We have been to Chicago!!!

Nashville, San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta, New York and finally Chicago!! Hmmm... My list of US cities visited is growing. My recent addition was a wonderful trip with my friends. Here are a few pictures of places, we visited in Chicago.

First thing that happened as we reached Chicago was that we got lost in the downtown and roamed round a lot before we got parking space as it was a rushy weekend. At last we got onto the lake shore drive. It was too chilly out there and couldn't bare the cold for long. We had to search for a place to buy something to wrap us up warm. I got to see the sea after two and half long years since I left Visakhapatnam. It was a wonderful drive along the lake shore, which just reminded me of beach road in Vizag.
We went to the Devon Street and had food at an Indian restaurant.
The next day morning, we started late and could go to the Sri Venkateswara temple at Aurora only in the afternoon.Then we started on our way to the city to visit the Sears Towers. The Sears Tower rises to a height of 1,450 feet with 110 floors and is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the Chicago skyline and in the world. The Sears tower held the record for the world’s tallest building for 25 years until the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia were built in 1998. Then in the Fall of 2004 Taipei 101 took all but one title -- tallest to the tips of the antennas, which the Sears Tower still owns.
This is a view from the Sears Towers.
Then we walked our way to the Millennium Park, which is near by.

The Bean or Cloud Gate

Cloud Gate is British artist Anish Kapoor's first public outdoor work installed in the United States. The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city's famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a "gate" to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.

Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high. Cloud Gate sits upon the At&T Plaza, which was made possible by a gift from AT&T.

The pavilion and the bean.
The Pavilion stands 120-feet high, with a billowing headdress of brushed stainless steel ribbons that frame the stage opening and connect to an overhead trellis of crisscrossing steel pipes. The trellis supports the sound system, which spans the 4,000 fixed seats and the Great Lawn, which accommodates an additional 7,000 people.

The Bicentennial Plaza Bridge
Connecting Millennium Park to Daley Bicentennial Plaza, east of the park, this 925-foot-long winding bridge, provides incomparable views of the Chicago skyline, Grant Park and Lake Michigan.

The Crown Fountain

The fountain consists of two 50-foot glass block towers at each end of a shallow reflecting pool. The towers project video images from a broad social spectrum of Chicago citizens, having water flow through a water outlet in the screen to give the illusion of water spouting from their mouths.

After that we headed back to DeKalb to spend the night and get ready for another day of excitement. The one extra day wasn't a preplanned one.

Last day was the most fruitful in the sense of time and visiting places.
That day we have been to Shedd Museum, Navy Pier and a short cruise trip in the Lake Michigan.

Few interesting things that caught our sight in the Shedd Aquarium were

Jelly Fishes

Sea horses

Boa Snakes

Clown Fish

Penguins

The dolphin show was wonderful. That was the best part of the Shedd aquarium.

The Navy Pier

Then we went to The Navy Pier. It is a 3,000 foot long pier on the Chicago shoreline of Lake Michigan. It designed to serve as cool places for public gathering and entertainment.

Before Starting our way back to Bowling Green, we went on a boat ride into the Lake Michigan.