ldn't see the top (since it would undoubtedly be too foggy), advice which made a lot of sense. Looking out the window that morning, the sky looked pretty blue, so I thought we should give it a shot. This time we got to walk a different direction, to the Brown Line. We actually dropped down a level to buy tickets. There was no wait for the 5 minute movie, which was
actually quite informative. Jon and I didn't realize the Sears Tower had only been around since 1970, that it was designed based on these cylinders of sorts and that when doing the design, a guy put some cigarettes together in a haphazard fashion and they decided that's what they wanted! After that it was through another line, which was quite short (we got on the first elevator) but the way the room was set up, it looked like they were prepared for the days when that wasn't going to be the case. On the way up there was another short film, clearly designed for kids as two talking pigeons were the stars, giving random facts involving telephone wire and baseball bats. Up on the top there were two long sides and two short sides (which Jon pointed out made sense knowing the cylinder method of design). There were electronic machines that pointed out the sites, but the longer plain boards were a lot easier. I felt bad for the Western side as there wasn't much going on except for the United Center. You could see almost everything mentioned except US Cellular Field and Wrigley Field; it got foggy about that area. The middle was set up like a museum with various facts and characters, although it's in need of an update, as it lists Siskel and Ebert as critics, although Siskel died a long time ago. (I took pictures of the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times in
their honor; I have fond memories of opening credits set to cheesy 80s music with them running out of their respective buildings to hail cabs.) I was disappointed though as I was expecting us to be able to walk out on the balcony, like at the Empire State Building and Top of the Rock in NYC.
One of the things pointed out in the little museum section was the tallest Methodist Church in the country. We thought we could spot it from above so we went to check it out. Turns out the sanctuary itself (which was getting remodeled) was actually quite small. Some of the pews were out, but I would guess it wouldn't seat more than a couple hundred. In trying to get inside we discovered that the rest of the floors were all offices. So it turned out to be a really small church inside a big building.After that we walked to Millennium Park where there was this really cool "Cloud Gate."
I had seen a picture of this in the Sears Tower gift shop but thought the photographer had manipulated the shot to get the skyline in the background. I didn't realize that it's this Cloud Gate thing itself that was doing the manipulating. I also wanted to see the fountains that were giant video faces that had water coming out.
I was trying to get Jon to go in the water but he wouldn't do it! In walking to the water, we went by the band shell, which Big Jule (our Untouchables bus tour guide) had described as a roller coaster gone bad. He was right about the look, but the sound was just impeccable. There was some sort of orchestral music showcase going on and there were speakers all along the grassy audience section so they sounded like they were right next to us.After that it was off to the Buckingham
Fountain. The Fountain shoots super high on the hour, but since we were there during the day, we didn't see the synchronized color display (that's there from 9 to 11 p.m.) So that was a bit disappointing, as I thought there was an "hourly" show. As is, it was no Bellagio Fountain! In fact, the unadvertised fountain at Navy Pier was better. At least that had some variety to it.Overall though, Navy Pier was pretty disappointing. Basically a tourist trap that took an hour to walk up and down, and $6 for a ferris wheel ride! We did see not one, but *two living seagull monuments, so that was cool. And there was the stained glass museum. Who knew?
By this time we were really hungry so we took the free trolley back to the hotel (again, just a few blocks to walk from the stop). We planned to go Harry Caray's upon the suggestion of our Connecticut friends (although I got the feeling they hadn't actually been there) but there was an hour and 15 minute wait. On the way out, a seemingly parentless 8-year-old girl asked us if we were Cubs fans. Jon apparently thought we were and told her as such and she said, "Me too," before we high-tailed it out of there. We tried in vain to find the Giodarno's Jon and I both thought we saw but may have actually been in the Sears Tower district, and instead went to the equally recommended Portillo's, which was cool because it was cafeteria style and hence, hardly any wait. The recommended "cake shake" was a disappointment though, reminding me of the ice cream soup we used to make as kids - it was just cake and ice cream in a blender, people. :)
We capped off the night by visiting the pool and hot tub and opening Jon's birthday gifts (two days early since Colleen had to work on Jon's actual birthday.
Sears Tower: B+. Millennium Park: A. Buckingham Fountain: B. Navy Pier: C+. Portillo's: A-
--POSTED BY COLLEEN
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