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Saturday, September 17, 2022

The Big Bus Tours Downtown Chicago, Illinois

 



Our first glimpse of the 
Chicago skyline.

is on the left.





Eric and I are staying at a campground in Belvidere, an hour and a half north of Chicago.  We chose to drive in because taking the train in, with its many stops takes longer.





Eric & I board a Big Bus






I take pictures of Chicago's
many skyscrapers.




I like the curved facade of the












Chicago is a mix of old and new architecture.





The tower in the foreground
looks like a lighthouse.

It's Chicago's historic








Its base looks like a miniature fortress.

Chicago chose to adorn its
infrastructure with artistic
details in the late 1800s.



Opposite the "lighthouse"
is a squat "castle."

This is Chicago's historic
Pumping Station.  





I love the stone carvings
around the doors.







This Water Tower and Pumping Station survived The Great Chicago Fire of 1871.  It took two days of constant fire fighting AND a rainstorm to put out the conflagration that was one mile wide and four miles long.  Three hundred people died, and hundreds of thousands lost their homes.  

Chicago burned because the fast-growing city was built with wood.  Its rebirth would be constructed of concrete and steel... the skyscrapers all around us.





The one on the left is
under construction.















This skyscraper looks like
a thin wedge sliced from
a larger building.




1921, hosts the best in live
& film entertainment.










Chicago's Hard Rock Cafe






Driving beneath one of
Chicago's Elevated 





Every available foot of
pavement is used here.





"The Picasso" is the artist's 
Untitled Sculpture.







Many of Chicago's facades are glass.





Eric & I pass by reflections
of buildings in Chicago's
 glass towers.

I am reminded of downtown






Soldier Field, built in 1924, is the
home of Chicago's Bears Football


team. 










Eric & I leave the Big Bus







We will continue our first day's Tour of Chicago on foot...

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