Yes, yes, I’m here in the office at my PC, but it’s not very nice outside right now (thunderstorm this morning, more rain expected later!) so I don’t mind too much.
The official fireworks in Chicago were on July 3rd in Grant Park (not sure why it’s a day early but who am I to argue with tradition?) When we got down there the place was thronged with people. Estimates of last year’s attendance are around 1.5 million people! I’d believe it. Here’s a pic of people leaving – all we could see in front of us was a sea of humanity, the same if we turned around!
I took a lot of photos of the fireworks but unfortunately I only had a small tripod, and some guy decided to stand up right in front of us after we had been sitting, and waiting patiently for an hour.. *grrr* When I swapped places I had to contend with a woman sitting on a collapsible chair.
Here’s what the final fireworks display was like. You’ll also get an idea of how close we were. For photography I should have been further back a bit maybe.
Despite the crowds we got onto the L and off home within 20 minutes. If you didn’t have a transit card ready you were in for a wait though as there were long queues at the vending machines.
Here’s a few of the fireworks from July 3rd.
I saw the fireworks last night at Navy Pier too. The show was shorter but better – the fireworks were mostly synchronised to music, and the shapes such as smiley faces and stars appeared in the sky which I’d never seen before! Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera, so no pics from that night.
Going home was mostly uneventful. There was a huge crowd at the Red Line Grand Station, but as half the vending machines broke down they left everyone through without paying. That was a big bonus for me as my 7 day pass expired 4 hours previously!