Chicago, in my first impression , overwhelmingly stunned me. It literally seems to be a chipped away block of Manhattan. Initially I felt to be suffocatingly trapped among those maze of dizzying skyscrapers .This is known as The wind city, The city of suburbs and historically notorious for its mafia gangleaders like Al Capone etc.DEfinitely a city that showcases the luminous modern architecture .
All major cities r located along the coast , n this is no different.Wondering how chiacgo is linked with oceans, all of a sudden ? This city is situated along the shores of oceanic lake Michigan n unless u know the geography it can be mistaken to be a sea, n the man made harbour completes the magic.Its always beautiful to see the twinkling skyline from a distance , and the lush green landscape n the Navy Pier along the lakefront provides the perfect place n view to enjoy it. The best part of this city is its greenery and the area around the shore can be really refreshing any time of the day, especailly around Linclon Park lined with lagoons, sport arenas like basketabll, tennis courts etc.Winetrs are pretty harsh but on a lively sunshine day these lovely green knolls is a picture of cycling, roller skatings n a hub of all picnciking..The LAke Shore drive which runs parallel to the water reminds me a lot of our famous MArine Drive n is a pleasure to drive along this front.
Then there is that Chicago river cruising its way thro the heart of the city .The story with this one is quite interesting. This is the only river that flows backwards.Surprised!! YEs, they diverted the flow of the river away from Michigan Lake(to prevent from polluting the lake as its a source of drinking water) into Gulf of Mexico.ALl along the river there r cross bridges conecting the 2 sides of the city n is a scene of some street in modern Venice.
The mighty downtown is known as The Loop, mainly bcoz of the elevated overhead rail system surrounding the city centre.I always hated these low rusty rails running above ur head right above the street n is really very ugly.In first place the sunlight is filtered out by these tall buildings n the place is dim , n on top of it, these rails choking up more free visble space can really suck away the charm out of some streets.Apart from this , its all about vertical hi-rise geometrical slabs of concrete n glass reaching out for the skies , sometimes disappering among the clouds that wud leave u gaping in awe.
But one structure that catches ur attention most , will be the SEARS TOWERS which is the tallest building in US (yes its /was taller than WTC) with 103 floors n 1300+ ft hi.The view of the surrounding big city laid out in the form of grids from the deck of this building , especially in the night , is simply unbelievably amazing. Another observatory and another spectacular view is ontop from Hancock TOwer which I suppose is the second tallest in the city.The view is all set ablaze in glory during its build up to Christmas, n is called the Magnificient Mile Light Festival which extends from Oak street, N Michigan Avenue to Chicago river. This district is a shoppers or a window shopping paradise with big shopping malls like 9 Floor Marshall Fields , Water Tower Place Mall , Virgin megastore, Bloomingdales, The Shops At The Mart, Carson Prieie Scott .Oak street is a designer stores mecca with top Europen names lining up this tree lined avenue.This place crawls with museums, antique dealers, galleries , auction houses especially around River North area, something like Soho in Manhattan.
Chicago is famous for its blues n jazz bars , but it is just not my cup of tea.But as its said , In Rome do as always Romans do try out some around Grant Park or Lincoln Park .Night life in Chicago is quite varied( there r many juglaries like comedy clubs, cigar n martini bars etc) n thros up lots of choices , but be careful when u pick the joints . There r lots of lounge bars , hot hot fab discs around River North down the loop(club 720, etc etc ) , Bucktown n Wiker Park area but a sound advice , dont venture unless you r pretty sure.
Chicagos suburbs r very unique in the sense that its just adjoing the mighty downtown n the boundaries ve blurred n each suburb is unique n dominated by some particular ethinc group.Theres that Italian Little Italy, Sweedish Andersenville , Mexican Pilsen, U cant missout the chingis right with ChinaTown , etc.A walk down the Asian Devon Street reminds u of some city in India with a host of Indian , Paki restaurants, groceries sprinkled with Afghani descent shops, Arabian pastry shops etc.This is one thing that really amazes me of this city (n country) where the immigrants rule n is so hard to find the real true inhabitants here.
Other visitor map recommends are the usual Adler Planetoriums, Shedd Aquariums, the Lincoln Park Zoo, cruises (only in summer) etc.In all Chicago is a lovely vibrant city that has something to offer for every savvy traveller.