Sweet Home Chicago

Following the game, we had the rest of the day plus most of the next day to check out Chicago. We back-tracked to Union Station to pick up our bags, which we couldn't take to the stadium, before hiking the urban jungle to our hotel.

With a great base camp at the downtown Fairfield, we explored most of the city's vibrant core on foot, walking from Soldier Field in the south to the Hancock Building in the north, and from Union Station in the west to the tip of Navy Pier jutting east out into Lake Michigan.

To rest our tired feet, and more importantly for some narrated history of the city and its architecture, we also enjoyed an open-top river cruise of the city from Lake Michigan to quite a ways down the Chicago River South Branch, on yet another beautiful autumn day.

By late afternoon, we worked our way back to the train station and caught our ride home. Several unexpected delays hindered our progress, but otherwise the ride was peaceful and smooth. We crossed the border at midnight into a traffic jam on the Ambassador Bridge due to overdue structural repairs and a backlog of transport trucks.

After a long day and a lost hour returning to Eastern Standard Time, I dropped off Other Mike and finally made it home by 130am......with the alarm set for 6am and back to work after two very long but fun-filled days.

Deep Dish pie at Lou Malnati's

Enjoying a few brews at Rock Bottom prices.....

City skyline from the end of Navy Pier

A relatively calm day in The Windy City!

Chicago North from the 94th floor of the Hancock Building

Welcome to the Jungle!

Navy Pier and Lake Michigan from high above

Only the 2nd largest building in Chicago, but still....huuuuuuuge!

Bridges and Skyscrapers

Reflections of a City

The El crosses the river

The Merchandise Mart - the largest building in the world when built in 1930

Willis (Sears) Tower - the tallest building in the city and second tallest in North America

Cool old school drawbridge - the whole THING goes up!

Chicago from below

Riding the Rails again as we head for home

Da Bears

After three years of Bears-Lions games at Ford Field in Detroit, Other Mike and I finally made the trek to Chicago for Lions-Bears at Soldier Field. Departing home at 4am, we crossed the border without delay and made it to the new train station in Dearborn with time to spare. A relaxing ride on the rails saw us in Chicago by late morning.

Our seats were high, mere rows from the top of the highest part of the bowl.....but great seats all the same. Beyond the field, we could see Lake Michigan on two sides and part of the downtown skyline. It was near-perfect weather for those of the fair variety, with 18 C temperatures, a light breeze and generally overcast. Even occasional misty drizzle could not dampen the mood.

The Bears outplayed the visitors for most of the game, and likely should have scored more points. In the end, they did enough on offense even with their backup quarterback replacing the injured Jay Cutler, and made the necessary stops on defense including two key interceptions.

In spite of a late surge by Detroit, the Bears won 17-14 to the delight of the home crowd. The victory also redeemed my honour, as my current record at games we had attended was 0-3.....though bearing in mind that all three losses occurred on Detroit's home turf.

Catching our second wind, we filed out of Soldier Field and set off to explore the The Windy City.

Catching the early train at Dearborn station

A quick snack before the game

View from the Nosebleed Section

Da Bears take the field!

The Anthem

Hoyer helms the Bears offense against the Lions

Sunshine over Soldier Field

Our seats even had a view of Lake Michigan!

Touchdown Bears!

D-Fence!

Cloud cover - aka Ginger's Paradise

But Bears fans don't care!

Final Score 17-14....for Da Bears!

Sea of sated fans swarm the streets of Chi-Town