Exploring Chicago!

Holiday time again! This time our destination was the US of A. We'd been keen to repay a visit to New York. But, we figured it'd be a good ideas to combine our visit to the Big Apple with something else. So after some research, we ended up on deciding on spending a few days in Chicago, before heading off to New York.


Didn't really know what to expect of Chicago, really. Everybody knows Al Capone comes form Chicago, and I knew it was rather famous for its architecture, but apart from that, I didn't know much about Chicago.

After a routine flight (which allowed me to catch up on the latest movie offering of Hollywood, as always), we arrived at O'Hara airport. After getting through immigration, we jumped on the "L" train (the L is short for Elevated) and headed for the Lincoln Park neighbourhood, where our Airbnb flat was located. Turns out I'd messed up the instructions for getting to the flat a bit, so we ended up heading into the town centre for nothing, but eventually found the flat, located in a nice, lush neighbourhood with Victorian-era flats.

After meeting our host, we decided to head out straight away to explore the neighbourhood. We decided to head off to Lincoln Park (the neighbourhood is named after a big park by the lakeside (Chicago is located on Lake Michigan). It was getting a bit dark by the time we arrived, but it was still pretty nice to walk around the park, checking out the local kids playing baseball, and people just strolling about. We ended up having dinner at a nice enough BBQ place (named Wrigley's BBQ - I suppose due to the proximity to the legendary Baseball stadium Wrigley Park).

The next morning, we got up bright 'n early, keen to properly explore Chicago. We decided to take the "L" to the Loop (which is what the downtown area is called - so named, apparently, because of the tramway that "looped around the downtown area). We were pretty much immediately impressed by the skyscrapers surrounding us. Downtown Chicago certainly impresses pretty much the way Manhattan does. What's great about Chicago is that it's managed to preserve the historic buildings better than New York has - there are plenty of amazing examples of late 19th century and 20th century architecture all over the downtown area.

We decided to do a themed walk around the loop (the theme being public art). We were treated to works of art from such notables as Pablo Picasso (an unnamed 50-feet statue weighing no less than 160 tons), Marc Chagall (the four seasons mosaic artwork) and many others. But the highlight was still the amazing architecture. We really adored the art deco Chicago Board of Trace, dating back to 1930 (adorned with a statue of Ceres on the top), the Marquette building, the First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple (a sky scaper church, with a gorgeous interior), the Harold Washington Library Center (the main public library in Chicago - housing a beautiful glass-roof topped garden at the top), just to mention a few of the highlights. We were impressed.

For lunch, we decided to go for a real Chicago institution - Al's Italian Beef. This down-to-earth fast food joint was made famous by that brilliant food show Man Vs. Food (well, it was of course famous even before then). Their concept is deceptively simple - they serve a delicious beef sandwich. And what's so special about this sandwich ? Well it's basically they dip the sandwich in the gravy in which the meat has been cooked (the recipe is of course top secret). The end result ? An absolute delight, and for about the price of a Big Mac menu. Yummie!

Our appetites sated, we headed off to another Chicago landmark - Millenium Park. Located between Lake Michigan and the legendary Michigan avenue, Millenium park was an ambitious city landscaping project conceived to welcome the new millenium. OK, it got a bit delayed, but the end result is pretty stunning, a real showcase of modern architecture (in the positive sense of the word). There are several architectural gems, including a big pavillion for hosting events, the crown fountain and most notable, Cloud Gate. It's a kind of sphere shaped reflective steel structure, which reflects & distorts the Chicago skyline and the surrounding park. A really cool place!

We continued our stroll along the afore-mentioned Michigan avenue. Often known as the Magnificent Mile, or the Mag Mile, it's THE place to go shopping if you've got money. Plenty of fancy department stores, impressive skyscrapers, fancy hotels, and so forth. The spot where Michigan avenue crosses the Chicago river is where the Chicago skyline is arguably at it's most beautiful - with the imposing Wrigley Buildings and the neo-Gothic Chicago tribute building "standing guard" on both sides of the Magnificent mile.

We popped over for Garret's for their (justly) famous popcorns, and then ended up doing a bit of shopping at Macy's. I took the opportunity to visit the Chicago Sport's museum. Chicago has no shortage of famous sport teams, from the amazing Chicago Bulls, to the Chicago Blackhawks (one of the best hockey teams during the past decade) and the "lovable losers" (they haven't won the world series for 106 years!) a.k.a. The Chicago Cubs who play at Wrigley Park, near our flat.

