Springtime in Chicago

Taking advantage of a beautiful, sunny spring Saturday in Chicago, I wanted to enjoy my first-ever full day in this spectacular city by simply walking around the area where I am staying.

Yes, you heard me right.  Chicago is another one of those places that I never got around to visiting.  And that's ironic, because I have connected through Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on my travels so often that the terminal complex there almost feels like a second home.

I've also attended two conventions in Chicago, but both were held in suburban hotels near the airport so I didn't get into the centre of town -- except for one night, when a group of us rode the subway into the city, walked a block to a restaurant, had dinner, and then retraced our steps back to our airport hotel.  That, obviously, doesn't count.

I recognize that by this time many of my readers probably got here before me, but on the off-chance that someone didn't, I decided to go ahead and do up this post anyway.

The hotel I am staying in this weekend is called by the distinctly odd name of "theWit" -- and yes, that is exactly how they spell it.  The property is now franchised as a Doubletree (part of the Hilton portfolio of hotels) but maintains its own distinctive look and feel.  As you can see by the key card folder, where you get not just that eccentric name but cover art which looks like a scene from Angels in America.

The hotel also has a distinctive, not to say weird, architectural feature slashing at an angle across the State Street façade -- and it goes right through my room.  Okayyyyy….

Outside the window, and being careful not to shoot a picture through that yellow glass, you get a classic Chicago panorama spanning well over a century -- historic buildings, modern buildings, city traffic, and the "El."

The El (short for "elevated railway") is as much a signature of Chicago as the cable cars are of San Francisco.  At the time it was built, elevated railways like this were all the rage in major American cities, but Chicago is the only city in North America to keep a substantial network running in its downtown area.  The tracks go in a loop right around the perimeter of the central district, following four different streets (and here shown running along Lake Street).  And that's the reason why downtown Chicago is always known as "the Loop."  Underneath the tracks, the traffic continues flowing along Lake Street and cars continue to park along the sides of the street.

To truly experience Chicago, you have to be standing underneath the El while a train rumbles by overhead.

Every major city has its own distinctive way of making life hell for visiting motorists.  Chicago's specialty is a distinct shortage of street signs.  You roll up to an intersection and presto! -- four corners and not one street sign on any of them.  You, the driver, are of course supposed to know the entire street layout with all the names before you even get here.  Or else, there's a sign naming two blocks of the street in honour of some local dignitary, but no sign giving the formal name proper to the street.  Hint: leave the car in the garage.

Chicago is definitely a major city for public art, and I saw a number of examples.  A few blocks southwest of my hotel is the City Hall, and in the nearby Richard Daley Plaza is this iconic, towering sculpture by the famous artist Picasso.  It was unveiled in 1967.  I wasn't there at the right time of day to get a good well-lit shot, so I borrowed this picture from the internet.

A block away from my hotel is the Chicago River.  Although it nominally flows into Lake Michigan, in practice it has been dammed and tamed to allow water to be transferred the other way, from the Great Lakes via a connecting canal into the Mississippi River system.

One landmark along the river is this distinctive twin-towered condominium complex (is there any kind of barrier to keep those cars from backing out of the garage???)

Along the shore of the river lies the Chicago Riverwalk.  It's not quite as photogenic as its opposite number in Fort Lauderdale, but still a good place for a stroll.  Or it would be, if sections weren't closed for repairs.  Sigh.

In Chicago, historic skyscrapers rub shoulders with their more modern counterparts.  Consider these, two and in particular the ornate Gothic top of the Tribune Tower, home of one of the major local newspapers, the Chicago Tribune.

The eastern edge of the downtown area is marked by the blocks-long green space of Grant Park.  At its northern end is Millennium Park, and here you can find this group of structures.  The focal point of my visit was the white building, the Harris Theater, because my nephew's dance company, Gauthier Dance from Stuttgart, Germany was performing there.

The white structure you see is the entrance, including the box office.,  The rest extends downwards -- one storey down to the upper balcony seats, another storey down to the lower balcony, three storeys down brings you to the orchestra level.  But this too slopes steeply downwards towards the stage, so by the time you hit stage level you are about 5 floors deep under the ground.  Weird.

Those odd shapes to the left of the theater building are the back side of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, an outdoor performance stage space with room for thousands of people to sit on chairs or on the huge lawn behind the chair seating area.  Looks kind of like a cross between a vast robotic insect and an alien spaceship on a collecting mission.

Nearby, this flowing sculpture is actually a footbridge across Columbus Drive to the eastern segment of Grant Park, right on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Just west of the Pritzker Pavilion, the Millennium complex is rounded out by the Cloud Gate, by now almost as well-known as a symbol of Chicago as the Eiffel Tower is of Paris.  I just think of it as "the Bean."  It's fun to study the reflections on its endlessly curving surface and try to find yourself.

Of course, it's much easier to find yourself with a selfie.

Nearby are two facing visual artworks, each comprised of a wall of glass bricks.  Behind each brick are dozens of LED light sources of varying colour intensity.  The net result is a giant-sized portrait painted in a million points of light.

On a more classical artistic note, south of the Millennium complex you can find Chicago's Art Institute, one of the world's great art museums.  The standing bronze lions guarding the front steps have been a favourite meeting place for generations of Chicagoans ("See you under the lions at noon").

Although I saw a good deal during my walk, I'm well aware that there's so much more to see in Chicago -- and I have barely scratched the surface.  Well, that will give me a good incentive to plan a longer return visit, and I hope to manage that before too long.