Day two featured breakfast:
Breakfast was delicious, and I was excited to find a Grogu mug in the airbnb kitchen cabinets.
Then dinner. I forgot to take a picture of dinner but it was chard saag paneer but with tofu instead of paneer because of lactose intolerance. It was delicious.
Then we ventured out onto the Red Line again to go downtown for a Big Red Bus tour.
We opted for the sunset guided tour rather than the hop-on, hop-off tour. The sunset tour is apparently a relatively new addition, and I highly recommend it. Our guide was Antonio, who teaches at I think he said Loyola University, who geeked out about architecture and was quite knowledgeable about the history of the city. It was fun and educational (unlike some other bus tours we’ve taken, but that’s another story…)
The bus had seats on the top, so we headed up there, where it was chilly and windy but easier to see the skyline. I took quite a few pictures, and of course I can’t remember what most of them were. Ideally, I would have taken notes on my phone so I could refer back. Ideally, I would have charged my phone before we left so I wouldn’t be worried about the battery dying while I took notes about what the pictures were of. Ahem.
Anyway, here are some pictures, and some commentary here and there on what I can remember about them.
Some buildings in Chicago and also a Post Office.
Holy Name Cathedral where Al Capone conducted a successful hit against his main rival. There is a bullet hole in the stone, not pictured because it's behind a bush and I wasn't quick enough to snap the photo. The article linked above has a lot of info.
A mural on the side of a building, featuring a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Local artists have contributed numerous murals like this throughout the city.
Hancock Tower. When it was built in 1968, it was the second-tallest building in the world.
Another view of Hancock Tower.
Chicago Water Works. One of the handful of pre-fire buildings in this part of Chicago. The link is to a ten-page (!) pdf with lots of historical information. I will be reading this later. You are not obligated to, and I won't judge you if you don't (I totally will).
Chicago Water Tower. See above.
A cool building but I don't remember what it was and when I try to describe it to Bing, Bing insists it is either a building in Rotterdam, or the Bean. It is neither of those things.
The Chicago Board of Trade Building, which stood in for Wayne Enterprises in the Christopher Nolan Batman films.
The Central Standard Building. This building stands in the place that used to be the Grand Pacific Hotel, where the time zones we recognize in the US today were first established so that the train system could run efficiently.
Millennium Park Fountain. It's not this crooked in person.
The Chicago Picasso. Is it an Afghan hound? Is it a lady? Is it a bug? Only Picasso knows.
Marina City, a multi-use apartment complex building, aka, them corncob-lookin' buildings.
Encyclopedia Britannica Building. AKA Reid, Murdock & Co. Building.
I don't remember what this building was, but it's small on the bottom. Our driver said he knows somebody who works there, and she finds it disturbing.