The windy city

Chicago

August 17 2007

Debating as to whether we should see Chicago in a guided tour in trolley buses, hopping on or off to see places using the hop on and off buses and sightseeing on our own, we set out to Chicago Downtown at about 0930 from Evanston. First is a train ride from Noyes (this is the Evanston Underground station) to Howard, which is the outermost limit to Evanston. Its takes about 10minutes using the Purple line (recollect that all major cities in US have same kind of underground metro system with red, blue, yellow etc lines)...and then we took a red line from Howard to Lake (this is downtown Chicago). The latter took about an hour. Once we were out, it was close to 1115 and with no breakfast, we were famished. And no surprises there, we came across a Subway. Having fortified ourselves for the next few hours (I was to discover that this was to be defined as two hours as far as Sagar is concerned) we set out to see the nearest attraction to Michigan Avenue (thats where the Subway was) which was the Chicago Bean followed by the Art Institute.

Located in the Millenium park, the Chicago Bean also called, the 'Cloudgate' was built it seems, by an British Indian!..According to net sources, Cloud Gate is British artist Anish Kapoor's first public outdoor work installed in the United States. The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city's famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a "gate" to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives. Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high. Cloud Gate sits upon the At&T Plaza, which was made possible by a gift from AT&T. Referred lovingly as 'The Bean' by Chicagoans, I think the kidney shaped structure reminds me of two things - one, marvels of human invented technology and other, that an Indian has created it.

The Art Institute has three levels, and we had less than three hours. Well, this was still when we were debating whether to catch the 'hop off and on bus' which runs from 8.00am - 4.00pm..well, we gave ourselves about two hours. We had decided more or less on the first and second levels, and a selected number of gallaries in them. We started with the Impressionism and Postimpressionism..It was mostly paintings in the beginning starting with the French paintings, followed by the Italian (these were the best and better than the French). The Italian paintings were HUGE and better looking in terms of intricacy, detail and projection. These were paintings from 1400s upto 1800s...thats quite a coverage! There were also the ' Flemish' paintings which I learnt that originates from Belgium. In terms of the type of paintings there were the oil on canvas (this was the most numerous), oil on panel, tempera on panel ( tempera painting is one where the pigment is ground in a water-miscible medium). The sculptures soon started making their appearance as we passed onto the Italian and Flemish exhibits. This is the most memorable part of the Art Institute visit, as I dont remember the last time when I took time to actually look at the paintings and take pictures of them. We also took a look at the Arms and Armor section, wondering how the people of the era were strong enough to even lift or wear the suits made of iron..phew!

The visit to the Art Institute done, it was time to sneak into 'My Thai' restaurant and stuff ourselves more or refill depending on the subject, and then we took a cab to the Field Museum, which was located on Lake Shore Drive. Among the featured exhibitions of 2007, the only ones that we could see for free (this means on a general ticket common for everybody and were also called the permanent) were The Ancient Americas, Sue and Africa. Among the ticketed exhibits, we decided to go for Underground Adventure, which we severely regretted, as it was really meant for kids less than probably ten years old, and we quickly escaped to the Ancient Americas. Here we had plenty to look forward to, starting with Pueblites, and going through almost 13000 years of human ingenuity and development long before the Europeans arrived on the Americas. According to the website(http://www.fieldmuseum.org/ancientamericas/exhibition.asp) , it has about 2200 artifacts! Next in line was the exhibits about the birth of centralised government societies - Zapotec, Maya, Teotihuacan, Moche, and Wari. They talk about how the three things that are all important to human societal survival and development - economy, military and religion. Next came the Empire Builders - Aztec! The first striking thing about their civilisation - hunger for power and rule over different ethnic groups..the sunstone replica is an amazing exhibit, and according to the website - The Aztec Sun Stone Replica A full-sized replica of the original—which weighs 22 metric tons and measures 12 feet in diameter—the Sun Stone commemorates the Aztec understanding of the universe and is perhaps one of the most famous Aztec artifacts...well, that being the highlight of the field museum visit, we loittered around the Ancient Egyptian and African Exhibits, with brief stops in the Greek and Roman sections to take pictures. The museum was to close at 1700 and we scuttled out of there, and with no luck with the cabs (there was a never ending line with no apparent discipline) we just started walking towards the Michigan Avenue in hope of getting one. It started to rain and Luck Goddess certainly wasnt on our side.

