Chicago Day 1 (7th June 2023)

 

It is four years since I last did a long haul flight and I wasn't looking forward to it. I flew on this huge double decker, which I think they call an airbus. I flew economy and unfortunately the flight was full so I couldn't really stretch out. It was big enough to go for a few walks around. Anyway all was on time and my friend from Canada was there to meet me at the other end. Her much shorter flight arrived an hour before mine. We got the train into the city. A real bargain at just $5. The hotel was less than a ten minute walk from the station. 

We stayed at the Congress Plaza. A very impressive reception area. I later learned that this was the favoured hotel for many of the US Presidents in days gone by.  The best description I would say was of faded grandeur but our room was clean and reasonably spacious for two people. Very expensive though at $230 per night! We wanted to be fairly close to the centre so this was one of the cheapest we could find. Breakfast wasn't included so first thing next morning we searched out a diner that had been recommended.

It turned out to be a great place for a typical American breakfast.

A huge plate of buttermilk pancakes, maple syrup, fresh fruit and cream. Not my usual fare but great for a one off. Then it was off to find our bearings and search out some of the sights of Chicago.

First stop had to be Lake Michigan  which was just a five minute walk from the hotel. Hard to believe it is a lake and not an ocean.

We walked downtown through the Millennium Park. This is Buckingham Fountain which was just across from the hotel.

A beautiful scented rose garden with views of the skyscraper skyline.

There were lots of things to see in Millennium Park. This is Crown Fountain designed by Spanish artist, Jaume Plensa. The installation consists of two 50 ft glass block towers at each end of a shallow reflecting pool. The towers then project images of local people who spout water from their mouths. It was inspired by gargoyles which spout water into fountains.

 

Also in the park is the Cloud by Anish Kapour known locally as the Bean.

Reflected great views of the skyline.

This is the Jay Pritzker pavilion, an open air theatre designed by Frank Gehry. He designed it in 1999 and it opened to the public in 2004.

Had we known we could have watched free concerts here. We visited a couple of tourist info centres but nobody told us that it was the Chicago Blues Festival whilst we were here so sadly we missed out.

We left the park and walked down Michigan Avenue marvelling at the architecture. Most of Chicago was destroyed in the fire of 1871. The first skyscraper was built in 1885 and from then on the buildings just got higher and higher. 

This is the Carbide and Carbon building which was completed in 1929. It is an impressive building with the facade made of black polished granite with green and gold terracotta. The top of the building is capped with 24 carat gold which makes it stand out when the sun is shining on it.

Another art deco building on Michigan Avenue. This one at 333 was built in 1928.

Even the standpipe controls are polished brass.

This is the Chicago River. It has 43 opening bridges. In 1900 the flow of the river was reversed to stop the flow of sewage into Lake Michigan, which supplied the city with drinking water. Engineers created a canal that forced the river to flow away from the Lake.

We were just going to walk as far as the river but decided to cross over to have a closer look at the Tribune building on the other side.

This was once home to the Chicago Tribune newspaper, which occupied the building until 2018.  Built between 1923 and 25 it was the result of a design competition.

This gothic style building has over 120 stones embedded into the facade which were collected by correspondents from around the world.

There are rocks from each of the US states as well as fragments from monuments such as the Taj Mahal, Great wall of China and the Parthenon.

We decided to take the bus back to the hotel which was easy enough as buses had a fixed fare of $2.50. Lucky for us the rain fell as we were on the bus so we avoided getting soaked. Once back at the hotel we asked for directions to a local supermarket. We had a fridge in the room and wanted to stock up on fresh fruit, a few snacks, water and wine. Eventually found one but couldn't buy wine as we had no ID. Returned to hotel to pick up my passport and found a smaller supermarket not too far away that sold wine. This time they wouldn't sell it to me because M was with me and she didn't have her ID! As we are both in our  70s I doubt we could have been mistaken for being underaged drinkers. Rules are rules though and I didn't want the shop assistant to get into trouble so I asked M to leave the shop. I then tried again to buy the wine and with great reluctance and after consulting a more senior shop assistant I was allowed to buy the two bottles of wine that I wanted. By now both M and myself were exhausted. Jetlag was playing its part. We decided to not bother going out again and eat some of the food we had just bought in the hotel room and finally enjoy a glass of wine. Unfortunately the wine I had bought had corks not screw lids and we didn't have a  corkscrew. In fact we never did get those bottles opened!