Weekend in Chicago – Sears Tower and Hancock Building

My son has a thing for tall buildings. He knows the name and hight of all the tallest buildings in the world. We started early the second day and headed over to the Sears Tower or Willis Tower as it’s called today. This tower was the tallest building in the world for nearly 25 years and the tallest in America until 2014 when One World Trade Center in NYC was completed. Sears Tower is a 110 story and 442 meters high skyscraper, completed in 1973. The observation deck is a popular tourist destination, so we wanted to get there early. Since the last time I visited the Skydeck, it was extended with glass balconies, called the Ledge, where you can look straight down. My kids loved it even though the glass balcony was pretty scary at first. The view from here is spectacular, I love the east view of the Lake Michigan, which is one of the worlds largest fresh water lakes.

The Ledge

When we got back down, we walked to the Millennium Park. My daughter wanted to see “The Bean” or Cloud Gate which is the name of the sculpture.

We wanted to have lunch at the The Signature Room at 95th floor in the Hancock building, but we were too late to get a table. We went up to The Signature Lounge at the 96th floor instead, to enjoy the view. I think I like this view even better than the Sears Tower’s. It’s located on the Michigan Avenue, right next to Lake Michigan and you can see the Sears Tower from here.