Dienstag, 14. Februar 2017

Windy, but sunny



Sunday: sunshine, though pretty windy and cool, but no frost. We took the train to the South Side first and walked over to the Field Museum (pic) and the Shedd Aquarium at the lakefront, where people were lining up for entry. The view of the city skyline is just fantastic from this point, even with bare trees and gray lawn. Also, it is obvious here, how important the railroad was and still is in Chicago.

Afterwards, we explored a couple of different neighborhoods. One of the newer ones is Fulton Market District, a former industrial zone (whole-sale produce) and now „up&coming“ with some fancy restaurants and bars. Oprah Winfrey’s film studios (Harpo) were in the area for a long time. The diversity of restaurants in general makes a big difference to what we are having in Germany. We have Italian, Turkish or Asian restaurants, here the spectrum is much broader: from Umami Burgers to vegan, from a Polenta place to Korean, from Polish to Mexican.


This new neighborhood is not quite as developped as Wicker Park/Bucktown yet, which also picked up and has a lot to offer along Milwaukee Ave. and Damen: crazy shops, predominantly retro/vintage, a lot of hipsters and young people around. Of course, couldn’t pass our favorite used-books store, Myopic books, and „Stan’S Doughnuts“, with donuts to die for.

Chicago’s Highline Park is often compared to New York’s equivalent, but there is not that much in common. Yes, both are elevated and both were former railroad tracks, but in Chicago the Bloomingdale Trail, almost 5 km long, is more of a „local affair“, a walking/jogging/skating/biking trail for the people who live in the fancy condominiums in the neighborhood. There are spaces with artwork, benches and overlooks, but there is nothing left of the old tracks, it appears less „designed“ and "original", and, in addition, it's a little apart from downtown. Nevertheless, it’s a good new „green“ addition to town.



Since the sun was out, we went back to Millenium Park and its new expansion, the Maggie Daley Park, with its climbing wall and skating ribbon, which was packed with ice skaters on this sunny Sunday afternoon.

Walking through downtown, with its famous Marshall & Field’s clock (pic) and passing a great new B.B. King Mural, we stopped briefly at the hotel before we headed out again to a pretty remote and hidden, but excellent restaurant, the Duck Inn, with an interesting concept of sustainability. Of course, we ate duck and thanks to Laura with Chicago Tourism and Uber didn’t have to walk this somehow creepy way back to the „L“ (how they call the train in Chicago, short for „elevated train“).

It’s been another busy day and I have to admit, that in winter it’s sort of tough to do our job. Monday morning, after a hotel property tour, we walked over to the Willis (formerly Sear’s) Tower’s Skydeck and up all the way to the top by elevator to enjoy the gorgeous view (even more spectacular from the Ledge, a glass-bottom balcony, see pic, before we got on the train to Reno/NV. Met a group of Amish people from Indiana - with long skirts and bonnets and hats – and the guys were surprisingly interested in talking to us (also, in German, because Germany, or rather, Switzerland, is where their roots are), while waiting for the elevator. Know what? As old-fashioned as they may be, this sightseeing trip to Chicago was a present of the men to their wives. Who would have thought?



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