Sears Tower - Chicago - TravBuddy

The Sears Tower is a supertall skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, and the tallest building in the United States since 1973. By the measurement from the ground to the top of the antenna it is the tallest building in the world; it surpassed World Trade Center in this capacity by 58 cm (1.9 ft) via a short extension being installed on one of Sears' antennas on June 5, 2000. By all other measures (official height, roof height, and highest occupied floor) the Sears Tower was always taller than the World Trade Center. Commissioned by Sears, Roebuck and Company, it was designed by chief architect Bruce Graham and structural engineers Srinivasa "Hal" Iyengar and Fazlur Khan of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Moreover, it is also taller than the Petronas Twin Towers, Malaysia when considering either the height to roof, or the height to pinnacle point. By either of these measures, the Sears Tower was only surpassed by the Taipei 101 in 2004.

The Sears Tower Skydeck observation deck on the 103rd floor of the tower is 412 m (1,353 ft) above ground and is a famous tourist attraction. Tourists can experience how the building sways on a windy day. They can see far over the plains of Illinois and across Lake Michigan to Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin on a clear day. It takes about 45 seconds to soar to the top in either of two special elevators. The Sears Tower Skydeck competes with the John Hancock Center's observation floor across town, which is 98 m (323 ft) lower.

A second Skydeck on the 99th floor is used when the 103rd floor is closed. The tourist entrance can be found on the south side of the building along Jackson Boulevard.

If you want to discover how the Sears Tower shape came from, then you must put all 9 cigrates into a square shape, then let them falling one by one.

The Sears Tower stands at 1,450 feet and 110 stories high, Sears Tower is the tallest building in North America and the third tallest building in the world. The tower has a distinct design where it tapers off as the building gets taller.

There's not much to say about the Sears Tower... I thought it was going to be a lot cooler...maybe with a restaurant on top (I was hungry when I went there... but what else is new). You go in, get your ticket, get your photo taken (so you can buy it later---they felt bad for me because I was by myself)... ship you off to a movie room where you get to hear how it was made and the history of sears roebuck and company and how they made their millions... not talking about how they're a dying company now. You wait inline for an elevator and get shipped up to the top floor for the viewing deck where you get to see the city out of smudged windows that show on the photo's you're trying to take.

The one good aspect was that the workers there are very friendly and informative when asking where I should go for dinner

The observation deck at Sears Tower is something that should be seen by any visitor to Chicago. The building itself is 110 stories, I believe the observation deck is on floor 103. The whole floor is an open room, with wall-size windows offering a panoramic view of the city in all directions. The views are terrific! You can see the Chicago River, Lake Michigan, Navy Pier, Soldier Field, and even Wrigley Field if you know where to look. ( They have descriptive maps up there too, to tell you what you are looking at) The center of this large room holds the elevators, rest rooms and gift shops. I believe it is around $10 per person to go up, and the lines can be long! They also show you an 8 minute movie about the building of the tower before the elevators take you to the top. It's the tallest building in the US now, get over any fear of heights and check it out!