Jenny with the man opposite Bubba Gumps!
Greg objecting! hahaha!
Day 222
Our last day in Chicago today!!! Awww......
And it was COLD! 53 F today...and even though i knew it would be cold, i never quite believed it until we hopped off the subway and faced the wind shooting over from the great Michigan Lake!!! It had me wanting to huddle up with the pigeons gettin warm by the flame in central chicago! (No joke! That's what the pigeons do!)
We ended up having to roam the streets looking for a shop to buy something warm to add to my already warm coat and pants. So...i am now the proud owner of a pink chicago windsheater and some gloves! Winter, along with the wind, has set in in Windy Chicago!
We got our Brazilian visa. What a process! And we got it in a hurry..but it still took 3 visits to have it sitting in our hot little hands! We were wondering why we had to have a visa for Brazil and all we can think of it's due to the extradition laws there (remember Ronny Biggs!?)...
One woman asked us how long we'd been waiting to get our visa..and we'd already been told not to advertise the fact to other people waiting that we applied one day, issued the next. We told her we started the process last Friday! Which was technically correct as we were at the Embassy..but it was closed.
Anyway..we're set. That's all that matters!
We had prearranged to meet Kate and her son and his wife outside Bubba Gumps at 5pm so after getting our visa, we had a few hours to fill in, so we went on a boat cruise! And learned more about the city's architecture....we couldn't get enough of this type of information.
The cruise was COLD! As we were cruising out of the harbour..and through the multiple Locks before we headed out on Michigan Lake the temperature dropped 20F! Which meant by the time we were cruising out on the open lake it was 33F! Arrgh. I headed inside to peer outside..along with everyone else, and sailor Greg stayed out on deck to get a good view..and to take a few (more) pix!!!
Chicago has a lot of tall buildings! Skysrapers. In fact, the Sears Building is the highest building in the USA. It has an antenna sitting on top of it that is 278 feet high!
There are a whole lot of others in the Loop or along the Magnificent Mile.
Chicago also has the honour of being the only city in the world with more than one building containing at least 100 floors!
These are the John Hancock Center (Centre) with 48 floors of condominiums from the 45th floor to the 92nd floor in between business and restaurant spaces, holds the world record for the highest residential floor.
This is the building where Oprah, Goldie Hawn and Patrick Swayze have apartments!
Talking about tall buildings...Apparently there's a building in Dubai going up, called Burj Dubai, to be completed in 2008, that will be as high as the Sears building and the Handcock building put together..imagine that! It'll be 2,313 feet high! Currently Taipei 101 is the highest building in the world.
The tower which has faces appearing..see the face drinking from a straw! (Forgotten the name of it!)
Something that we learned on the tour, which we found interesting, was that Michigan Lake completely iced over in 1979. The only year it has. Imagine that?
And also, after The Great Chicago Fire in 1871 (which killed hundreds of people) Chicago was rebuilt..so the buildings competitively took an innovative approach to architecuture which is why it is so modern and quite outstanding.
Apparently, according to folk law a cow kicked over a lantern in the barn owned by Patrick and Catherine O'Leary!
This has been vehemently disputed by historians..but it sounded good to me!
Ended up having lunch at Starbucks...(they sell good sandwiches, not just coffee!) and then headed down to Navy Pier to meet Kate and Co...
PS Here's Greg and his ghost in Navy Pier!