We then headed back to the flat, rather nackered after an energetic day (well, as energetic as it could be considering my feet decided to give me all sorts of trouble since a bit of a sports overdose before our holidays. For dinner, we decided to go for a vegetarian meal (SAY WHAT?!) in nearby Boystown (yes, that would indeed by the gay neighbourhood of Chicago). I had a vegetarian burger, and, well, let's say I prefer the meat version!

The next day, we decided to head down to Oak Park, a nice leafy neighbourhood in the Western part of Chicago. The reason for going to Oak Park is mostly that Frank Lloyd Wright had his home and studio here for many years (actually Ernest Hemingway also used to live here). s The walk from the "L" station to Wright's house was a pleasant one. Oak Park is a kind of idealistic version of what an American suburb should be like, at least in my mind. Beautiful wooden houses with well-kept little gardens lining up the streets.

Visiting Mr. Wright's house was rather an interesting experience. His house was a bit of a architecture laboratory where he tried out new techniques which he would later apply in his more famous buildings. Now, I'm not such a huge fan of all of Wright's buildings, but I really love his interior design and furniture, and this house is a showcase for it. We were also lucky enough to have an excellent guide who gave a great insight into Wright's life, work and influences.

Having checked out his house, we walked around for a bit more in the neighbourhood, which contains numerous architectural gems. Wright designed quite a few of the houses in the area, some of which are pretty cool (others less so - looking a bit like predecessors to some rather ugly architecture we had in the 60's and 70's at least as far as my admittedly untrained eye could tell). Plenty of nice and impressive Victorian town houses as well.

On the way back to the town centre, we walked by Hemingway's house (we didn't feel like visiting another house so decided to carry on without checking out the interior), where we had another brilliant Chicago speciality - a hotdog (as tradition dictates, with mustard rather than ketchup!).

Lunch out of the way, we headed back to downtown Chicago on the L train. We had a walk around the Chicago river area (and taking in the stunning architecture on view - including the rather imposing 423 meter Trump Tower - the third highest building in the US). We then headed on to Navy Pier, which is one of the biggest tourist attractions of Chicago. I can't for the life of me understand why. It's a bit like a less charming and even more commercialized version of Pier 39 in San Francisco (which is vastly overrated to, if you ask me). OK, I suppose it's a nice place if you have kids. Anyway, to be said in Navy Pier's defence, the views towards downtown are great, and they do sell beer ;-)

Having checked out the "unmissable" Navy Pier, we headed back towards downtown, walking north along Lake Michigan, checking out all the sporty Chicagoans having a run or cycling, and enjoying the great views and the sunshine (we were starting to feel luck with the weather, 2nd day of stunning sunshine - none of the fickle weather Chicago is so famous for so far!).

We ended our walk at the John Hancock building (a measly 344 meters high...). The plan was to head up to the top and check out the view (apart from the famous Sears tower, this is THE place to check out the Chicago skyline). But before that - Cheesecake factory - THE place to have a cheesecake. We were even prepared to queue for a table (well, maybe me more than Mathilde, to be honest ;-). And the verdict ? Well, we didn't particularly like the place (it does have a certain, hmm, mass-industry feel to it), but there's no faulting them cheesecakes, that's for sure!

And as for the view from the top ? Predictably impressive... I'm not always such a big fan of these panoramic towers, but in places like New York and Chicago, you just need to see the skyline from the top. So, in spite of the hefty entrance fee, I was at least happy enough to fork out the cash. The view from Hancock tower is particularly great due to its strategic location close to Lake Michigan, along the Mag Mile (so plenty of interesting buildings in sight) - the rivalling Sears tower is located a bit further away from the prettier parts of Chicago.

For dinner, we decided to head West of the Loop, a trendy area for bar-hopping and eating out. We figured chances were slim as far as getting a table without a booking was concerned, but after trying out a couple of places, we ended up in a Japanese restaurant (surprise, surprise!). Not exactly like dining out in Japan, but the food was excellent and the place had a nice, trendy vibe to it. So a perfect way to end a perfect day, then!