My family and I have been on the Chicago River architectural tour before just because it’s fun and interesting and also to showcase our beautiful city for out of town guests.
Chicago has so much to offer, and it is good to venture there for culture as often as one can afford it.
We recently took the evening architectural tour that combines the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, so you hear about the famous river reversal and travel through the locks and dam from river to lake. Cool history lesson right there.
What made this most recent tour even more exciting was having our French exchange student, Jean-Baptiste Laurent, accompany us.
So many of us take our beautiful city for granted, along with the architecturally significant buildings that were designed with extensive thought and specific design theories relating to the Chicago River. Most architects designed skyscrapers with their immediate towering neighbors in mind, to sustain the pattern elements while remaining unique.
Witnessing the awe on JB’s face was proof enough that our buildings are exceptional and indeed, are ones to admire. The docent onboard, as was also true with our other tours, is eager to share the rich, vibrant history of the city, while adding her own element of knowledge to the colorful background. The only drawback is that we Americans, especially Chicagoans, tend to talk rather quickly, so JB could not possibly gather all the information in the time she spoke.
JB took many photos using his iTouch (who needs a camera these days) and was interested in capturing memories of the city. He was quite impressed with all the “tall buildings.” We also took him into my office building downtown, and he enjoyed being in the high rise amid other buildings with a view of the lake.
Earlier in the week, the host chaperones that organized the trip took the French students (from Toulouse, Marseille and three from Paris) to Navy Pier. JB enjoyed it very much. They went to Riva on the Pier to eat dinner. (Foods JB has raved about so far: Chipotle, every hamburger he has eaten at regular restaurants, a chili dog, and a skirt steak at Chicago Cut Steakhouse downtown—he kept saying “perfect” about that steak).
Chicago has so much to see, and I am always shocked to hear that Navy Pier is the number one tourist attraction, with more than eight million visitors annually! I never see that as a great destination, but I guess it is a viable spot. The water feature is great of course—a wonderful view of the lake, but you can’t swim there. There are some shops but many tsotchkes. There is the Ferris Wheel, modeled after the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, that takes you on a seven-minute ride in one of the 40 gondolas.
I think what is really cool is the history behind the Pier. If you ever read “Devil in the White City,” about Daniel Burnham and the construction of the buildings for the Exposition (and the murderous Dr. H.H. Holmes), it’s fascinating to read about Burnham’s vision of the Pier. He envisioned five piers and eventually only one, 1.5 mile pier was built in 1909. It was officially named Navy Pier in 1927 as a tribute to Navy personnel who served in WWI.
In 1946, the University of Chicago opened a branch on Navy Pier for its undergraduate school, and from 1950 to 1960, the Pier hosted trade shows. What we now know as “Taste of Chicago,” was originally named “Chicago Fest,” and that was held there from 1978 to 1982. I was there too in ‘81. It was nice—popular music groups and food, but it was fun and not overwhelming and not over crowded like it is now. No street closings were necessary due to its location.
The Illinois General Assembly felt Navy Pier was a viable asset and in 1989, designated the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, MPEA, to manage and operate both McCormick Place and Navy Pier. $150 million for redevelopment resulted in the 1500-seat Skyline Stage opening in 1994.
On July 12, 1995, the newly renovated Navy Pier re-opened with shops, restaurants and special exhibits. Cirque Shanghai was there in 2006 and many thousands of tourists attended the show.
I always thought it was just an okay place, but I may have to give it another chance one of these days. I read online where you can play 18 holes of mini golf and operate remote controlled boats, and we have never gone on the Ferris Wheel, so we may have to play tourist some day soon.
We have two more weeks with JB, so there is still a lot to do, and the weather is great!
