Chicago Tourist

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5th - CHICAGO

Trip Day:	178	Latitude:	41°53.17' N	Locks Today:	0
Miles Today:	0	Longitude:	087°36.64' W	Locks Total:	81
Total Miles:	3,528	Location:	Chicago, IL

We are a group of six this morning with Bernie and Don from “Snow Cat” joining us.  First stop the Cultural Center which is housed in the old Chicago Public Library building.  The historic Chicago Public Library was built after the great fire of 1871. Donations were sought from English society and private donors included Queen Victoria, Robert Browning and Lord Tennyson.  The architecture of the building is stunning with its high, ornately embossed ceilings, rich marble walls and floors and of course the Tiffany domes. 

 

 

 After we availed ourselves of all the tourist information, we were off to the trolley station. Our first tour was the west neighborhoods through Chinatown, Little Italy and Greek town as we listened to the history of the Great Chicago Fire, the rebuilding years and the Chicago World’s Fair.  We ate eggrolls in Chinatown and Gyros in Greek town rounded out our lunch with no room for dessert. 

 

Next stop .  .  . Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs! Wrigley Field is the second oldest major league baseball  stadium, and is pretty unique with a real “homey” feel to it. It is in a neighborhood area and has rooftop bleachers on top of houses across the street in the outfields.

 

 We took a tour of the whole facility including the Cubs’ locker room and their dugout. The field was being altered with stages for a weekend concert by Bruce Springsteen. Very cool!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ended the day with a Chicago stuffed pizza from Giordano’s, purportedly the best in town, but Bob would have traded for a thin crust!