Chicago, the Windy City

Under the "bean", looking up

Disclaimer:  Lots of photos today!
Today began with a trip on the El to the downtown area of Chicago, then a tour at Columbia College.  Unfortunately, I thought I had signed up for a comprehensive tour with an emphasis on the Film Production program.  But it was actually a tour of the Film Production program only.  So, no dorms or other classrooms or interesting bits about the college.  A rather intensive discussion of the Film Production program and seeing every room in the building was interesting, but hardly illuminative of the college as a whole.  We attempted to view one of the dorms on our own, but we weren't allowed in.  Anneliese did get to meet for a few minutes with someone from the admissions department when we figured out which building that was in, but the rest was Film Production. Columbia is not clustered in it's own part of the city.  It and three other colleges/universities share the same neighborhood.  The buildings of each of them are spread out over about a mile square.  You may or may not have two buildings on the same block from the same school. But the Film Production building was white walls and gray carpet--very bland.  Our guide defended this in that they prefer to spend their budget on technology than carpet (one wouldn't think a coat of paint would cost that much though).   Cool technology, but not a lot of ambience.  Columbia College is a Liberal Arts Art College (which I guess sounds kind of weird, but that's what it is).  She would earn a BA in Film Production.

Anneliese in front of one of the buildings.

 After the tour (we walked around the other buildings later), we headed to the park to talk about the visit.  After talking, Anneliese and Shelby decided to roll down the hill.

Then we walked on to Buckingham Fountain (rather grandly named!) and Lake Michigan (across the street from the fountain.  The Chicago Blues Festival was going in by the park at the time, so our walking and photo taking was accompanied by some jazzy blues!

"Fun" poses in front of Buckingham Fountain

More "dramatic" poses

Joshua in front of Lake Michigan

Then we walked around the area hosting the Blues Festival and walked to Millennium Park, home of the giant "bean." It is a giant, shiny, stainless steel sculpture that looks like a giant bean.  Tourists were all over around and under it, taking photos and laughing at their reflections.  There were also some  pretty flower gardens nearby.

Pretty flowers

The Bean

Next, we walked to the Sears, oops--Willis, Tower.  For over $80 we were allowed to wait in long lines and go up to the SkyDeck (also known as the observation area) on floor 103.  They had a history video about the building of the tower which was very interesting and it was very cool to look out on the city from up so high.  We wanted to pull a Ferris Bueller and stand on the railing and put our foreheads to the glass, but there were too many people and security guards around.  We did find one window without a railing and I stood with my forehead against the glass.  It was cool, but not as cool as if I'd been standing on the railing.  Alas, I'm not as cool as Ferris. (But then again, who is?)  But they do have these little glass cubes now that you can walk out in (similar to the one at the Guthrie, for those who have been in that one).  Glass ceiling, walls, and floor so you can see all the way down to the street below you (take that Ferris!).  That was neat, but we didn't get freaked out like some people did, though Joshua was worried that he might be nervous.    

Looking up at the Sears Tower (oops--Willis Tower) from the street.

In a glass cube over looking Chicago!

So, in summary, Joshua was awed by the (um) Willis Tower, but we were all a bit underwhelmed by Columbia College, which hitherto had been Anneliese's top choice (other than NYU, her dream school), although they seem to have a pretty intense program with a lot of networking and professional opportunities.  Our guide recommended having business cards and a web site of her work for when opportunities come up--that another thing for Anneliese to do!  Hope you enjoyed all of the photos, tomorrow we are Canada-bound.  Headed to Niagara Falls!