Tuesday 4 December - Chicago

Slower start this morning - only got to breakfast at around 8.50am. Fortified ourselves for what we planned to be a fairly lengthy morning/day and headed off in warm conditions walking down Grand Avenue to the Old Navy Pier. Alison and Jenny had to pose before we left with the Chicago Bears mascot which has been relaxing in the lobby since the weekend.

Entered the main building and visited the large indoor palm garden with dancing fountains.

While Philip rested, Alison (at Philip's request went down on to the pier to investigate the possibility of a Chicago River boat cruise. Best thing that could have happened as shortly after we were boarding a boat for a one hour architecture sightseeing cruise up and down the river. The guide's commentary was really informative and engaging and we learnt so much about the city and its buildings as we cruised.

Y Junction in the Chicago River

Old Rail Bridge

Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower)

Building in centre with Gold Top - designed to look like a champagne bottle

We would highly recommend this to anyone visiting Chicago. Must say however that we were very lucky as normally the cruises would have stopped by this time of year!

On our return to the Pier we enjoyed an ice-cream from the Ben & Jerry's Ice-cream Parlour - we had heard about how good these ice-creams were on a Foxtel show before we left home. Then investigated some more of the enclosed area of the Pier which contained a museum of stained glass windows and looked at the outdoor sculptures including the one below made of old canoes.

Our walk to and from the pier had taken us past a large wave shaped apartment building which we discovered on our cruise is a very exclusive address as it is the only residential building in the city that is built on the lake side of Lakeside Boulevard. It has been home  to such glitterati as Oprah, Tom Cruise, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.

 Headed back to our hotel for a late lunch of yesterday's leftovers and then Philip and Alison left Jenny to rest and read while they headed quite a few blocks up State St to the nearest Barnes & Noble store chasing a children's book from a series that Alison has been collecting since her first visit to the USA. Unfortunately, they didn't have a copy in stock but organised for one to be ordered and available for us to pick up at the Broadway store when we are in New York.

At this stage the sun was sinking and as they were "relatively" close to the John Hancock Building, Alison and Philip headed there and took the fastest elevator in the USA to the observation deck. The sky was perfectly clear and the night lights of the city were coming on for a fairytale view of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, as Alison and Philip had originally been on a shopping expedition, they did not have one camera or smart phone between them so the photographic memories are only those maintained in the brains!

Dinner tonight consisted of a starter of hot popcorn from the popcorn trolley in the hotel foyer, followed by some bbq chicken wings and delicious garden vegetable soup bought hot from a little supermarket one block away. We are now busy repacking in preparation for our flight to NYC at 1pm Wednesday.