Chicago the overview

I was very fortunate to spend 4 days in Chicago – the place of my birth. I wonder if nostalgia gets more intense as we age. I left when I was 8 years old, sure there were visits since, although I think the last one was 15 years ago. But there was something so familiar the city – with all the new buildings, it still felt ‘right’.I have over 300 photos, best place to start is in the Signature lounge of the John Hancock building, romantic and what a view! I have fear of heights, but sitting in this room, next to what felt like 10″ glass – I wasn’t scared at all – and this was before the alcohol arrived!Down on Michigan Ave, the famous water tower, one of the few commercial buildings to survive the great Chicago Fire of 1971. It is now so hemmed in by tall sky scrappers, I chose a close up of the Gothic inspired limestone building. Most of Chicago was built out of wood, a very plentiful material in the area.  At the time this building and the pump station were right on the lake, so although limestone can be heavily damaged by fire, these two weren’t. One thing that felt so right was the lake itself. As a child we lived just a few blocks from the lake in Evanston, so this kind of scene is embedded in my consciousness.We stayed at the historic Drake hotel, right at the start of the Magnificent mile.A Drake is a type of duck, it is also a type of dragon, which is a much better symbol for the hotel.The Chicago shoreline as seen from Navy Pier.And at night, with a clear view of the John Hancock building.Chicago is full of Art Deco Buildings, here a close up of a hart on a building on Michigan Ave. (don’t remember which one!) I don’t know if the VS initials have to do with the builder or the building. Of course I only noticed this when I looked at the photo.There is a lot of juxtaposition of old and new. This finial is on the Michicgan Ave Bridge which is officially called the DeSable Bridge. Completed in 1928, this is one of the classic finials, with a modern sky scrapper behind it.I highly recommend the Big Bus tour with the open deck, it was fun to see an El train go by almost at eye level.Another way to get around town is these bikes. This is a little unusual to see the rack full by Millennium Park in the middle of a summers day. Of course it did start start raining heavily shortly after I took this picture.This is half of a large sculpture, every 10 minutes it shoots out this blast of water.  The kids love this of course.The lions in front of the Art Institute of Chicago. I learned that this building was built for the Columbia World Exposition (go read Devil in the White City). Although the Fair itself was seven miles south, this was a lecture hall. It was slated to become the Art museum afterwards – to hold items from the Exposition as well as acquire new pieces of art. It succeeded well beyond their dreams.  The bronze lions hadn’t been cast when the fair started, so the plaster models were installed, only latter were they cast in bronze, which of course Patina’ed with time.
Of course the Sears tower, used to be the tallest in the world, is still the tallest in Chicago. I know, it had a name change a few years ago, but to me it will always be the Sears. I visited the observation deck almost 40 years ago when the building was new – before they added those sky boxes (look closely on the top, you can see them there).  Since I visited the top of the Hancock for the first time, I felt no need to go to another observation deck.Looking towards Navy pier at dusk.Best view south is from the Ladies room at the Signature lounge.Craning my neck to see the traffic below. Fun to see the top of the building that houses the Bloomingdales and mall.

Many more pictures to follow, Chicago is a very fun city to visit, especially for architect buffs like me.