Navy Pier

Today I spent walking around a bit more.  I decided to go to the lakefront, which isn't all that far away from my hotel - probably less than a mile, and you can go along the Riverwalk for most of it, which is nicer than the normal streets above with all the traffic on them.

It was another pleasant summer day, and not too hot.  

On the way, I came across a large plaza with an mini-exhibition in it - it was the Lego Formula 1 display, featuring a Red Bull Formula 1 car made, obviously, out of Lego.  These really are well done and look so realistic from not that great a distance.

That was the star attraction, although that had a model-building area for children to make their own cars or anything else.

After that, I went for a walk along to Navy Pier, which is a pleasure pier that juts out into Lake Michigan.

There are plenty of statues, floral displays and fountains to be seen, plus the amusement arcades and fast-food restaurants.

Everywhere remains really busy as this is the final weekend of the official summer holidays for Americans, so many families were making the most of the final opportunity of going somewhere.

It was quite tricky to get photographs without lots of people in the backgrounds. 

The pier is just slightly north of the centre of town.  It has a private marina on its north side and the delta of the Chicago river on its south side, so it is possible to get good photos of the Chicago skyline - or at least the Southern part of it!

There is a walking and cycling trail that runs along the shoreline.  There's local laws that prevent any buildings that are not public amenities from being built anywhere near the shoreline, which has helped keep it all open and accessible.