Day 2 in Chicago

We love Chicago!

We got out of bed as soon as the alarm went off (we have become rather good at sleeping through it lately) and hurried to get ready and have breakfast before heading off to the same parking spot as yesterday. Paul's Harley wasn't there - maybe he catches a later train?

We were in good time for the 8:18 am train at Western Springs. This only makes four stops before continuing non-stop to Union Station, the centre of the city, which takes 20 minute off the trip. We walked to the L and caught a train part way round the Loop - after a lot of hassle trying to sort out the ticketing machines and discovering that you cannot actually travel all the way around the Loop on any single train...

Our first stop was the Cultural Centre where there is a tourist information office housed in a buildiing with a grand marble interior. This is where the Lonely Planet's walking tour of Chicago begins. Second stop was the Mayor J Daley Plaza, dominated by a huge sculpture by Picasso. The children love it as a slide.

This was also familiar as the place where the climactic chase in The Blues Brothers ended. On one side of the plaza is the City Hall Building, that SWAT officers rapelled down in the movie. Today the plaza was filled with a farmer's market with fresh berries and vegetables.

It seemed much smaller than I remembered from the movie... how did they get all those tanks and trucks and people into that space?

The walking tour then continued through the theatre district and north to the Chicago River. It is a must do in Chicago. We started to realise just how stunning the city is. We booked tickets for the Architectural Cruise beneath the beautiful bridge on Michigan Avenue (aka The Magnificent Mile). We had about an hour before it departed so we wandered across to Navy Pier, now a family attraction with a ferris wheel, museums, fast food outlets and bars.

The cruise was the highlight of our day. We learned from our tour guide (who talked non-stop for 90 minutes) about the 4 main styles of achitecture evident in Chicagos skyscrapers: Bozearts (at least, that's what I heard. I think she was actually referring to Beaux Arts), Art Deco, Modernist and Post-modernist. We travelled up the Chicago River, first the north branch, then the south. The view of the skyscrapers was more than impressive - an architects dream.  Not the least significant was the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower).

 Once the tallest building in the world, it has four glass boxes hanging out from the 103rd floor where for a fee, you can step out on the glass floor and prove you don't have vertigo... I do, so I didn't. These places also have room for something as small as human beings. Someone living inside one of these may not come out for some time as the building can contain parking, supermarkets, parks, swimming pools, gyms, etc. It probably explains why the city is not highly congested.  Even in the older parts of the city there has been some effort in maintaining trees and garden beds, especially in residential areas. The people are friendly and helpful.

The bridges are intiguing.

We did a bit more scratching around this beautiful city with which we have fallen in love before it was time to head off to Michael's for dinner. We missed the train we had hoped to catch by two minutes and the next was late, so it was 7 pm by the time we arrived at his home.

Michael is not only a hugely talented jeweller, sculptor and knife maker, but also a bloody good cook. We started with a Waldorf salad. (I think Michael is determined to teach us how to eat like Americans, who have  their salad before the main course is served.) Second course was corn on the cob and asparagus spears in a spicy sauce. The piece-de-resistance was steamed crab legs. Note the candles, and Art-Deco lighting.

We talked and drank a few glasses of wine, and suddenly it was late.