18 October 2010

Chicago from above

One goal we've been doing a fairly good job of meeting is taking Sundays for family outings and general exploration. Mama gets to sleep in (Papa gets Saturday) and we walk to breakfast right down the street. We have been to Salonica several times, but the past couple weeks, the new Z&H Market Cafe has been our stop. It's the difference between a diner and a gourmet cafe and lately I prefer the second. I've had The Alpiner and a delicious latte the past two weeks and it is a gorgeous start to the day. How can any day that starts with proscuitto and a triple cream cheese toasted on a croissant go wrong? After our breakfast, we can walk a couple blocks over to the train or bus and take the 20 minute ride to downtown Chicago. That's a promising start no matter what's on the agenda!

Today, we followed a walking tour out of our guidebook. It was mostly buildings to look at and some of them were marked wrong on the map, but I happen to be married to someone who actually gets pretty excited about taking pictures of buildings, so we have these gems from our outing.







Those are the Manhatten building, fire escapes, and Willis Tower

Since it was a beautiful, clear day, we also went to the top of the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower). The elevator ride is kind of fantastic just because your ears keep popping and the view from the top is great.





Traveling with a toddler means you get to worm your way to the glass fairly easily using the "I'm with him tactic." They retractable observation decks up there. They are made completely of glass and stick out four feet from the side of the building, so you get an unobstructed view straight down to the pavement. It's terrifying. Peanut disagrees. Mama was coaxed to go out on the observation deck for a picture as well - but only looked down once by accident.







Evidence of serious marketing of 103rd floor of Willis tower can be found here, in case you want a souvenir of our trip!

1 comment:

  1. Greetings from Haarlem. Love the pictures ! We went up the Sears Tower too but I was too scared to step out on the deck ! You two are looking great, Chicago life obviously agrees with you. Have you tried the Architecture Tour yet from a boat, you get some great pictures and a history of the city. Olive x

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