Chicago - Willis Tower

I'm still hanging on to the wall of the building! 

Throughout our travels in Europe in 2010 and then North America this year and last, whenever an opportunity presents itself to climb something high we usually do it. The basilica of St Peter’s in the Vatican, random church towers in Florence, (not the Eiffel Tower, but only because it was CLOSED when we were there), some tower in Istanbul, the Empire State Building in New York, etc. The highest building in North America was certainly no exception!

They have a skydeck, which, of course, scared me a lot! I didn’t want to let go of the wall of the actual building when I went out on it and looking down was out of the question. I did laugh when a mother and her husband and kid were taking pics and the mother did NOT want to go out there. She eventually did, and she looked awesome, crouching and not looking down. It was pretty funny, just before she crawled out there, her kid was jumping up and down on the skydeck and her dad was very firmly saying ‘DON’T DO THAT!’ Will was a lot braver than me. It’s not fun being able to see the street hundreds of metres below you. Who knows how thick that glass is? Or how strong it actually is!!

The actual skydeck was opened in 1974 and is on the 103rd floor, which is 1353 feet or 412 metres above the ground. Apparently you can feel it sway on a windy day, but I am glad we didn't go up when that was happening! As it was a reasonably clear day we were able to see a fair way - the plains of Illinois, across Lake Michigan to Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. I assume that that was we could see! It took about 60 or 70 seconds to zip up the tower, which was pretty quick! The glass balconies can take 4.5 metric tonnes (who wants to test that out) and were opened to the public in 2009. 

Eek! 

So brave. 

Definitely a great place to take pictures of Chicago from on high. As with the Empire State Building, lots of tourists all jostling for the best picture-taking spot. :) 

Chicago - Lincoln Park Zoo/Chicago-style hotdog

 I know my posts about Chicago confused some people, so apologies for that! We were actually there in early April - hence the jumpers (sweaters for you North Americans).

It was an epic walk to the Lincoln Park Zoo from where we were staying in Chicago. But we did it. Approximately 18 kilometres of walking to get there walk around and then walk back! All in my new red Toms. My feet were pretty sore by the end of the walk! Best part about this zoo? It’s free! And we even saw some wallabies to remind us of home.

The Zoo itself was great even without the seals. We saw huge gorillas, giraffes, a crazy polar bear that scared me and various other cool animals. One minute the polar bear wasn’t there and the next it was!! Looking right at me through some suddenly-not-so-thick glass! For lunch we had our one and only Chicago style hotdog. The photo is courtesy of Will – I know you can hardly see the actual hotdog, but we’ve had words about that since. Anyway, although I will eat them, I don't really like hotdogs. The lengths I will go to try new things! :) 

Huge gorilla that refused to actually face the crowd. 

Looks like he'd be pretty handy with his feet. 

This guy smashed up his huge ice cube to eat, then rolled around for a while. 

Unimpressed wallaby. 

Uhh spot the hotdog. FAIL.

Will was even interviewed! It was by some St Paul University film students:

Interviewer -  'What's your favourite animal and why?' 

Will - 'An elephant because they make cool noises and because they are big.'

Interviewer - 'Can you make a noise like an elephant?'

Will  - [proceeded to make a possible elephant noise (one who was dying) and even moved his arm like a trunk]

The camera guy and I nearly peed ourselves laughing. Silently of course, so there was only one take. :) 

I don't think I'd have much hand left after high-fiving a lion. 

Above and below is a REAL reaction. The polar bear disappeared over to my left and I was leaning right in to see where he had gone when he just APPEARED in my face! I got a little bit freaked out! Remember that this is after I had seen how small my hand was compared to a polar bear's paw and also how small I am compared to a whole polar bear!! Will could not stop laughing. He is still laughing now. 

New Toms, halfway into our epic walk!