We've Earned This One!!!!

After three weeks and a day this is what we have come to!

1. Beautiful Milwaukee Carnegie Library closed and agencies providing services to the neighborhood

2. The old Schlitz Brewing Company

3. Gerry and Judi on the Navy Pier with the Chicago skyline in the background

4. Lee and Judi entering Navy Pier

5. End of Navy Pier

6. Chicago Art Museum

7. View from the top of a double decker tour bus

8. Chicago Trump Tower which is being built under the direction of the first Apprentice, Bill R?

9. One of many Tiffany windows on display on the Navy Pier

10. The Sears Tower (I think)

11. Our new home for 3 days! The kitchen

12. Bedroom

13. Dining Room

14. The View of Lincoln Park and Lake Michigan

15. & 16. Our living room!

Where to begin?????? We were up early this morning and headed for a drive around Milwaukee. Massive numbers of construction sites and redevelopment with a capital R. Need to find out more about civic matters there. On the other hand we had to get out of town and head for Chicago. Talk about short attention spans!

The ride to Chicago was uneventful except for the wrong lane Judi got in on the toll road and we blew past the toll gate. Oh well, they haven't caught up with us yet. The directions to our hotel were excellent and we pulled up in front of this beautiful old building with flowers, valet parking and bellmen to carry our stuff!!!!!! We thought we had died and gone to heaven and then we saw our room(s) and we were sure of it!!!!!

Turns out we, by chance, got into the Belden Stratford on Lincoln Park West. The rooms are apartments and we have a corner one on the 10th floor. We kept opening doors and finding closets, a washer and dryer, closets, little rooms, powder room, closets, and massive amounts of space. We are paying substantially more than the Holiday Inn Express, but for 3 nights we are going to revel in it!!!! Lee announced tonight she is goiing to buy this apartment and move to Chicago. I'm coming with her. We don't know about Judi. She is asleep on the couch and I must wake her up to go to bed. This really is better than home since we will have maid service in the morning! But enough about the room(s)! You can go to http://www.beldenstratfordhotel.com/ and be soooooooo jealous.

After a period of ooohing and aaaahing over our good fortune to stumble on this we took a cab to the Navy Pier, the number 1 tourist attraction in Chicago. It has been around since the 1890's but was updated in the 1990's to what it is today. Local river and lake cruises leave from there, lots of interesting places to eat, a free and fabulous Tiffany window exhibit at the Stained Glass Window Museum, lots of walkers, joggers, skaters, bicycles, children, old people, and the Gotta Go Girls! We walked all the way to end of the pier and then back for a bite to eat.

We were then ready to take a tour on one of the double decker buses and get our bearings for some serious business tomorrow. We rode for almost 2 hours and got a good view of the downtown. Unfortunately all the buildings have run together in my mind but we had a grand and cool (temperature) and breezy ride as it gets a bit chilly in some of those skyscaper canyons. Our guide was quite knowledgable and we drooled at the Chicago Art Museum where we are going tomorrow.

A short cab ride back to the hotel, a little rest, and then a stoll through the Lincoln Park neighborhood for someplace to have dinner. Settled on a Tapas bar and proceeded to gorge ourselves on lots of "little bites" topped off by some "little bites" of dessert. The walk back to the hotel did us a little bit of good but not enough. But I'm sure we'll be ready for the lovely continental breakfast here at the Belden Stratford in the morning! Time for the Gotta Go Girls to go to bed. Good night!