Architectural Boat Tour Along the Chicago River

This afternoon Teena and I took the Architectural Boat tour up the Chicago River with Shoreline Sightseeing Tours. I did this last year and found it excellent. It was hot. Brutally hot, around 90 degrees with the humidity and it was only 12:30pm.

Look at this condo. Parking in Chicago seems to be all above ground, I guess due to it's proximity to the lake and river.I would hate to back into these spots.

So many old and new buildings.

My most favorite designed building in Chicago is the Wrigley building.

People working downtown take advantage of the river at lunch.

Traffic jam on the river. No, I would not be kayaking this river.

Now this is my favorite story of any building on the river. The Fulton Building was once a cold storage building, built in 1927. It has four foot walls to seal in the cold and once it became obsolete, was converted to living residences. The only problem was it took a couple of years to defrost. I was here last year and now see that it is being converted to office space by a group called Sterling Bay.

This building, so many I forget the names of many, is designed after the sphinx in Egypt. The clock towers coming out from the base on both side represent the sphinxes paws.

We turned around here, which are likely hugely expensive places, judging by the location and the size of the boats.

The great Chicago fire started not too far from here. I wonder if this chimney was involved. Doubt it.

The Sears Building, now the Willis Tower.

The river.

The Whirlpool Building is cool. They pump in water from the Chicago River to cool the building then filter it before sending it back into the river. What a great idea. Should be the law!

This old building was designed after a bottle of champagne.

Super traffic jam on the river.

The Centennial Fountain.

Old and new.

I did this tour last year and loved it. This never gets old and I was so glad to experience it with Teena.