Whilst we left Gena with a recharged Credit Card to hit up the 'Nine West' shoe shop around the corner, Bluey Bailey & I headed up the road to the iconic Wrigley Field for a Tour of this historic baseball field - so named after the Cub's long time owner, William Wrigley of the famous Wrigley's chewing gum fame (did you know that Juicy Fruit was first made in 1893 and so began the world's most popular and successful gum that is still sold today). There is actually a massive history from 1914 up to it being named Wrigley Field in 1927 but it would take too long to explain it all here.
The famous Wrigley Field entrance
Back to the tour - we were off to a good start as Bluey remembered the camera this time. There was a group of about 50 (and at $25/person with 6 tours a day, they may be making more money on tours than baseball?) and off we went on our tour. We sat down in some bloody nice seats behind home plate, while Tom - our tour guide - gave us quite a good history of Wrigley Field - why it was built, how it ended up as the Cubs home field, and why the famous Ivy Wall is there. During the tour we got access to the 'Budweiser Party Deck', the bleachers, the away team's dug-out & clubhouse. A place where player's like Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig and even Michael Jordan (remember he tried to play professional baseball after he retired from basketball) have sat. To finish off we went up to the press box, went down into the Cubs 'Cubhouse', and back out onto the field. I'll admit the 2nd oldest stadium in MLB (behind Boston's Fenway Park) - built in 1914 - is just as nice as the new ones!
The view from the Press Box
Our tour guide, Tom, giving us some amazing insight into this storied stadium
A view of the Ivy Wall from the Budweiser Party Deck - notice the stands up the back of the picture......
...... they are actually over the street from the ground and sold each game by the
building owners who sell the tickets inclusive of food and beverages
Wrigley Field's iconic Scoreboard - the only manually operated scoreboard in MLB
is now Heritage listed, thus will remain at Wrigley Field as long as it stays erected
Inside the Cubs Clubhouse
Bailey & Riley sitting in the Cubs' dugout
When we got back to Gena, she let us know she bought 2 pairs of shoes - 8 pairs less then I expected her to buy since they are 80-90% cheaper then what they are in Austalia. We got a quick bite to eat before we were on the bus headed for down town Chicago. First on the agenda was the John Hancock Observatory, the second tallest building in the city. It gave us a guided tour to go with the 360 degree view in the heart of the city.
Once this was done we were straight on to a cruise down Chicago River highlighting all the architectural features in the city. Wow, there is a sh*t load of thought put into some of these buildings! But with all the hard work it pays off with the end results, Chicago is actually used as the scenes in Gotham City for the Batman trilogy of movies. There are also what are called 'hovering skycrapers' which are basically 80 storey buildings, built on 3 feet of cement, above the train lines. Somehow they focus all the weight at the top of the building instead of at the base, but photos cannot do it justice at all!
Once the cruise was finished we crashed back at our room, getting some dinner from an asian store down the street, photos coming soon.
~Riley.
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