Tuesday 30 September 2014

Chicago - Navy Pier and the Architectural Boat Tour

Another day, another adventure!  A warning though, this post is photo heavy and if you're not interested in buildings and skylines, this one might not be for you ;-)
 
We had a couple of places in mind that we wanted to go to in Chicago so Liz, Emily and I caught the train downtown (about an hours journey).
 

These double story trains get me every time.  It just seems so weird, though I'm sure it's quite normal for any of the Americans reading my blog!

 
We sat upstairs (again weird!)
 

 Once we'd had breakfast we decided to catch the bus to Navy Pier.  Standing at the bus stop, this sign across the road caught my attention - quite different to UK signs.


And the first reflection also caught my eye. During the course of the day I realised just how many reflections you see in Chicago because so many of the buildings are glass fronted.  I certainly wasn't complaining as I love reflection photos.


We arrived at Navy Pier without any problem, the bus took us straight there.
 

 Had to have a photo taken outside with the city behind us.  Thank goodness for Liz who insisted on taking photos with my camera so that I could be in the photos too - thank you, Liz! (I know I complained but you were right!)


Emily and I had a wander round the shops but Liz said she'd go upstairs and do a puzzle while she waited for us and just to come up when we were ready.  I certainly hadn't expected this when we went up!


It was beautiful and so peaceful!
 

Again, just to prove we'd been there ;-)
 

Taken from the upper level looking out at the skyline.
 
 
 Loved the red against the blue sky.
 
We decided we were going to do a boat tour from Navy Pier and chose the Architectural tour which goes up river and through the city.  I'll be honest and say I don't remember what all the building were so I'm just going to leave the photos to speak for themselves.  Be thankful I didn't put all the photos up or you'd be here a long time!!
 


















The boat tour over, we managed to find our way on to the correct bus and headed back into the city and decided to have a coffee before heading to Millennium Park.


There's a little story behind this photo.  We found Starbucks on a corner just after we got off the bus. It wasn't a very big shop and we were surprised at the number of people standing inside while there were empty seats outside.  So, we got our drinks and headed out to one of the tables. It wasn't long before we understood why they hadn't been occupied - a) there was quite a breeze blowing down that street and it wasn't that warm and b) that's the railway line running above our heads! Every 10 seconds we had to stop talking as another train rattled past ;-)  It was all part of the fun though and we stayed out until we'd finished our drinks before heading off to Millennium Park.

xx