Chicago

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First day in Chicago was wet and windy, with the Sears tower shrouded in mist.

For the first time on this trip we wore jeans, jumpers and macs. (Bit of a shock). Deciding against a trip to a lakeside beach, we went instead to downtown Chicago. We were really impressed. Chicago is a futuristic city full of gems of modern architecture and artworks. Sky scrapers are in all shapes and colours. There is a blue wobbly looking one, a red one, the black Sears Tower, a skyscraper with an angel on top, a triangular prison tower with a ball court on top (seen later from Sears), and older ornate skyscrapers in a gothic style. All along the waterfront is a park with several artworks. There is a a wonderful new open air arena with a roof made of odd shapes over the stage rather reminiscent of the Sydney Opera House. There was a free world music festival there in the evening, which we would have attended but for the rain.

For me the prize artwork of them all was the Bean. The Bean is a giant metalic mirrored sculture shaped like a bean. It reflects the skyscrapers and people surrounding and distorts their reflections according to which angle you are looking from. You can walk inside and see wierd reflections of yourself as you look from different angles.

Personally, I like interactive exhibits like this that are ever changing, and that you can touch and walk inside best.

The Loop train is suspended above the streets of downtown Chicago on strong metal supports, which is also unusual.

Following morning we were pleased to see sunshine. We went early to queue for the Sears Tower. It was worth the wait. We got a birds eye view of the skyscrapers and beyond, and we enjoyed searching for our Airbnb from above as well as other places we had seen.

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