2014-10-06 Willis Tower & Architecture Boat Tour

Nothing infuriates planners more than a website with incorrect information. We're retired! We have schedules to keep! I guess I really haven't gotten out of "vacation" mode yet and into "retirement" mode.

Willis Tower was supposed to open at 9am. Didn't. Opened at 10.

We had an hour to kill so we went on to item #2 on the agenda. Check out Union Station.

This place is huge inside.

Another beautiful architectural building.

Oh, and it's functional also. 14 trains enter the north side of the terminal and 10 enter the south. If you are going THROUGH Chicago you need to get off of your train and then onto another.

Time to get out of the underground and soar 103 floors above the street traffic. Going up. Or going down? Strange that we had to take an elevator to go DOWN in order to take the elevator going UP to the Skydeck.

It's a bit cloudy today but we can see everything we want to see .

Yes, that would be another ugly Frank Gehry structure in Millenium Park.

This is the top of the Rookery Building that we toured a few days ago. It is a square doughnut with a skylight at the top.

We'll be down on the water later today taking the boat tour on the Chicago River.

That's the local prison with the triangular exercise area on the top of the building.

That huge hunk of land is going to be another park.

The black building is the Hancock Building that we were in the other night.

Sitting on a piece of glass 103 floors high.

Chicago is FLAT. That's the Eisenhower Expressway (a misnomer) coming into town from the west.

Lou Mitchell's restaurant is famous. It's been on Route 66 forever. We had lunch here and it was delicious. The waitress had her mind elsewhere but the food and atmosphere were good. Toasted cheese and ham for me and a ham and cheese omelet for Karen.

We drove around for a while until we needed to find a place to park and get to our boat tour on the north side of the Loop on the river.

It was an educational ride and since it was about an hour after lunch I managed to see a few buildings even with my eyes closed.

The only thing they don't like about this building is the fact he chose to advertise.

Condos and car parking

Some cool building

It has been the norm lately in cities to change warehouse space into condos.

There were some pleasure boaters out today

Boeing Building

Willis Tower

A marina under condos

Nice waterway

This is a remarkable building because "somehow" they are the only high rise between Lake Michigan and Michigan Street.

One of only a few buildings that remain from the 1893 World Exposition in Chicago.

Once again we managed to get to the White Fence Chicken restaurant when it was closed. So we found another iconic Route 66 chicken restaurant and ate there instead.

2014-10-04 Frank Lloyd Wright - Robie House & Unity Temple

Some Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW) houses I just LOVE. Here's one of them, the Robie House.

What beautiful lines the outside of this house has. The good looks just go on and on as your eye makes its way from level to level. This is the front of the house with the entryway tucked way back in the dark.

Although this tour was at 8:30am, it was on a Saturday and getting into town was a breeze.

Great looking outdoor lights

Doors with character

Doors out to the terrace. Awesome looking.

Look at the great detailing in the ceiling.

This corner of the room faced the street.

Speechless

Even FLW got some things wrong. When he was in his 80's he said his butt was sore from sitting in his own terrible chairs.

These are drawers in his bedroom that were in an outside wall. Hmm. Who wants to put on cold underwear?

A not-so-modern surround shower

OK, enough of the Robie House. But it was the best looking one we've seen so far. Oh, alright. One last shot; the one you'll see in all of the books and magazines about this house.

Wright designed a church building in 1908 called Unity Temple. By all accounts it is the first modern building in the world because of its use of reinforced concrete.

The Temple is located within a mile of his home and studio in Oak Park, is on a very busy street, and sits on only a half acre of land. The entrance (always hidden in a FLW designed building) is down the side of the building, up the stairs, and to the left.

But seeing the beautiful entrance doors once you get there is rewarding.

This is their large congregating room. You can only see half of it. The mirrored half is below and underneath this photograph.

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Filtered light enters from the colored glass skylights above

So now we are seated while the vision of Wright is explained to us. We are below the level of the church service area, as you can see the pews above you.

From the 3rd level balcony, showing the woodwork that covers the pipes of the pipe organ.

From the pulpit looking out at the congregation.

2nd and 3rd level balconies are on all 3 sides. The beauty of this configuration is that no one is more than 40' away from the speaker.

So much to look at.

Beautiful skylights letting the light shine in.

Unity Temple has been rated the the #7 most significant building in America. We think so too.