There’s no doubt about it.  Chicago in August is a joyous, noisy, and vibrant city where one feels relatively safe. (I hope I have not spoken too soon!)  I hope in these last 1 and a half days to:- 

Take a River Cruise, maybe at night

Visit the 360° (former John Hancock Tower)

Go to the Air and Water Show

Ride the L (elevated railway) and other public transport

Tour Chicago at night.

Can somebody help me out here?  I went to and wrote about a jazz/rock concert at the Jay Prtizker Pavilion on 8th August.  There were no programmes, and so far, I can not ascertain who the performers were.  The girl singer in part two was/is English with the charisma of Diana Ross.  To only say that I went to a brilliant concert and come away with a bit (actually, a lot) of footage is just not good enough!  Not even the concert stewards could help me out.  I shall try the hotel concierge again!  Let’s go!

After breakfast, I got the info I needed from the concierge and, in return, gave him my blog address!  Although the Big Bus would get me to the 360° Tower, I chose to walk directly along N Michigan Avenue.  I saved a good ninety minutes and was soon accessing to the 90 somethingth floor in minutes, I was enjoying distant views of the Air and Water Show, complete with incomprehensible (to me) high pressure commentary.  However, this is how it should be.  The walk along a crowded N. Michigan Ave, around 30 minutes, was what a high-end shopping street should be on an August Saturday late morning.

We are there!

Going up city towers is not cheap!  Today’s extravagance set me back 50 Bucks, including the Tilt experience from which taking photographs is banned!  A dodgy photo of me is just not worth the extra 30 or so Bucks.  Considering the Air and Water Show is on, the crowds were not too severe, and it was possible to see displays at a distance.

The 360° Tower was/is worth the effort and even the money.  A bit like Ayers Rock in 2019, it’s very unlikely I shall pass this way again unless they play Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony at the Grant Park Festival or the 1812 Overture!  

Note before I descend to ground level: In 1969, I met Linda Franzen during my first North America visit. We corresponded for a couple of years, and in 1971, her family teated me to a pretty comprehensive tour of Chicago, including lunch at the long-since closed Holiday Inn complete with revolving restaurant, all the rage at that time!  We lost touch, unfortunately, which I have always regarded as a pity.  Looking back, I realise I was shown a great deal of the city, and although they probably never realised it, I was enormously grateful.  It’s good to be back.

Time to move on – 13.50 hrs.

I walked back the same way, along N.Michigan  Avenue, ascertaining that I wouldn’t have time to walk in the other direction to the Air and Water Show.  I grabbed a diabetic friendly cheese and ham waffle before the same Architects’ river cruise that I took in 2022. Little was familiar even after that short time. 

At the end of this afternoon’s river excursion, I signed up for an evening fireworks boat trip, 150 minutes duration.  What a brilliant way to spend my last full night in Chicago.  The boat sets sail at the weird time of 20.31 hrs. Again, it’s a case of I doubt if I will be coming this way again, although in the almost five days I have been here, I have still hardly scratched the surface of this spectacular city in the middle of a vast continent.  The Architects’ Choice is a good river excursion to do more than once.  The tour guide is informative, interesting, and sticks passionately to his subject without resorting to feeble entertainment.  Tonight, it was very much like this afternoon’s cruise with similar information presented differently by a lady tour guide who has had a book published.  I don’t think people were particularly interested in much of the architectural content of tonight’s commentary.  However, I did get to see the night-time Chicago lit up like a Christmas tree.  There was a warmly convivial atmosphere tonight.  And the fireworks display was well worth seeing.  I would go again given the chance.

It’s not over yet.  There’s just two more things I would like to do.

Go to the Air and Water Show.

Ride the L and a bendi-bus

It has been a fabulous day.  Chicago is at this moment among my favourite places, along with Toronto, Sydney, Vancouver,  Melbourne, and Adelaide.

Many thanks for reading, David 23.56 hrs, the lobby of the Fairmont Millennium Park.

Tonight is my last night here.

More detail and slightly amended 13/8/24 08.48 hrs  in my hotel room at Buffalo.