Tuesday July 13th

Here we are again in a not sunny but very humid Toronto!  We have been here two days now and we are, of course, enjoying seeing Kate and Derek no end.

But . . . quickly back to Chicago, which we enjoyed far more than we ever imagined and have decided, not entirely surprisingly, that one day is nowhere near enough to do it justice.  The boat tour was terrific and we were almost as impressed with the guide's ability to talk non-stop for an hour and a half as we were with her knowledge and the architecture itself. Many of the buildings were just magnificent and seeing them from the Chicago River was great.  This photo shows two of the most impressive - the Wrigley Building on the left and the Tribune Tower on the right, with the Chicago River and the Michigan Bridge in front.

We also spent some time in Millennium Park in which there was an arts festival over the weekend, so it was very busy with all sorts of exciting things.  An orchestra was playing in the impressive outdoor theatre and lots of visitors were enjoying the amazing Cloudscape sculpture, a huge bean-shaped mirror sculpture in which the city skyline reflects, as you can see in this photo (with Murray carefully positioned in front!)

Now, back to Toronto! It is very hot and humid here, so Murray is thriving.  We have had a bit of a look around - wandered around Chinatown yesterday and today we visted the Art Gallery of Ontario, where our very favourite work was a series of sculptures in which the artists had carved into the timber to expose the "original" tree within.  This photo shows the best  - a pieceof tree trunk in which the inner tree has been exposed. It is truly amazing!

And here is something for my "green" friends! In the streets of Chinatown I have seen the best ever solution to recycling old cars and here it is:

And for all the rellies and friends, here is a photo of Kate and Murray in the kitchen of Derek and Kate's apartment! Tomorrow we are off to Niagara so eventually I am sure we will provide an awe-inspiring account of that trip. Murray is really looking forward to seeing the difference as he last visited there with Kate in January and things were considerably more icy and cold than we are hoping for tomorrow!