Chicago part 1

Summary of time:
· Sunshine, and thunderstorms
· Skyscraper city, and a boat tour along the river to learn the architectural history.
· US Tallest tower
· Aquarium & the zoo
· Obama’s home town
· Film in the park – the young Lincoln
· Chicago Hot Dog – everything but ketchup

Handy hints –
§ Hop on/off tours are good for orientation, and seeing some of the other districts
§ Be prepared for all types of weather
§ Check out what’s happening – events, concerts

Info on Chicago.

Springfield is the capital of Illinois, although its big city is Chicago, which sits on Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes of North America (USA & Canada), and the only Great Lake that is only surrounded by American States (Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois & Indiana).
Chicago is the birthplace of the skyscraper. On October 18, 1871 there was a great fire which eliminated the whole of the inner city leaving 90,000 homeless. The story goes it was Mrs O’Leary’s cow that kicked over a lantern (?), and all the buildings being wood soon lit up.
The council then decided the building should be made out of steel, and the first skyscraper was completed in 1885. The Willis Tower (Formerly the Sears Tower) is America’s tallest building, designed by John Hancock.
Moving all the debris and flattening out the land moved the shoreline back, and it was decided that a great park area would be built between downtown and the Lake. After the great fire though, this area was where 90,000 homeless set up temporary accommodation.
Chicago has 27 beaches along the shoreline of Lake Michigan, and over 200 parks and green areas within its city.
With all the new skyscrapers, and business moving in, a decision was made in the 60’s that homes were needed within the downtown area, so small cities within a city were built. The first of these were two tower structures – known as the Corn Cobs, for the design – which contained not only apartments but all the amenities the residents would need – parking, shops, restaurants, cinema and entertainment areas, fitness areas, and parking places for the boats, as the building were on the edge of the Chicago River.
There was much concern over the sewerage of Chicago entering the River, and flowing into Lake Michigan, at this down town area, so plans were designed and instigated, that changed the flow of the river. For about a mile they dredged out the river, and built a new canal heading south, to join up with another river that heads into Lake Michigan, and managed to change the flow of the river. It took many years to complete the process, but it is certainly more pleasant for locals and visitors.