We had The Navy Pier and the Sears tower in mind, and with the rain we thought it would be best to make it to the Sears tower. We could see the tower alright, and we decided to walk to it..well, the path to it was certainly not a straight one, and we soon found ourselves taking more and more 'right turns'..but..we did hit land in the end. It was close to 1800. We were on S.Wacker Drive and the Skydeck reminded me of the trip we had made to the Prudential in Boston. Facts I found about Sears Tower and echoed in the movie that we watched before boarding the elevator to the 103rd floor. The elevator took just about 15 seconds or so to reach the top..and not to mention the 'entertainment' provided within the 15 seconds! Here are some facts about the tower - You’ll see the best view and best overview of Chicago. At 1,353 feet (412 meters), the Skydeck is the highest observatory in Chicago. The view is amazing! You can see 40 – 50 miles (65 - 80 kilometers) on a clear day. Imagine seeing Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, just by walking around the Skydeck. And there’s no finer view of Chicago architecture. Little-known facts about the Western Hemisphere's tallest building

The Sears Tower is 1,450 feet (443 meters) high - 1,730 feet (520 meters) including twin antenna towers.

The Skydeck is 1,353 feet (412 meters) above the ground.

The lowest level of Sears Tower is 43 feet (13 meters) below the Franklin St. elevation.

The combined weight of the building is 222,500 tons - that's 445,000,000 lbs. or 201,849,000 kg.

The cost of building the Sears Tower was in excess of $150 million.

The Sears Tower, opened in 1973, took 3 years to build.

The building has 4.5 million gross square feet (418,064 gross square meters) of floor space.

On a clear day, you can see four states - Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. Visibility from the Skydeck is approximately 40-50 miles (65 - 80 kilometers). (But on this day the 17th of August, 2007 we could see only about few miles, and we could see a difference in weather from one direction to another!)

The average sway of the building is approximately 6 inches (152 millimeters) from true center.

The Sears Tower has approximately 16,100 bronze-tinted windows.

6 roof-mounted robotic window washing machines clean all 16,100 windows.

Sears Tower elevators operate as fast as 1,600 feet (488 meters) per minute - among the fastest in the world.

The Sears Tower contains 25,000 miles (40,223 kilometers) of electrical cable.

Approximately 43,000 miles (69,200 kilometers) of telephone cable runs through the building.

The Sears Tower was designed for more than 12,000 occupants.

Approximately 25,000 people enter the building each day.

Approximately 1.3 million tourists visit the Skydeck each year.

North View - Chicago Tribune Freedom Center, Wrigley Field, Lincoln Park Zoo, John Hancock Center and Water Tower place.

South View - Field Museum, Soldier Field, McCormick place, Chinatown, US Cellular field and Chicago Fire Academy.

West View - Little Italy, University of Illinois, Rush Presbyterian Hospital, Greektown, United Center and Historic Randolph Center.

East View - This is the Lake Michigan View...the shoreline was just breathtaking. One can view Aon center, Navy Pier, Millenium Park, Grant Park, Buckingham fountain, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium and Northerly island..most of the places mentioned above were not visited by me, but collected from information brochures and associating them with what I saw.

Well, it was about 1900 when we got done and we decided to get to Evanston for dinner...so the route of red line first and then purple line followed and we were seated soon in a totally empty Mandarin restaurant in Evanston by 2030..I had Hot and Sour soup and Pa-jun which is a sort of vegetable pancake. Sagar had a proper meal, and we just got back home like good kids. Thats pretty much about Downtown, Chicago!

