The Leaning Tower YMCA is home to this urban tribute to one of the most famous towers in the world. It's just so random..You're driving along this really blah and ho hum street and bam! You see a fake Leaning Tower of Pisa ahead of you!
Built 75 years ago , the Leaning Tower of Niles is a half size replica of the one that stands in Pisa, which has been the sister city of Niles since 1991. The Tower was built by Chicago industrialist Robert A. Ilg to hide a water tower that serviced two swimming pools. When he died in 1964, he left the tower to the nearby YMCA which now bears its name. Check out this link to someone else's blog post about the tower here
Too bad people can no longer go inside and climb to the top. By the way, I noticed that I'm wearing the same damn jacket in nearly every photo of our Chicago trip. Believe me, it was pretty cold (well, not freezing) and poor old spoiled Southern Cal girl that I am, was not liking it. Normally my wardrobe varies more than this!
Last night when we drove by, there were several tourists taking pix of themselves. There was no one today except us. On a more morbid ntoe, I wonder if anyone ever tried jumping off this thing?
Plaque at the Tower...
Another view...you can see one of the side pools here.
This was one of the "junk" snacks TC bought at H-Mart, Kancho by Lotte, a South Korean sweets maker (known for their "crunky" chocolate bars). These are similar to these Japanese Koala cookies, except their box is shaped like an octagon. What's funny is the name, "Kancho", which is some sort of pranklike game that school children in Japan do to other people. 
To "Kancho" someone, you put your hands together Charlie's Angels style (with your index fingers pointing out), like you're pointing a gun, then you forcefully ram it up someone's ass, preferably when they're not looking. You heard that right. OMFG! What kind of fkg game is that? My friend C from the blog Life on Manitoulin used to be an English school teacher in Japan and said that kids did that a lot over there! Hopefully not to her!To learn more about this questionable (but funny!) practice, click here! You may also observe the proper hand form here! Make sure to "do it right" okay? Their store also has several t-shirts on sale, like "Kancho University" or "I (heart) Kancho", and my all time favorite, "WWJK?" (Who Would Jesus Kancho?). I'd wear that to the Vatican and say, "Yo, what's up Pope Ben?"!
