We're Here!

We made it to Chicago! Ah yeah. Here's what we've been up to:

Arrival: We got in last night, and grabbed all 8 pieces of our luggage. Hilariously I didn't think that 2 checked bags, a carry-on and a personal item each were going to be that difficult to lug all around Chicago. Turns out I was wrong. We were definitely sweating by the time we got to the hotel. I was carrying twice my weight! But we made it here and we made it safely.

Today we just bummed around the city. First off I grabbed my tour-guide, Nate, and we went on a scenic walk through the streets of downtown Chicago. The first building that my tour-guide was very excited about was the Roanoke building:

This Building was originally built as a 16 story Lumber yard in 1915, and then was added onto two more times. Crazy! Hollabird & Roche were the Architects and they're kind of a big deal in Chicago because they were one of the first firms to build after the fire.

We then saw the New York Life Insurance building:

This was built by William LeBaron Jenny and it was the first Modern Sky Scraper, using steel instead of masonry. Way Cool.

Next we saw the Carson, Pirie, Scott, and Company Building:

It was designed by Louis Sullivan and was very ground breaking because it had these huge windows which were unheard of in 1899 when it was built. It also had all of this wrought iron decoration on the exterior of the main level.

Luckily the tourguide got some good close-ups of these:

Then my tourguide could hardly contain himself because we saw the Chicago Building:

This was the first building built with in the classic chicago style--known for the bay windows called chicago windows. There are tons of smaller buildings all around Chicago with these same windows mimicking this building!

We then went to the Chicago Public Library. There aren't any books there anymore, and it is their Cultural Center and has galleries and stuff. However the mosaics and glasswork are amazing!

Then we went over to Millennium Park and took this glorious little pic:

The legend behind the building behind me is that some chick decided that she was sick and tired of how phallic sky-scrapers were so she decided to make a sky scraper that resembled a vagina. So everyone calls this the vagina building. Unfortunately non of this is true. It is purely coincidental that the building resembles a vagina! Hilarious!

We also saw this Frank Gehry Concert Arena:

And the Bean!

Then we sat down and sketched the skyline. Nate's was good, but mine was not blog-worthy.

Amazingly we happened to arrive in Chicago during the Chicago Blues Festival! So cool.

They had these venues set up all over grant park. Nate was in heaven, but unfortunately I was running on an empty stomach and became a grouchy grouchy Kara. But we got some food in me and life was good again!

And we ended our day by going and getting ourselves a deep dish stuffed crust pizza! It was amazing, and I don't think I've ever been so full from eating pizza.

We are having so much fun with our new city! We miss everyone at home though! Let us know how things are going! Please!