The Freezing City

Thursday, March Fifth

This morning we ate a delicious hotel breakfast, after which we bundled up tightly and went on a short walk in the frigid nine degree weather. My Mom purchased a hat at Walgreens to warm her frozen ears, along with a thick lotion to repair our cracked, dry hands. We also purchased some nice Chicago postcards to send home, and went to the post office in the Willis Tower to purchase stamps and send them.

Before going to the Post Office, we had morning coffee at a bakery in the Willis Tower. Somehow confused by my order, the woman handed me a very large Frappuccino. My Mom found out that Frappuccinos weren’t even on their menu, and I couldn’t figure out how the woman thought I would want a frozen drink on a day as cold as this!

After finishing our coffee and analyzing the lifestyle through the bakery window of those who came to work in the Willis Tower, we made our way to purchase tickets to the Skydeck of the tower. It took three elevators and much confusion to get up to the Skydeck, and an equal number of elevators to get down. Once we were on the Skydeck, we could see a magnificent view of a diorama, with ants, hotwheels, and several train sets traveling on the ground.

It was difficult to fully appreciate our height on the Skydeck at first, because you can’t stand right in front of the windows or go outside. When we walked onto one of the first three actual Skydecks, with just a layer of Plexiglas beneath our feet, that really put things into perspective!

Unfortunately, we were only able to stay on the actual Skydeck for half a minute, because people have turned it/them into more of a photo booth(s), so people were pushing their way through to snap a few pictures. We figured we might as well do the same.

The view that we were able to get for that short amount of time was spectacular! It was as if we were walking on top of the world, or rather, a large city.

We braved the cold a few more times, as we walked around the unfamiliar city, and by the time we were walking back to Union Station for the next segment of our journey, we were no longer being trampled down by the Chicagoans, but keeping up pace with them and learning to stick our elbows out a bit if people tried to trample us down.

Since it was still quite cold outside, we decided to go to the train station early, and had our afternoon coffee and supper there before boarding. This also gave us the opportunity to again watch the lives of the locals as they hurried from their jobs to Metra, the commuter trains.