Sunrise over Lake Michigan. It is different for us every morning being from a place where the sun sets over the water. When I’m up and the sky is clear, I never fail to admire the event. And then for several days during the “Super Hunter’s Moon” the moon rose over the lake too. (I’ve got a picture of the moon rise on the 16th.)
It was remarkable how often people offered to take our picture, every age, every ethnicity, every everything, and Lill was totally in the swing too as was Marsha. In this regard, we were Chicagoans!
On the way to our morning Essential Chicago walking tour I made everyone detour to see the Chagall mural which turned out to be in the middle of a construction site and we couldn’t get any closer than this having made the shot pushing the phone inside the green canvas cover over the chain link fence.
Kicking off Essential Chicago. We used the Chicago Architecture Center for our tours and they were all wonderful as was the Center itself.
Oh my goodness, the way these trains zigzag through the city is amazing, that it works at all and that people put up with the noise, more amazing, which is a chance to say that public transportation in Chicago, the L trains, the subway, the buses, even the inexpensive and always available lyft make getting around so easy. Oh, and walking. We did WALK. Toward the end of the day Marsha and I would beg for mercy and hop the bus. Ingalill, on the other hand, would walk home.
This is the Frank Gehry designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, a bandshell in Millennium Park. All we Angelenos recognized who did this from across the park.
I was surprised with how few pieces of street art I came across.
Above and below, the Marshall Field and Company department store that Macy’s took over in 2006. With the decline in popularity of department stores, around 2020 the owners converted the top six floors to office space.
After the Essential Chicago tour we went home for a break, ate a snack, and RESTED, and then we were off for the Architectural River Cruise.
The cruise runs you through the heart of downtown and under all those bridges across the arm of the Chicago River that reaches Lake Michigan.
Here come TONS (haha) of the riverfront bridges and buildings. When you come to Chicago you’ll learn all about them too. We started the tour at 5:30 so we could get some day, some dusk, and some dark. It worked out so well.
Notice the three most prominent buildings and how the slight difference in angle and position changes the whole perspective.
All the pink is about Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Turning around.
Our Lill.
And lastly we picked this place, Bongiorno’s, because it was nearby and open and got good reviews. Turns out it was wonderful, so down home and yummy, we hung around until closing time. That’s the chef’s wife who managed the floor and made everyone feel welcome and well-served.
