Saturday – Chicago, a busy day!

This morning we caught the ‘El’ to the City and transferred to the bus, where the bus stop had an interesting feature behind it!

We arrived at the Museum of Science and Industry by 9am and went inside to explore what the huge building had to offer.  Ben particularly liked it’s special mail box outside!

Built as the Palace of Fine Arts in 1893, the Museum of Science and Industry is now the only building left from the World’s Columbian Exposition, which marked the 400th Anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World.

First on the list was the Jim Henson Experience, a special exhibit showcasing the life works and achievements of Henson.

We saw familiar characters like Kermit the Frog, Burt and Ernie, Miss Piggy, Ralph and some Fraggles – little sister Gemma would have loved it!!

The interactive displays in ‘Science and Storms’ were great, and it was great to create our own storms and energy.

The ‘Transportation Gallery’ had a full size retired Boeing 727, Steam Locomotive and a World War II fighter plane.

We thought of Dad Fenton when we looked over the ‘Great Train Story’, a giant model railway that portrayed the train journey from Chicago to Seattle.

 

With only half the exhibits seen we whizzed around the rest…it was hot work!

After watching a film in the giant Omnimax Theatre about ‘The Big Wave, Tahiti with Kelly Slater’ we felt quite sick, as the 5 storey wrap around screen left you feeling quite sea sick.

We caught the bus back to the City centre and got tickets for Wendella Boat Rides, a 90 minute guided tour on the river and lake.

We set off on the river, learning all about the architecture of the impressive structures that make up Chicago’s heart.

We then went to where the river meets the lake, and as we passed through the lock the views back towards the city were amazing.

As we got out onto the lake the views of Navy Pier and the Lighthouse were great, unfortunately as we got further out onto the open water the wind got up.

We made our way back to the lock and ended our journey back at the Wrigley building.  We caught the ‘El’ back to the hostel and had dinner, and put on some warmer clothes in preparation for our night on the pier.

We then made our way back to the City, and walked to the Navy Pier.

Constructed in the early 1900s the pier has been home to several things; first it acted as a pleasure pier, then it was home to the Navy during WWII, next Illinois University took it as an extension to it’s campus, and in the late 90s it was returned to a pleasure pier.

We walked the full length of the pier, getting great views of the skyline at night.

 

We then went on the Wave Swinger, being lifted 14ft into the air and spun at speed until our heads started spinning!

Next was a ride on the 15 storey high Ferris Wheel, where we got amazing views of the City, just a shame Nicola didn’t feel too comfortable…again, give her a skydive any day!

Before heading back to the hostel we watched the excellent Halloween firework show that the pier put on every Saturday night in October.  With accompanying Halloween themed music it was a great end to a busy day!