G is for Grant Park
During our unexpected stay in Chicago, we wound up staying at the Grant Park Best Western. This turned out to be very good for our purposes. We were a block off the bus route with the direct line to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, which was where we spent our extra day in town. We were just a few blocks from where we met friends for dinner, so when we took the bus from the museum to the restaurant, we only had to walk a block, then, because it was so close, we walked the seven blocks or so back to the hotel. Grant Park was across the street. I immediately noticed an interesting sculpture garden across the street:
I think it looks kind of like a modified herd of elephants or maybe the bottom half of people gathered together and milling around.
The Chicago Skyline:
I haven’t been to the Museum of Science and Industry for many years, and it has changed completely since my last visit there. They have a simply amazing Seattle to Chicago model train exhibit:
We took the Wow! Tour (behind the scenes at the museum), where they showed us the working landing gear for the 727 suspended from the ceiling. I didn’t get any pictures, but it was…Wow. You can see the plane hanging above the Chicago model railroad skyline.
The highlight of the tour was the German U-Boat the United States captured near the end of World War II. They’ve developed a remarkable display area for it, and we took a tour. It has its own post, so look for it on U Day.
Thank you for visiting for the April A-Z Blogging Challenge. Today’s entry is “Grand Tour”-themed, about our Amtrak trip we took last month. I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions in comments. If you don’t want to miss an entry, please enter your email address below, press sign-up, then check your inbox to click the validation link to get these blog posts in your inbox.
Hah, you’ll have to come and visit one day. I’ll take you to the model-train wonderland in Hamburg then… That’s incredible. A whole warehouse filled with model train landscapes, driving trains, moving cars, exciting details, and more.
Sounds amazing, Cat.
Yes, I can see several elephants in that sculpture garden! I’m a wandering minion from AJ’s wHooligans. I enjoyed your mini-tour of Chicago!
Hiya! You are directly behind me in the AtoZ list and I just knew I needed to stop over and see what your theme is all about and to say hi!
I love Chicago and those sculptures are amazing!!
Very cool pics!
Those little city models are amazing!
2015 A to Z Challenge Co-Host
Matthew MacNish from The QQQE
Looks like a great trip. To me the sculptures look like the bottom half of people. Must be spooky at night. Thanks for sharing!
Pretty! My sister lives in Chicago–near downtown. We usually stay with them but I want to visit someday and stay in one of the fancy hotels downtown someday. Maybe that one over by the water. Can’t remember what it’s called.
I love Chicago. One of my favorite cities to visit. So much to do and see
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