Blogs from Chicago, Illinois, United States, North America - page 9

Sleep was short last night. About the time I was into sleep, hard winds and rain almost rocked my room. Suddenly, the loudest possible boom of thunder surrounded me! Did lightning hit the rod at the top of the hotel tower? More rain and wind, but only the one thunder clap. Our full day started with an architectural boat ride on the Chicago River. For an hour and a half the excellent guide named buildings and architectural styles mixed with history in a friendly non-stop commentary. Architectural styles varied in quick succession, partly because some buildings withstood the test of time and others were knocked down to make way. In the last few decades, “adaptive reuse” has been the theme, either inserting newer buildings onto or between older ones or transforming warehouses into offices and condos ... read more

At 8:15, we had an excellent lecture presentation on the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, called the Columbian Exhibition in honour of Columbus’ arrival in the new world. The Fair was a year late, which was forgivable, because a relatively few years before the Great Fire had devastated the city in 1871. World renowned architects, including many trained in Chicago, designed the buildings for the Fair, attracted in part by the expanding innovation in architecture that arose from rebuilding after the Fire. Tall buildings (8 – 10 storeys), steel frames, electric lighting and the Otis elevator were some of the technical developments that freed designers from classical European traditions. Eve... read more

The flight from Calgary to Chicago was completely uneventful. The check-in kiosk gave me a rotten middle seat in a back row, but the helpful person at the gate gave me a good aisle seat, which translated into a window seat because no one else was in the row. Cloud cover was limited on the flight, and I began to understand the extent of the great plains of Middle America. I chickened out of taking the train, in favour of a shuttle van, because the weight of my suitcases hauled three-quarters of a mile from train station to hotel gave me images of an exhausting struggle. However, the shuttle van ride revealed that traffic towards the airport crawled and stopped for miles and miles, in spite of a three-lane highway. Our driver recommended allowing three hours ... read more

So I made a big mistake the day before this trip, and I continued it this morning. Shoes. That's right - new shoes. Specifically new hiking boots. I bought them because, well, I plan on hiking through a good bit of jungle during the next 10 days, and I thought some waterproof, high durability, high top shoes would be the best option. I was wrong. Or partly wrong. If I had had time to break them in, or if they weren't oddly constructed, then maybe I wouldn't have massive blisters in at least 4 spots on my feet. At least 2 on each foot, maybe more, but only time will tell. Alas, that made part of my day in Chicago (one of my favorite American cities, in spite of the so-called carnage) more miserable than I ... read more

Geo: 41.8861, -87.6364After breakfast we headed out to Navy Pier. It is a beautiful sunny day and we are going on the ferris wheel. The ferris wheel holds 180 riders and loads six cars at a time, then stops to load six more, and so on. Once the ride is fully loaded, riders get another two revolutions, a 12-minute ride in all, so each car will go over the top at least three times. The ride was very enjoyable.We then wandered thru the Navy Pier area again.During the afternoon we stopped at a little place for coffee and in the evening we enjoyed dinner at Bubba Gumps.... read more