It was an absolute sea of Red and Black coming out of the train station, and we worried we wouldn't get anywhere near the team or players. But by avoiding the throng of people walking down Wacker, and zig-zagging a few blocks at a time toward the middle point of the parade route, we got AMAZING spots for the parade.
We decided that, instead of going to the rally point (which we knew would already be a mass of humanity), we'd try to find a spot along the parade route on Washington. We got there 90 min. before the parade started, and found a spot (in the shade most of the time - and right in front of a 7-11!) where we were only 2-deep back from the barrier. By the time the parade started, the men in front of us let Miles and Emery sneak up next to them ... so they could see. (Thank goodness there are still nice people left in the world.) I reciprocated by letting a young woman who was behind me, come up and stand next to me, and use here very nice Nikon camera to shoot pictures over Miles' head. Turns out she works for the Indiana University student newspaper. She was so appreciative of me letting her move up that she took my email address, and told me she'd send me some pictures later. When the parade was over, she followed me and the kids into the streets and started doing - essentially - a family photo-shoot in the streets. The first two pictures in this post are from her.
We didn't plan it this way intentionally, but we were near an El track over-pass for the Loop. So as the double decker buses for the team came by they had to slow way down to make sure no one banged their head as the buses went under the tracks. The net result was that by the time the final bus with Kane (and the cup) came by, the bus STOPPED for about 30 seconds right in front of us. Kane put down his beer long enough to hoist the cup in the air, turned around, and looked right at us. The crowd roared. The picture of the cup in this post is one I took at that moment.
The estimated crowd along the route and at the rally was put at 2-million. (The city had expected 350,000.) I think by the time the parade started there must have been 10-15,000 crowded just in the one city block we were standing in. Really amazing.
Link to a video from our vantage point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbym-5t4M4k
