July 12

Final post for this holiday. Today we visited the Titan Missile Museum south of Tucson on the site of one of the cold war missile sites, now decommissioned and made into a national landmark. There were 12 of these sites around Tucson during the cold war. These missiles were the most powerful and longest range missiles in use at the time.

Missile nose cone

The entrance to the control room was through a thick steel door then a
1.2m solid concrete wall and another steel door.

Control room. Note the large steel spring in the corner.
This was to protect against earthquakes caused by a nuclear explosion nearby

The entire corridor was lined with shock absorbers

the hazard suits were for filling the missile with fuel which was highly toxic.
The fuel was a two part mix that self ignited removing the need
for an ignition system other than a means of feeding the two parts together.

The missile in its silo ready for launch - though it's no longer
fueled or armed of course.

The missile's stage one rocket engine.

July 4

In Fredericksburg, Texas, second largest wine area in the States. A bit like the Barossa Valley in that it was settled by German migrants 170 years ago so lots of German influence. The only drawback is that here they charge for wine tasting so we only went to a couple of wineries. There were some very good wines!

Fredericksburg Bank - now a shop

Fredericksburg library

Vereins Kirche - the first church in Fredericksburg, built around 160 years ago

July 2

Final Day in Chicago I visited the Frank Wright House Museum. Perhaps the greatest American Architect, his designs were innovative and clever at lots of levels. The house he built for himself and his wife in Oak Park Chicago when they were first married (in 1889) has been restored to its original state. In the surrounding area there are several other houses he designed in his spare time while working for a large architectural company.

July 1

In Chicago after a 4 hour delay on arrival due to a thunderstorm that meant we diverted to Detroit for an hour's wait. On Monday we took the Architectural River Cruise looking at the amazing architecture of this city. It was worth sitting out in the blazing sun (~35deg) to see what a series of great architects have created here. There are lots of Art Deco buildings as a result of the city growing quickly following the great Chicago fire in the late 1800s.


The Chicago River joins Lake Michigan via a lock as the lake is about a metre higher than the river.

Chicago building

Wrigley Building

Trump building - one of the few left in the world with his name on it.

Drawbridge control room

Mercantile Mart building

Wrigley Building

Tribune Building

Chicago skyline with Willis Tower (once the Sears Tower)
once the tallest building in the world

Lock between river and Lake Michigan

June 29

Our last day in St Petersburg. We did some sightseeing around the city then visited the Faberge Museum (fabulous!) then the Peter and Paul Fortress built (you guessed it) by Peter the Great. Another Beautiful Russian Orthodox church. This one is the burial place of the family members of the Tsars, including the one niece who survived the Revolution and was finally buried only a couple of years ago.

Art Deco apartment building

Catherine the Great monument

Art Deco building

Faberge Egg

Faberge Egg Clock

Renoir Painting

St Peter & Paul Fortress Church

St Peter & Paul Fortress Church

 

Tombs of Alexander II and his wife

Peter the Great