More Windy City

The plan was to continue our exploration of Chicago with something everybody tells us is an absolutely mandatory experience - an architectural boat tour. Before the tour, we decided to have breakfast by the Mag Mile - we ended up sitting outside at a cafe just by the Chicago Tribune Tower. I feel it's necessary to write a few words about this magnificent building - one of the architectural highlights of Chicago. Built in 1922 in the neo-Gothic style after a competition (Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen's entry actually came second!). One interesting detail about the building - the exterior integrates rocks from various famous buildings from all over the world. Nice idea.

Breakfast out of the way, it was time to head back to the river and catch our boat. Expectations were high thanks to all the good things we'd heard but also the rather steep price tag... And we were certainly not disappointed! Should you ever be in Chicago, this really is one of the mandatory things to do. The 1 1/2 hour cruise gives a great insight into the colourful history of Chicago's architecture. It's interesting to note how the Great Chicago fire of 1871 kind of wiped the cityscape clean, allowing a bunch of creative architects out-impress each others with the most fantastic designs imaginable. This all was made possible by Chicago's location as a major transportation hub and business centre.

There are too many highlights to list here in this blog - but I suppose I ought to mention Sears Tower (oh, sorry, it's actually called Willis Tower these days...), which was the highest building in the world from 1973 to 1998. Today it's the second highest building in the USA and the 12th highest in the world. It's not the prettiest skyscraper in Chicago, but for sure it's one of the most impressive ones...! Quite interesting how it's built up actually - the skyscraper is actually built as a kind of 3x3 matrix - all of the tubes go up to the 50th floor, whereas only 2 tubes remain at the top (all part of a master plan to make the whole thing stand up).

So, fantastic way to spend the morning, then. We spent the afternoon walking around the Gold Coast neighbourhood.  It's a historic neighbourhood that was built up and flourished after the Great Chicago fire. It's where the Creme de la creme used to live (and still does - looked like a pretty trendy place). It's the place to check out pre-skyscraper architecture in Chicago, plenty of impressive Victorian townhouses to be found in this part of town. Oh, and one more important fact: the original Playboy mansion was located here!

We stopped for a coffee at a real Chicago institution - the Public Hotel. Pretty atmospheric place for a surprisingly reasonably priced coffee. There were pictures of what we supposed were famous people - unfortunately we're not familiar enough with local history to recognize most of the folks featured in the photos.

We continued our walk by heading into Lincoln park, or more specifically Lincoln Park Zoo. It's a kind of rare attraction in the USA, since it's completely free! Unfortunately it was kind of closing down for the day when we arrived, so we didn't see that many animals. Still a pretty nice place to walk around...

For dinner, it was time to try another real Chicago speciality - Chicago style deep-dish pizza. We decided to go to one of the most famous places in Chicago for pizza - Giordano's (these days a chain of restaurants, actually). Now, I knew that Chicago pizzas are known for being, well, rather filling, but I still figured I'd be able to handle a medium-sized pizza. Except that it's apparently for 4 people. So, delicious as the pizza was, I ended up opting for the doggy bag option... So, yet another must-do-activity-in-Chicago ticket off the list then!

The next day (2nd last day in Chicago :( ), we decided to head off and explore South Chicago. We started with a quick stroll around Chinatown. Chicago's Chinatown, even if it is a proper Chinatown, does not quite compare to what New York or San Francisco has to offer. Also, it lacked the usual hustle and bustle one would expect to find in a "proper Chinatown" - I suppose mostly due to the fact that it was early morning. Well, we had a very cheap breakfast, at least.

Our next stop was the Prairie Avenue District. It's another part of Chicago that was very fashionable after the Great Chicago fire, and there are still plenty of impressive townhouses left that hark back to those old glory days when this was the place to be for the movers and shakers of Chicago. This historic district also houses the oldest house in Chicago - the Henry B. Clarke House (these days a museum). The house has actually been moved twice - the original location was much more centrally located.

hWe then carried on back towards the loop, or rather towards Museum campus, a part of Chicago that assembles a bunch of important museums as well as an aquarium and planetarium. The Soldier Field (where the Chicago Bears, the local football team, plays) is also located here. It's a pretty nice part of town to walk around, but we weren't feeling very motivated (we'd done a lot of walking over the last couple of days - and my lousy feet weren't getting any better!), especially since the sun kept away hidden behind a cover of clouds). We were treated to some great views over the lakefront and the Chicago skyline, though.

Time for a major dose of culture then - we decided to tackle the Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago is one of the greatest art galleries of the USA, kind of Chicago's answer to the Metropolitan in New York, I suppose. It's certainly a big place, with loads to see. We spent about three hours there in total before reaching a state of saturation (with a break for lunch at Al's Italian Beef again!), mostly concentrating on the impressionist and modern American works of art. I also liked their collections of miniature room replicas from various periods and geographical locations. What can I say ? One of the great art galleries in the world...

For dinner, we decided to try a proper Chicago steakhouse - Gibson's steakhouse. The verdict ? Can't say there was anything wrong with the meat as such, but I was still underwhelmed.

The next day, 'twas unfortunately time to pack our bags and leave Chicago. But, we did have a few hours in the morning to kill before that. We decided to start our last day in Chicago in style - with a proper American breakfast at Yolk. Muffins, fried eggs & potatos, bacon, bring it on!

The weather was quite gloomy, so we opted for a museum, rather than yet more walking around. After quick consultation of our Tripadvisor App on our smartphone we decided to check out the Driehaus Museum. A good choice. The museum is located in a historic townhouse of a rich Chicago banker. Rather than an accurate restoration of the old historic house, it's a kind of showcase of the interior design, furniture and tastes of the Art Nouveau era in Chicago. We really liked the place - all in all a pretty informative visit, and a great way to wrap up our Chicago tour.

We felt rather sad to leave (well, we had a few days in New York to look forward to, so no reason to complain I would say). Chicago was a real relevation for us. I would say it's almost as much a must-place to visit as say New York, Paris or London. In short, a world class city that has it all: architecture, parks, great restaurants, culture, sports and a character all of its own. One of those places I could well imagine visiting again, in spite of the rather long flight...