Back in 2012 I did an Architectural Cruise, so this time I did the River & Lake version.

It included some of the same content for the river portion, on the grounds that it’s right there, and there is nothing else to talk about.

Yes, I did try to take a US Flag Selfie.
And what of it?

 

The riverside walk has trees, and benches, and many many places who’d like to sell you things.
It’s really quite nice, particularly on blisteringly hot days when the humidity is making you feel like you’re breathing a mattress.

Something I noticed on the walk down to said riverside walk past the multi-level roads was what I can only describe as a Homeless Encampment, off the side of the pedestrian ramp & running alongside Lower Wacker Dr, more or less sheltered from the rain & sun. Not too bad a spot, from the look of it.
In Summer.
According to the evening doorman at the hostel, or more accurately at the cocktail bar in the ground floor of the hostel, utterly miserable, bordering on lethal, in winter.

I’d also like to point out that the “RUMP” on the Trump tower wasn’t intentional.
That said, having noticed the line-up, there was no way I was going to move to avoid taking the shot.

The Chicago River once flowed into Lake Michigan, and along with it, all of the quite literal shit they dumped into the river.
So they reversed the flow of the river, and all of their crap goes the other way now.
There are locks on the entrance to the lake – My first time travelling through a set of locks, so I took many photos, most of which are identical, and some utterly underwhelming video.

 

Behold!
Water!!

 

Navy Pier, as seen from a different angle!

I’m assuming that all the US flags are there in cases of lost Canadian boaters, so that they know they’ve gone way too far South.
Part of a reciprocal arrangement, as seen with the recent Port Huron Float Down Incident.

 

I’m pretty happy with this picture.
If it wasn’t for whatever that building with the crane is, it’d have even more of a Gates of Argonath vibe.

 

 

Somewhat like Edinburgh, Chicago, or it’s tour guides, like to bring up the horrible bits of the cities history, or at least the unsavory bits.
Things like “Al Capone used to drink at the penthouse speakeasy up there”.
Or “The Great Chicago Fire crossed the river because there was so much shit in it that the surface burned”.

After the fire burned out, they found that the only things left were the facilities to get things into & out of the city.
This worked out pretty well, since architects & companies started to come to Chicago to build new buildings & headquarters and the like on their brand-new & slightly smoking clean slate.