Sunday, September 10, 2017

Adler Planetarium and Architectural Boat Ride

 On Saturday we came back to the Adler. We were there for about 3 hours because they were having some technical troubles with the movie that they play in the dome. We honestly weren't that impressed. There weren't many exhibits--many were extra ticketed. The girls thought the best part was the room that had a STEM challenge with Legos. The movie we waited hours for wasn't as impressive as we had imagined. Without the technical troubles, we could have easily done the entire place in a little over an hour. 

 After the Adler, we went on an Architectural Boat ride. I bought tickets online an hour before the tour. With traffic, it took longer to get across town than we planned. Then, the taxi driver dropped us off and told us where to walk down to catch the boat. When we got there, the people at the bottom were like, "Wendella boats? That's on the other side." So we ran up the stairs and across the bridge and down to the other side of the river. Those people were like, "Wendella, that's on the other side." We were like, "What? We were just there?" Turns out there are like 6 docks for these boats that each have individual entry points from the roads above. So the original people we talked to meant the other side of the bridge, not the other side of the river. There's no walkway along the river that connects the docks on the same side of the river. We missed our boat, but it was super easy to exchange our tickets for the next boat. 
  We decided to have some beers after all the craziness. The boat ride was awesome. I would definitely take another one. The building above was one of my favorites. I think the style was "European Industrial". They talked a lot about the Great Chicago fire. We had read about it on one of our drives into the city. Most articles claim that a overturned lantern at a house began the fire. However, on the tour, they said it was likely a meteor shower or a lightening storm, because there were other big fires in relatively close proximity. It was interesting to hear how they replanned the city, and how almost every building since the fire has followed the same 100+ year plans.  
 This above building was some sort of catalog building that had it's own zip code at one point. Apparently, Chicago was once the catalog capital of the world. Also, employees were required to wear roller skates to get around. 
 The girls really like this tour. They both love boats and had fun waving to people along the way. I'm not sure they were really listening or learning, but that's okay. Once, Chris went down to get more beer and bought them each a pack of Twizzlers. They thought that was the best thing ever. 
 I don't remember anything about this building, but I remember thinking, "If Bodega Bay had huge ocean front condos, they would look like this." 

 By this point, we had had a few beers, so I'm not sure I remember anything about this building. One of the buildings has a road that actually goes through it. They planned it, then the Great Depression happened, so they left a giant hole in the building. 30 years later (or something like that), they finally built the road. I thought that was pretty cool. 
 The building below was the building that Abraham Lincoln (I think) was nominated for president inside of. 
These "corn cob" buildings are my favorite in the entire city. Apparently, because there are no straight lines in nature, this architect decided there shouldn't be any straight lings in buildings. Even the walls inside this building are curved. One day I'm going to see if there is an Airbnb in here. I always admire these towers. I love the parking garage on the bottom floors, and all the cars you see sticking out. They're centrally located, on the river, and very distinct. I would love to stay here.   
 Sunset was a great time to end this cruise. After this, we got the best middle eastern food I've ever had and picked up Chris' laundry. 


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