It’s Saturday when I decide to go to the top of Sears Tower, and the “skydeck” that we hear so much about. So I have breakfast in a restaurant along Michigan, and then walk the few blocks to Adams and along there to the tower. Being Sunday, down town is quiet and only a few hardy souls are out and about this morning. But the wind still makes its presence felt - the sign outside the Tower advertising the skydeck is being bent over by the strength of the wind!
This starts off as a hurry up to wait occasion - first we wait to get into lifts that take us down - yes down - to the first basement. Then we wait in line to but our tickets. Then we queue up to get into the lifts that will take us up to the 103rd floor. This observatory is totally enclosed, and with somewhat annoying music playing when I went. But it also has some interesting exhibits about the history of Chicago around in the middle.
This is not a totally clear day, and the horizon from up here is indistinct, but the view gives me a different perspective from being on the ground. Down there it feels very built up and crowded, but from up here there seem to be many open spaces and lots of green. And lots of water too - not just the mighty Lake Michigan, but also the jetties and waterways. I watch fascinated as a boat, one of the water taxis I assume, but looking like a small toy, moves along the river and under the bridges.
Further round and I watch a freeway intersection - all connected and crossing roads, and having a beauty, somehow, in its simple grace. All around you see sparkling new office buildings, and the incongruously, even among these, you can spot the occasional old building, often a church, still standing proud.
An interesting effect that we can see is the shadows of the occasional cloud passing by, making dappled dark and bright areas over the city.
While I’ve been here the deck has filled up more, and there is a really long queue to get the lift back down. As well as the normal collection of tourists, there are a number of young looking soldiers here, sightseeing with their parents on their last leave before departing for a tour of duty. Waiting in line does give me the opportunity to look at all the pictures that are here about Chicago history, and then eventually I get the lift back down to the basement. This leads us through the inevitable souvenir shop, before getting the stairs up to the ground floor, and out once more into the windy city.
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