Its bit enigmatic to start this post as it’s about a city which satisfies everyone’s appetite for life. I mean Chicago is beautiful, charismatic, mean, bitchy, walk-able … one can use so many adjectives as per their need but for me it is a magnum opus in cities as it’s 3rd largest city in US and has so much to offer, although it is in the list of top 10 cities with highest crime rate. My visit to city was random or to put in a better way it was a weekend getaway as I was there only for 1 day during which I walked 11 miles. It was highly recommended by my cousin to visit Chicago for street photographer and indeed she was right. Lucky I, as I went there in May and weather was really perfect to ramble around. Typically, Chicago is known for being a jack frost. One of my friends was staying near downtown and he was accommodating enough to let me stay in his house, it turned out to be ideal as everything was walk-able. As soon as I reached it was 11 PM, but for city like Chicago it was more like 7 PM as everyone was walking and looking for a place to get sloshed and let me tell you, you’ll never run out places to dine or to get drunk in Chicago. We called it a night after hanging out at a local bar near his place called Underground wonder bar.
Day 2, let the rambling begin …
Since I was there just for a day the best thing I could do was to see all touristy places like cloud bean, Lake Michigan, Willis tower etc. We started our day just by walking through the downtown to go to Millennium Park. While I was walking I was just awestruck by its bold architecture and bristling skyscrapers. I guess only city which could possibly beat such iconic architecture will be Boston. After being overwhelmed by picturesque city and walking for few blocks we reached our first destination which was Millennium Park. Once I reached there, I was able to experience vast tourist crowd first hand. It was like, half of Illinois decided to be there, but once I settled in by passing through mob I was able to see Chicago’s popular skyline. Millennium Park is huge and most of the sites to see in Chicago are in or around park. Apparently, Millennium Park was constructed to celebrate THE millennium and features a variety of public art. After seeing the park and cloud bean, we were heading towards Buckingham fountains and Lake Michigan: Lake Front trail (LFT).
LFT is an 18 mile green-way which runs along the coast of Lake Michigan. Path connects through different beaches, recreational amenities, navy pier, museum campus etc. One can easily see Segways, cyclists, joggers on the beautiful trail. After walking down the trail, we were thoroughly exhausted and ready to get our taste buds satisfied by world’s famous Chicago pizza. Luckily, we found one restaurant where waiting was less than an hour and believe me it is really common for Chicago restaurants to have a wait time of ~2 hours. Well, after waiting for 45 mins we were seated and were waiting for our thin crust pizza. Hands down, it was the tastiest pizza I have ever eaten in my life. After having our hearty meal, my friend decided to go back to his apartment to take a nap. But I was on a mission to see most of Chicago in one day; therefore, the next stop on my list was Art Institute of Chicago a.k.a. world’s best museum.
Museum is huge and has so many artifacts, that it took me 3 hours to complete the tour. Interestingly, museum is divided into different sections like India, China, Japan, Greek etc which makes it a bit easy to maneuver around in short duration. Like any other tourist destination, museum was also jam packed but was well organised. Next on my list was Willis tower, which is the tallest skyscraper in Chicago and has an observatory on 110th floor. Personally it was not that exciting, as I have been to Burj Khalifa in Dubai & stratosphere in Vegas, so if you have visited one then you have visited all. Having said that, being on 110th floor in Chicago has its own charm as one is able to see the whole city landscape. The most annoying part for me on Willis tower was the waiting; hence I didn’t like it much. After the tower, my friend accompanied me to Vertical lounge and we called it a night as I was really tired and had to catch morning flight to Houston to attend Comic con.
All in all, it was a perfect weekend getaway and I got a chance to see a new city.
Contemporary @ museum
Greek @ museum
Chicago view
Street level