CHICAGO
NAME: Chicago
STATE: Illinois
TRIP: 4 days
DATE: October 20-23, 2022
DISTANCE: 800 miles, 14 hrs from NYC
CHICAGO
Chicago is one of my favorite city in US. It’s fun, it’s interesting and it’s gorgeous. I love the history of this city witch is in the early 20th century pretty much intertwined with the gangster history. Beside that interesting past Chicago has a great future, that not so many American cities has, the Riverwalk. Chicago realized they can make the city popular and unique by improve the river side. and it worked’ as today Chicago is US #1 and the world one of the most beautiful city in the world. ”Chicago was just ranked the second most beautiful city in the world (and the first in North America) by 27,000 Time Out Index survey voters from across the globe.”
Till many people still reffed Chicago as the Mecca of the gangsters, Chicago became the third most friendliest city in the world by Time Out Index Survey.
Time Out’s ranking of the best cities in the world.
Chicago has this really great feature, I could call Central Park of Chicago, but I wont, because it’s way better. First, its on the shore of the Lake Michigan. The only lake of the five that fully American. The park among the towers, just a few blocks from the Chicago river. You cant get bored here.
If you come to visit this great city, you have to pull up your best walking shoe. Because its a very walkable city. Parking not too hard, and there is plenty of parking lot and garages. I paid average $15 for 10-12 hrs. If you park at the meter its way more expensive
Once you able to leave your car behind, walk straight to the Grant Park. Usually I start at the E Roosevelt and S Michigan Ave corner, where is a very interesting group of statue called, the Agora. Agora was the most common place in the ancient Athena, where philosophers met sometimes to argue about their thoughts and theories. This is one of my most favorite feature in the park, however its not that popular like the Bean.
From its an easy walk to Buckingham fountain and flower garden. This is a really beautiful and interesting fountain. You have might seen it in the TV show.
In the Grant park you can find a couple of smaller parks, like Millennium Park, or Maggie Daley Park. The Millennium Park has the Crown Fountain, witch is two two 50-foot glass block towers facing to each other and you can see video images on the glass walls. The Spanish designer, “Plensa adapted this practice by having faces of Chicago citizens projected on LED screens and having water flow through an outlet in the screen to give the illusion of water spouting from their mouths. The collection of faces, Plensa’s tribute to Chicagoans, was taken from a cross-section of 1,000 residents.”
The most popular item in the park is the Cloud Gate or s better known The Bean because of it’s shape.
The Indian born British sculpture Anish Kapoor was inspired by the liquid mercury, that is the reason the Bean became so shiny.
Right behind it is the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and from here a nice walkway by the heights of trees canopy, over the E Monroe st into the building of The Art Institute of Chicago. This time of the year the these trees were all in red, and gave wonderful look to the park.
AT the corner of S Michigan Ave and Lower East Randolph st corner you can find the Millennium Monument. Its very pretty worth to come to see it. Also here you can find the Boeing galleries. The Lurie Garden gives you an interesting walk between bushes and tall grassy area, and the BP Predestian bridge to Maggie Delay Park is starts here, and will take you over the very busy S Columbus drive. The bridge is very interesting looks like a snake and serves as a noise barrier to the Pritzker Pavilion. The bride is 925-foot-long winding bridge and it’s gives you a great view to the Chicago skyline.
The Maggie Daley Park is one of the most exciting part of the park. Especially for kids, but I really enjoyed it myself. Here you can find a mini golf, the Enchanted forest, The watering Hole Playground with a swinging bridge, the ice skating ribbon and so much more.
From here you can walk down to Lake Michigan all the way to Navy pier, or walk all the way to the river walk by the Chicago river. Both very things is a must.
The Riverwalk
Back in the early 1900’s the Chicago River was a working river. They had storage houses, docks, filled with trash and it was smelly, dirty and toxic. Chicago realized the city could use the river as the city’s greatest feature. So they sent out some of their employees to explore cities with river, such as San Antonio, TX, and they started to build in the both shore of the river front and that turned the city life around forever. First they cleaned the river and started to use it as tourist attraction with river cruises on it. Chicago never be the same as it was. The river walk is about a floor lower then the actual street with restaurants, and small parks on both sides. All those small bridges over the river makes it very romantic especially at night.
Both side of the river has tall glass buildings, and each building has different shape and feature, therefore each tower is unique and that made Chicago one of the most beautiful city not only in US but the entire world.
Beside Riverwalk, you can jump on a river cruise. You can choose vary companies that offers river boat cruises. I strongly recommend it especially the last one cruise on the day, because you can see the city in day light and on the way back also in night light which is just awesome. These cruises takes about 1,5 hrs and about $50 but worth every penny because the beauty of this city just really shines trough from the river and the best way top experience it is from the river cruise. But if you’re not afraid, you can rent your own little boat witch is can be really fun, or you can kayak on the Chicago river what makes your day unforgettable. I’m sure I will try that too.
Navy Pier is a 3,300-foot-long pier on the Lake Michigan shoreline, in the Streeterville neighborhood.
Originally it’s called Municipal Pier, and it served as a dock fro freights nd passenger bast and also it for other indoor and outdoor recreation such as events like expositions and pageants were held there. After WWI they renamed t to Navy Pier since the navy started to use it as a part of it served as a jail for draft dodgers. In WWII it was the training center for the United States Navy and about 10,000 people worked, trained and lived there such as President George Bush. Today is probably the #1 tourist attraction in Chicago. You can find all kind of food and drink, boat rides and of cores the Ferris Wheel and many outdoor attractions at the Navy Pier Park, such as the Pepsi Wave Swinger, Light Tower Ride, Remote Control Boats(now removed along with fountain around the Wave Swinger), Teacups and the Carousel and the Drop Tower.
One interesting fact here: The world very first Ferris Wheel was introduced here, and it was called the Chicago Wheel. It was designed and built by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. in 1893. The original wheel was 264 feet (80.4m) tall. Compare today’s Ferris Wheel in Chicago is was Hughes,. AS today is an only 196 feet tall and its the 6th tallest Ferris Wheel in United States.