September 1 2008 - Labor day weekend

This time I decided to go to Chicago, and cover the places I hadnt been to last time. Downtown is fairly huge, and we walked along 'The Magnificient Mile' quite a bit. This was the first time I decided to stay overnight at Chicago, and do justice to the city by taking a night cruise around the Chicago river and wrap it up with a fireworks display to mark the Labor day celebrations as well as to mark the end of an enjoyable summer. We stayed at a hostel booked through hostelworld.com and I thought it was a pretty good deal to get a room for 50$ in downtown...Here are the places that we visited in order-

A good greek restaurant for lunch - Here I enjoyed a type of Rose wine called White Zinfandel. It was good, a bit sweet. I thought refilling was free and much to my embarassment I had to tell the waiter I was good with one drink. An extremely filling lunch, we didnt bother eating for the rest of the day.

Our first stop of the day was the Art Institute on Michigan Avenue. We had about 1.5hours till close time of 5.00pm..and nevertheless decided to look around as much as we could. I have already been there before with Sagar, and I was rather bored with all sections, except the photography section which I think I skipped last time. A particular exhibit was interesting in that the photographer had created a photo of a woman, edited it at various parts and created a replica of it by pasting together small but photos with just the right colour, light and composition such that when you look at the two photos from a distance, they looked the same!! So what is the difference between a professional photographer and a creative one? If the professional one starts getting creative, I wonder if he is any different from an amatuer?? It was interesting to see this one though.

Our next stop was the Buckingham fountain and the Millenium Park, all very much on Michigan Avenue, or rather parallel to it, on Lakeshore drive. Nothing more new to describe compared to last time.

The river cruise by Wendella boats is 23$ per head, and I think it was the best deal I got for that night. It included a 90min tour of chicago, ending with the fireworks display. The 90min tour was interesting and I learnt a few interesting facts. For one thing, Chicago is called The Windy city not because of the winds that blow through the city, but for political reasons. Chicago, I believe was contending for the Columbian Convention that is held every 4 years or so, and the politicians wanted to 'push' the city forward and started using 'big' words to describe the city's powess, and the journalists tagged it the windy city, since the politicians were just making 'winds'...Also I am able to better identify the skyscrapers more, after the guide pointed out many of them on the way. The Aon building for example, and the Rigley's building...the Michigan Avenue is full of them. What can I say of the fireworks? They were awesome.

Our first stop next day was for breakfast at a cafe nearby. I was surprised at the service. It was the heaviest breafast I have ever had, and a healthy one too. I have started eating eggs outside these days. Somehow they are making me feel a bit stronger. We had purchased a 2-day visitor pass for just 9$ and we could use it on any mode of transport. I was rather proud of myself to have done all the homework before, booked the cruise, planned the exact mode of transport from one place to another...etc..I think I could have done a much better job for me and Chaitu if I had the time to do it. Anyhow, we headed to Navy Pier. There I went in the giant wheel for the first time(yes, first time!!) and then on a swinger..oh..the joy of being a child!! I was free. We had a brief roundup of the pier, and soon we were off around noon.

Our next stop was Hancock tower. This was something I wanted to see, since I had heard that the views of Lake Michigan was much better here than Sears tower. I was not disappointed. It was indeed a much better skydeck tour that we had than Sears. Guess who we had for the audio guide narration? David Schwimmer!! Ross from friends. That apart, I distinctly remember the North and East views, as they were more beautiful than the west and south. It was here I realised that Chicago was pretty much flat except for the Downtown area. Boy..and was downtown crowded!! We were on the 94th floor and I think it has 96 floors in total. Getting down with the tour after about an hour, we headed to the Cheesecake factory at the bottom of the factory to dive into the Godiva Cheesecake..a trifle expensive...but did it melt!!

Our sweet tooth not sweeted yet, we proceeded to the Hershey's building south of Hancock tower. This was a bit disappointing, since it turned out to be just an outlet with some big banners and posters inside...hmm...atleast we got free candy inside..

After this, we had some time to kill and we pretty much walked down the Mile, and sneaked into 'upscale' shops such as 'Burberry' and 'Bloomingsdale'...much as we didn't look like people who could buy umbrellas for 140$...atleast I had the thrill of photographing one such exhibit 'undercover'..:). Thats pretty much it..we caught a blue line back to Ohare and took a bus back to Madison...so much for a two day trip to the Windy City!!