, we headed down to the River Walk to catch our Architectural boat ride at 11:30 AM. It was VERY cold today and was only in the 30's-40's the entire day. I came prepared and bundled myself up for the day.
Here is the captain speaking to all of us before the boat ride began. He seemed like a very nice gentleman.
The building in the center of this photo is 35 East Wacker (many buildings here do not have names and just go by the address) and it was once the tallest building in the US outside of New York. It was also featured in a few scenes of Batman Begins.
This was just a very old apartment building that I thought looked kind of interesting. I was too cold that I could not remember the name of the building and neither could Steph.
This is just a view down the river. You see the building with the two tall white antennas? That is the John Hancock Observatory that we went into last night!
I also got to see the backside of the Civic Opera House! It is the second largest opera auditorium in the United States. Too bad I wasn't able to see the front; I hear it is very beautiful.
Towering high above us was the Willis Tower (Steph said it used to be called the Sears Tower for ages). We are thinking about going up there tonight. It takes you all the way up to the 103rd floor!
There's Lake Shore Tower! That is the tower I climbed up on in the model! Man, it is a LOT bigger than what it was there!
The boat tour ended with a beautiful skyline! I was so glad the sun came out for a little while, even if it was still VERY cold!
Once the boat ride was over, we went down to Navy Pier. It is a pier on Lake Michigan that has shopping, rides, and entertainment. It is definitely a place you should stop at if you ever visit here, Abby!
Here I am with the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier. It is one of the highlights of the whole pier! We didn't get a chance to ride it, but it was still nice to see.
At Navy Pier, the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows is also a must see. It is, apparently, the first museum dedicated to the windows. There were quite a few stained glass windows inside and I was so excited to see them all!
As we left the pier to catch a cab, we noticed this hot air balloon that appears to be used to promote Navy Pier.
After we took an AMAZING cab ride (the cab driver told us all about Chicago and pointed out things that we had yet to see), we arrived at our final destination: The Willis Tower.
The wait to go up into the tower was incredibly long. We had to wait around forty minutes to get to the elevators! As we waited, there were MANY diagrams on the walls showing up many interesting facts about the floor we were going to be looking out of. In this photo, the circle shows just how far you can see on a clear day from the 103rd floor.
The elevator was VERY fast and only took us 60 seconds to reach the 103rd floor. The view was very much the same as it was in the John Hancock, only a few floors higher.
The tall black building in the distance is the Hancock Observatory.
One of the newest and main attractions in the Willis Tower is "The Ledge". There are four glass boxes that you can stand out on and look down at the city. It is entirely made of glass and is very safe, but very scary. Steph was going to set me on the bottom glass and take my photo, but with all the people coming onto the box, she did not see it as a good idea. I did get a picture, though. This was an even LONGER way down than yesterday.
Well, Abby, we have just left The Willis Tower and are heading back to Missouri! I hope you enjoyed this trip as much as I did!
King Tut