With my Nulwala guide (meaning plumber), I traipse about downtown Chicago. His sister lives a few blocks from Soldier Field, where I had wondered from my hotel. I had a goal of making it to the lakeshore before meeting my buddy. Conveniently, traffic incoming from Naperville sucked enough that I made it to the planetarium before Naeem caught up with me. It was good to have a native guide, but better yet to have someone who could city-hike. We didn't waste our time with public transit, other than the free tourist trolley. Naeem pointed out the significant buildings, including such great towers as those built to spite Trump's view of the lake. Other spots were significant due to their inclusion in the batman movies.
My favorite story was of the flooding of all the buildings on the Chicago River. Apparently, these buildings had tunnels to carry coal from the barges directly to the base of the buildings for heat. Eventually, the burners were no longer in use, and the tunnels were sealed. Unfortunately, the seals were not particularly strong. When construction workers broke through an outer tunnel, and the Chicago River flooded in, the walls sealing each building from the tunnels caved. Instant city disaster.
From downtown we haul ourselves past shopping crowds to Oak Street Beach. We chilled, ogled, and met another L&C'er Wendy Packard. Wendy walked with us down to the pier, and across to Millennium Park. The skygate or giant metal bean was particularly entertaining for me. Naeem was almost part of a fountain, the "faces of chicago", but his address was Naperville and ineligible.
We hitup happy hour in the financial district nearby. I love it when a buffet is the price of two drinks or free if you buy the two drinks. This buffet was designed to lock your stomach and let the alcohol hit you later: very greasy/oily/fatty. I loved it.
Between sleep, tour, beach, park, and happy hour, my 20 hours in Chicago were nearly up. I hustled but to make my train, which only left 30 minutes late. Next time I'm in Chicago, I'm bringing a bike.
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