USA trip October 24- November15 2012
The Cloud |
The decision to fly via Chicago started off with a need to avoid the four hour journey to Heathrow and the following eleven hour flight. Although longer flight time overall, at least we would break up our journey with two nights in Chicago. Ian's been there before, but it would be the first time for me. Much more than a diversion, we instantly felt relaxed and at ease in the city. It is beautiful, with the trees all yellow and red, several open spaces and parks. The city is particularly good for walking and cycling, with paths running for miles along the river and the shores of the mighty Lake Michigan- more like a sea than a lake!
Famous for its impressive skyscrapers, it has four of the biggest eight skyscrapers in the USA. The city feels quite small and compact, and most places we wanted to visit were within walking distance of our Holiday Inn Express, the Hotel Cass, in the main shopping area off Michigan Ave.
The first day we walked down to the lake front and along the lovely river walk, past the Trump Tower, and on to the John Hancock Tower(second tallest). You ascend the 94 floors in a few seconds, with ears popping on the way up! The views over the city are amazing.
Chicago |
Back to the river, and we'd booked to go on a boat trip, about which Ian had heard good reviews, a guided tour of the architecture of Chicago from the river. So what's there to learn about skyscrapers - they're very high and that's it! How wrong could I be! One of the most informative 90 minutes on Art Deco, Gothic, Modernist architecture, as we floated gently along the river, staring upwards. We learnt of how modern architecture, like the Aqua building, designed by a local woman, manages the stresses and strains of winds in an aesthetic way, so wavy open balconies act like fins and break up the destructive force of wind, and look beautiful! We both said we'd do this trip again, because it was so fascinating. We'd missed the city by night yesterday, because we'd been awake for 18 hours and were in bed by 7pm, so went back to the hotel for a snooze for an hour, with the intention of staying up until dark! We'd been lucky so far, it had been bright, sunny and very warm, unseasonably warm 80deg f. But a blast of cold north air was forecast to bring heavy rain and a drop of 30deg f tonight, as we set off to Keefers Restaurant, one of the top 20 steak restaurants in town. I had a delicious steak salad and Ian had fillet, with a delicious grilled octopus salad for starter. We hurried back to the hotel through the chilly wind and rain. Well done we'd managed to stay up until 9.30 pm!
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