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Published: September 13th 2019
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The Water Tower We have had our fill of walking for a while and look forward to being seated for a good long time. (That's how Natalie told me to start this today.)
After breakfast, our question was how to spend the day before catching the next train this afternoon. We finally decided to explore Chicago's "Miracle Mile" and see where that takes us, what fun and interesting things we find. So that's what we did and it pretty much filled out time.
The "Miracle Mile" is a mile or so of Michigan Ave with shops and stores selling all kinds of stuff, most well beyond our budget. There isn't a Wal-Mart anywhere nearby. It's amazing how many people are walking that street, all intently focused on their own world.
Since yesterday's tour, we are much more aware of some aspects of the architecture we see. The variety of styles, from ornate to full modern, and the amazing variety of brick and stone work. Some of the buildings really are beautiful. Another amazing thing to realize is the quantity of apartments and condos in all the high rise buildings. According to the architect on our tour yesterday, the least expensive is
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Natalie in the water a one bedroom studio apartment starting at $1 million. Amazing. Something similar is happening in Seattle, but my question is how many people can afford that.
In any case, we are very happy and most certainly blessed where we are.
Just about halfway up the "Miracle Mile," we reach a park at the Historic Water Tower. This is a tower, constructed in 1869, containing a 3 foot diameter standpipe 138 feet tall, used to control the water pressure for the city's water supply. It was well constructed, which was a good thing when the great Chicago fire happened in 1871. The tower mostly survived the fire and now serves as a memorial to the victims of the fire.
After enjoying the park for a little while, we continued up the mile. We walked into a mall, much like Westlake Square, but more expensive. It's called the "900 Shops." I thought it might be 900 shops, but it was actually at 900 Michigan Ave.
One minor disappointment yesterday for Natalie was that she couldn't get close enough to Lake Michigan to touch it. We made up for that today because just a few blocks north was Oak
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South toward Navy Pier Street Beach, a big park on the shore. Natalie was able to get dampened a bit more than she wanted in the waters of Lake Michigan. Did you know there are waves washing over the shores of the Great Lakes?
We did get well worn out on the walk back, so we stopped in at a Shake Shack for something cold and wet. My chocolate shake was very nice, and Natalie had a Cranberry Apple Lemonade. On the facade of the Shake Shack store was a list of their specialties, including a "concrete shake," which really picqued Natalie's curiosity. While I was waiting for our order, Natalie asked a lady who worked there about the concrete shake. The lady was so effusive in her praise, she had to make a sample for Natalie. It was worth the praise.
Suitably refreshed, we decided to relax the last couple hours before leaving for the station and our next train, on to Charlottesville.
Chicago's Union Station is quite an adventure, but we made it in time and managed to find comfortable seats. It is now 8:42 EST, dark, and we're approaching Rensselaer, IN.
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