Water Tower Place: Chicago, IL

Hi Friends! I’m back with the second edition of our Chicago trip. You can read all about our first stop HERE! Today I’m taking you along on our trip starting where we left off yesterday. As always, there’s lot of photos and even some fun trivia questions! Make sure you comment below with your answers!

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Once Clayton and I left from brother’s work we headed to our hotel. 

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Being a couple of days before Christmas the city was busting with shoppers and tourists! (which I ended up looking like one simply because I was taking so many photos to show all of you!)

This is the Chicago River – frozen! Check out those huge blocks of ice. The day we were here it was actually a bit warmer (high 30’s low 40’s) so the ice had melted some already.

Our hotel is the tall building in-between these cool towers. …and the weird shaped turtle shell building below is The House of Blues. My mom took me to see N’Sync here when I was in middle school…it’s ok to be jealous of me! bahaha!

This is the Chicago Tribune building (the Tribune is a newspaper)

Our hotel

My hot date! 

Once we dropped off our stuff and warmed up a bit we headed out to the Magnificent Mile and Water Tower Place.

When I was in High School I had a photography field trip to Downtown Chicago and we ate at this Billy Goat Tavern on Lower Whacker. You may recall this SNL skit from years ago:-)

I love all of the team support all over the city!

In the Windy City it’s pretty hard to capture photos of flags! But these two flags are super special! However…here’s a little fun trivia for you. What does the W flag stand for?

Answer: the W flag stands for WIN for the Chicago Cubs. Wrigley Field, where the Cubs play, the workers would hang the W flag outside in the morning the day after a game if the Cubs won so all of the commuters coming in to the city from the suburbs could see. They would take the flag down by 10am the next day.

How about another trivia question! Why is Chicago called the Windy City? a) the wind b) the politicians 

Answer: b) the politicians – it is said that the politicians minds, views and thoughts on topics could change with the wind. Pretty sure nothing has changed since long long ago, lol.

This picture is blurry but since I’m giving you a tour of some of Chicago’s hotspots I felt it was necessary to include this one. Like all big cities there’s a big population of homeless people. As a kid growing up and visiting the city often and still to this day as an adult, it always pulls at my heart strings. 

This building with the two pointy things is called the John Hancock building. I’ll be posting more on this tomorrow and showing you some amazing photos!

Water Tower Place is my most favorite building in Chicago. On my High School photography field trip I had so much fun capturing black and white photos of this unique piece of history.

Back in 1871 was the Great Chicago Fire. This building was one of only 5 that survived the fire. 

Fun trivia question: Who started the Great Chicago Fire: a) Mrs. O’Leary’s cow b) gamblers who knocked over a lantern c) other fires in the Midwest that day

Answer: no one really knows as the fire department was never able to totally deem who started it. However, a) Mrs. O’Leary’s cow is the most known culprit and the answer I always say!

Isn’t it just gorgeous? It reminds me so much of where Clayton and I went to college, University of Toledo in Ohio. All of the beautiful limestone buildings!

Chicago is such a beautiful city with so much history! It’s cold and beyond windy, like painfully windy but oddly enough you seem to forget about how cold you are when you’re immersed in the culture and enjoying yourself!

If you haven’t ever visited make sure you add it to your bucket list!…and make sure you come back tomorrow to see the most gorgeous views of Chicago from the top of of the John Hancock building! …here’s a sneak peek!

See Part One of our trip HERE!