JMA's World Travels

Did you know that the reason that Chicago is called "The Windy City" is not just to do with the weather? It is said to have to do with the Chicago "Windbag" Politicians and the braggart Chicagoans of the 1890's. The weather factor has to do with the grid style the city was rebuilt in after the great fire along with all the giant buildings creating wind tunnels for the wind coming off Lake Michigan and swirling around the city. These days the name is more to do with the weather though as the Chicago residents are much nicer and more modest people then their ancestors :-)

We decided that, as we had never been, we fancied a long weekend in Chicago. Some thought we were a bit mad going all that way for just a long weekend but it was a great idea and a great trip. We stayed at the Sofitel Chicago Water Tower hotel, a very modern glass prism of a building in a perfect location for just about everything. We could walk to many places and there were plenty of buses and El (elevated) Trains to take us to the further away places.

As we arrived in Chicago in the evening we decided to take the train in to town and our hotel. It was a relatively long, slow trip but filled with entertainment of people watching, both them and us, making a few friends and also getting some strange looks, perhaps it was the bright luggage?

We started our first day with a big American style breakfast at the nearby diner (our concierge gave us a card to jump the queue!). We followed that with a walk around town where we came across a military parade so watched that for a while.

The weather was not great so when it started raining we decided to visit the Art Institute. This is home to one of Annie's all time favourite paintings, Georges Seurat's "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" which is a painting created by thousands of dots. It really is a beautiful painting and, what had Annie in even more raptures was seeing studies of her other favourite of his, "Bathers at Asni�res". Another treat was seeing some of Frank Lloyd Wright's windows. He was a hugely influencial architect in this part of the USA and around the world.

Next we wandered along the "Magnificent Mile" and went to check out the Tribune Building. It is a beautiful Gothic building famous for having pieces of rock or stone taken from places all around the world where its reporters have been. These have been stuck to the outside of the building with inscriptions saying where they are from. All of us tourists wander around the building peering at pieces of rock that come from as far afield as the Pyramids of Giza to the Great Wall of China, the British Houses of Parliament to the site of Custer's Battlefield and many, many more around the building and world.

We ended our day with a delicious meal at a local Chicago eatery and then desert... ice creams from Ghirardelli's. YUM!!!

Our second day was a day of views from on high - the Ferris wheel on the Navy Pier and the top of the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the USA.

Navy pier is not just some small pier of the edge of the land; it is a giant concrete pier with masses of space, restaurants, conference centre, halls, monuments and, best of all, a giant Ferris wheel!

From there we took a water taxi to get to the Sears Tower. This in itself turned out to be quite a treat. First of all because a boat that could take a whole bunch of passengers was our own private taxi with a really interesting captain. Our timing was perfect not just for the private ride but also for the Centennial Fountain, a giant water arc that shoots across the Chicago River once an hour for about 10 minutes.

We disembarked at the Sears Tower pier and joined the queue to get to the top. It is an amazingly tall building at 110 stories or 440 metres or 1,450 feet high! Some ridiculous facts include that there are 3,220 kilometres / 2,000 miles of electrical cables, 40,233 km / 25,000 miles of piping, has six automatic window washing machines to clean the 16,100 windows and the building weighs in at a mere 222,500 tonnes! With all these and many more intriguing facts along with the amazing views from the top, I am left amazed by one major omission, a coffee bar at the top. It is a sad fact that many of these giant buildings around the world we have been to the top of are devoid of any real facilities or atmosphere. They are very much a case of get the people up, show them the view and get rid of them so more can come on up. We did enjoy the views though...

When we were back down we decided to try the famous Giordano's "Chicago Deep Dish Pizza". Well, this is an experience in itself. When we ordered a take-away to eat in the park opposite the Sears Tower we were told it would take about 40 minutes to cook. When we got it the small box was really heavy. We found out why when we opened it in the park. It's not so much a pizza as it is a pie made of mozzarella and your chosen filling. It was too much too eat all this cheese, no matter how much of a cheese or pizza lover you are. Annie took a pile of mozzarella cheese off the half of the pizza-pie that we ate, it was enough for a few normal style pizzas! After sharing half of their smallest pizza-pie we were defeated so gave the rest to a homeless man we saw sitting on a street corner, he's probably still eating it :-)

No trip to Chicago would be complete without going on one of the Architectural and Historical Cruises. It is fascinating to see all of these mammoth buildings that line Chicago's waterways and to hear the history behind them. It is also amazing how a small handful of architects and architectural firms were responsible for all of these different shapes and styles.

Our last night was a quite one with a bite to eat at the local diner.

The next morning we went for another famous meal at a world-famous restaurant, the Chicago Original Pancake House. The queue is there all day and the tables are right on top of each other but, oh, what a breakfast place! Of course we had pancakes and made friends with our table neighbours.

What a fun way to end a really enjoyable long weekend in Chicago!


	Back to Top


	Sitemap