Chicago has always been one of my favorite cities. I have been there 2 times in the past few years and was so excited to take the boys there. We started our day at the museum of Science and Industry. I had read about this museum and thought it would be a great educational and entertaining experience for the boys. I was wrong, it wasn't only great for the boys it was a educational experience for us adults too. This was by far one of the best museums we have ever been too. It had something for everyone. I was blown away by the U-505 submarine. This is the only German u-boat in the United States. Not only was it fully intact and you could tour inside of it, but it also has an amazing history. During World War 2 the Germans used u-boats or submarines to kill over 55,000 soldiers. Hundreds of defenseless merchant ships were also brutally attacked. In response the Allies formed convoys, consisting of up to 200 merchant ships, which were escorted across the Atlantic by escort carriers and destroyers. When a U-boat attacked a convoy, the destroyers launched explosive underwater depth chargers and hedgehog bombs in an effort to thwart the submerged submarines. Hitler countered by forming groups of U-boats, called Wolfpacks, to wreak havoc on the convoys. In March 1943, the largest Wolfpack of the war- more than 40 U-boats strong- attacked two convoys made up of 100 Allied ships. Twenty-one merchant ships were sent to the bottom. By 1943 the U.S Navy decided that they were tired of being the hunted and decided to be hunter. They created special antisubmarine escort ships and dispatched them in Units called Hunter-Killer Task Groups. May 1944, Hunter-Killer Task Group 22.3 which consisted of a small aircraft carrier escort named USS Guadalcanal and five light destroyer escorts. USS Guadalcanal used its fighter planes and torpedo bombers to hunt for U-boats. Once located the pilot would shoot down at the water so that the others would know where the U-boat was so they could send their underwater depth chargers. Their goal was to not destroy but capture the German U-boat. Captain Gallery and his fleet tracked a target U-boat for 2 months. After loosing the U-boat they were ordered back to refuel when the U-boat was once again detected. June 4, 1944 they attacked. To make a very long story short, they were able to capture the U-boat and the 58 German soldiers (there was only one fatality) inside the sub. They then had to get the boat to Bermuda without it sinking (which was difficult because the German soldiers did everything in their power to sink the sub before evacuating) this was over 2,500 nautical miles. All this had to be done without the German's knowing that the U-boat was captured. Once in Bermuda the US had control of the German Code books and military secrets. This ended the brutal attacks of German U-boats and eventually played a role in ending the war. I also thought it was interesting that the US was allowed to go against the Third Genevia Convention by not allowing any of the 58 German soldiers to correspond with anyone. They were thought to be dead by their family and friends. (The German government told the families that the ship had sunk). So in 1947 I'm sure many loved ones had the shock and celebration of their lives when they found out that their sons were alive and heading home.
The museum had so many other amazing exibits as well we didn't even have time to see half of them. The others to top my list was planet earth, the nasa section, fingerprint lab and the coal mine (if we had more time). If you ever get the chance to go to this musuem make sure you have all day!
After the museum we took a cab ride downtown. We headed to pizzeria Uno for lunch. The pizza's takes 45 min so we put our order in and waited. We ordered calamari as an appetizer. Peyton loves it (he loves to eat almost all things that come from the sea) Tanner and Sterling think its disgusting. The pizza and my salad finally arrived (we were starving). I hate to say it, but the boys weren't to fond of Chicago pizza. They like the thinner crust, less cheese pizza that they grew up on. After pizza we walked a lot. Sterling has been having some muscle problems and was really having a hard time on our long scenic walk. We are getting a little worried about him, please keep him in your prayers. We finally made our way to the free trolley and took a ride around town. We got off at the John Hancock building (the second tallest building in Chicago). A nice lady in the shuttle told us that we could ride for free to the top of the building if we go up to the restaurant or bar. So we saved the $15 per person and headed up. While in the elevator another lady mentioned that the best view was from the ladies restroom. Boy was she right! The window on the 95Th floor of the ladies restroom stretched from floor to ceiling and was about 20 feet long. It was amazing. I stood in there taking pictures for a long time figuring the boys were doing the same in their restroom. Come to find out that the men's restroom had no window at all! This is the first time in history that it payed to be a women when it came to peeing and restrooms! Peyton snuck into the women's restroom to enjoy the view with me (he decided that this was the first time that it payed to be the youngest). After the view we went to borders and then visited the girradelly chocolate store and the hershey store which were conveniently located across the street from each other. After much more walking and then another bus we finally made it back to our RV.
Tip of the day - stop into chocolate stores often, they almost always give you free samples! Yum!