It was quiet nice taking a train across country, although it’s a long journey, as long as the bus, but it does mean you can walk around easier and stretch your legs, on this train there were power points by the seats to plug in laptops, etc. I had food for meals, so i settled down in my seat, and for a large part of the journey had 2 seats to myself, but got company during the night, the seats were not hugely comfortable, but definitely more space than on the bus. I was woken early by the lady behind me, telling her kid off, but not giving anything to play with, how is a 3 yr old boy supposed to entertain himself? Standing on the seat, poking his little sister....being told to sit still and not touch is not entertaining.
Arriving in Chicago, it was also a change in the Time Zone – now on Central time, 6 hours behind the UK. There’s always a bit of nerves that get to me when i get to a new place, making sure i get from arrival place to the hostel without too much hassle. I’d forgotten to write down the instructions for getting to the hostel from the train station, so with the help from a fellow traveller, discovering that the distance was not too far, i decided to take a taxi to the hostel, where i stored my luggage, got a map and then headed off. I had a day to fill, but food first, and then get to grips with orientating myself.
I ventured on out, and it was a warm, sunny day, with a few clouds. I wandered up and down a few streets but eventually got myself to Millennium Park and found the hop on/off buses. You can get a one day or 3 day pass, which would not only give you the downtown tour, but there were 3 additional tours. If you start early you can do all 4 tours in a day, but that means not really getting off anywhere to explore, so i got the 3 day pass, and i could do the north, south and west tour 1 each day, and then just hop on/off on downtown as i needed.
The downtown tour, the starting place is in Millennium Park, but you head off through the skyscrapers of downtown, admiring the changing styles, of the office blocks, hotels, and even residential buildings.
Hotels with helipads and bullet proof glass, liked by the secret service for the visiting president, or the hotel with Big Bar – the world’s largest bar. Jewellery/Gold Store, where the doors are wide enough for the secure cars to drive through them and into the elevators, and to the vaults. Residential places, where the parking has to be done by valets, so that when reversing drivers don’t overshoot the mark and the cars fall off the edge of the building!
Through the Theatre district, where you will see the “Chicago” sign as seen in the film or for the show. Going under the “L”, this is the elevated train system that operates on a loop around down town, and park towards the Millennium Park. Passing the Posh hotels with a view out over the parks, and Lake Michigan, past the Art Institute of Chicago with artist’s names engraved into the stone (and Michel D’Angelo’s is spelt wrong) in Grant Park. Grant Park has many works of art in it, as well as gardens, fountains and seating areas. On the south west corner are many pairs of legs, all “walking”, some close together, others far apart, but all around 8ft tall, so you can walk through, in and around them.
From there you head on past Soldiers Field, looks a bit like a flying saucer- known as mistake on the lake – and is home of the NFL’s Chicago Bears, as well as a venue for concerts, and onto Museum Campus. Many things can be seen here, the Field Museum of Natural History, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, and some other smaller places. Then back on to Lake Shore Drive (referred to LSD), the lake on one side and great views of downtown on the other, heading north and onto Navy Pier (previously a municipal wharf), where there is a children’s museum, Ferris wheel, Imax theatre and many places to eat.
Back into town and up Magnificent Mile, starting with the Tribune building which is not only architecturally interesting in its gothic-ness but also in its bit of buildings from around the country and around the world – places from home i found were, Old General Post Office Dublin, Beaumaris castle Wales, Edinburgh castle, Flodden Field Northumbria. As well as the Berlin wall, Taj Mahal, and many more, the challenge is to see & know them all, which go all round the building at “eye” level. But the magnificent mile, is known for shopping....all the big (expensive) places can be found here, but you may find a shop front, but the actually shop is a block or back! As the route turns off you will see the building not damaged by the fire, the water tower, but not that you would know from the style of them – they are castles. A young man, whilst studying at the university, was inspired by one of the castle designs, and used it as a part of his future ventures – the man was Walt Disney, and the castle can be seen on the logos.
Then on round past the John Hancock tower (he also designed Sears Tower), where there is an observatory on the 94th floor which is less crowded than Sears, and then along Gold Coast, where the wealthy flocked from 1882 to build their mansions. Then through the streets heading south and west, past the old morgue – now a nightclub – past Hard Rock Cafe, and around Wacker Drive to Union Station (which is pretty much all underground, well all the train lines are) and the Sears Tower (recently renamed to the Willis Tower as was bought by a British Firm on the condition that the name was changed to their name) where you can take the elevator to the 103rd floor (1353 ft) and get a 360 degree view of the city (choose the day and time right otherwise you’re in the clouds). In June the opened up “The Ledge” this are glass “boxes” that extend out from the building, where you can stand and look down below.
And then back to Millennium Park, which has nearby a building which used to be the Library. Following the Great Fire, the British where upset that the people of Chicago would have lost their Library, and the books, in the fire, so donated 1,000’s of books, some even from Queen Victoria’s collection. So when the new buildings were built, they built a Library for the books. The irony is that before the Great Fire, they had not had a Library!
I didn’t stop off anywhere this trip as it was more to get my orientation. As there was plenty of time to wait, before getting into the hostel, i decided to do the west tour as well.
The first part of the tour takes you through part of downtown, but you get to go past the federal prison, a nice “Cheese Triangle” shaped building (also sandy-orange coloured), and if you’re lucky you may see some of the inmates in the exercise yard on the top floor. These are federal prisons awaiting sentencing or appealing their sentencing. The West tour, takes you on down to some of the districts (there are 77 in total in Chicago) and in years gone by, if you were from one district you didn’t venture into another area (West side story), there would be stories of the nasty people who lived in another district, and hatred was abound. These days a lot of the hatred has gone, and there is more movement between districts.
Chinatown was originally in downtown, but they were moved about 80 years ago, but the area they are now in is still called New Chinatown, there is much to see in the shops down the main street. It is clear when you move from one district to another, as you pass, major roads, or go under bridges. We then moved onto Little Italy (which also has Irish influences in the bars), before heading to Harpo Studios, and the Oprah stores, where you can buy Oprah’s clothes from the shows.
This weekend was the air show, so despite the clouds, we did get to see some of the planes and jets of the show (although the number was less because of the weather) as we went around the city.
Our final stop was through Greektown, which had also been moved West a block, for the new and improved I94.
Getting back to Millennium Park, i decided to walk through the park to see “The Bean” (official name the Cloud Gate), a 110 ton smooth silver drop sculpture. You get great views of the skyline distorted, and if you go underneath, the reflection of the people are multiplied – all giving great bizarre photos. Other things to see are the 50ft high fountain (rectangle blocks) that projects faces of locals, who will periodically spit out water, it is fun for all ages, to get a little wet or how about the 120ft high swooping silver band shell – this is used as an outdoor modern design gallery, but also the Grant Park Orchestra plays free concerts – or Frank Gehry’s bridge which spans across Columbus Dr, and sweeps round in loops.
Having watched the fountains i started to head back to the hostel, and was near the Art Institute of Chicago when the rain started, at first i was going to carry on, but the rain then started to pelt down, and with no waterproof coat or umbrella, i was going to get seriously wet. I sheltered, with several others, in the entrance to the museum looking down Adams St, when i saw the lightning bolt come down towards the lower buildings on that street, followed immediately by thunder. The rain then was the size of small rocks.
After a while the rain, eased off a bit to almost a drizzle, so i risked it and got back to the hostel. Wet but at least i could get checked in and changed.
The next day it was a cloudy start to the day, so i decided that it was a morning for being inside, so off to the Aquarium – making sure i went to the Shark area, as my nephew has grown a fascination with them. I had thought i would get on the hop on/off bus, save walking, but after being at a stop for a while, and no bus, i decided to walk through Grant Park to Museum Campus.....there are not many people around at 9.30am, a lot of the tourists, where still having breakfast, is was nice and quiet walk. There was hardly a queue for the Aquarium either. I arrived at feeding time in the Caribbean Reef, and then wandered around all the tanks, seeing fishes, & all sorts of life, from the Amazon, Rivers, Lakes, and the local waters. Then it was off to the Oceanarium, which has recently undergone major reconstruction, and the animals are not long back. I saw the otters, dolphins, beluga whales and even a big California Sea Lion, but was a bit of a wait before the training sessions, so i headed off to see the Wild Reef, the fish who live deep – some are real ugly – and learnt about coral, before seeing the sharks, some of them where a reasonable size, i managed to film a bit of the sharks, but it was dark so it was not very successful, but nephew was pleased. Then back to watch the training session for the belugas, i’ve grown to like them, having never really seen them before, they look like big gentle white giants. I was then able to watch the dolphin training session, and preparations for the show they will be doing later in the year. The training sessions, are about getting to know the mammals, doing activities with them, but also making games out of checking them over, they are regularly touching the mammals in a way similar to vet checkups, so when they are needed, it is not stressful to the mammals.