Chicago Day 1

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Day 74

We woke up in Merrillville, Indiana and got on the road early to drive into Chicago. Neither of us have ever been to The Windy City before.  We decided after studying the map and the subway system last night, that we would park near our host's home and walk to the trains and take the brown line to the red line into the city. We exited the subway near the Chicago Theater and walked on the riverwalk to the lake and then back to meet our guide for a walking tour.

 The company was Free Tours by Foot and our guide was Seth Steinman. 

http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/chicago-tours/

 We really enjoyed our tour with Seth and of course tipped him, so I bet he actually does quite well. He had about 20 people for the tour. He was not a Chicago native but we could tell he really loves his adopted city and had studied about it, so really knew his stuff. He gave us some architectural pointers and took us by many places of interest.

Unusual site of bridge raising right in downtown

Trump building

First Virgin Hotel by owner of Virgin Airlines

 Some of these included the Chicago Theater, the Trump Tower, The Chicago Tribune, City Hall, Marshall Fields (home of Macy's), Marquette Building, the Chicago Institute of Art, the Frank Gehry outdoor bandshell (Jay Pritzker pavilion)area, the Picasso statue, Millennium Park. The Marshall Fields building is on the National Historic Building list and houses a magnificient Tiffany iridescent favrile mosaic glass ceiling containing 1.6 million pieces of glass. The ceiling was designed by Louis C. Tiffany, was built in 1907 and is still the largest of its kind in the world. Our guide told us it took 50 people over 1 year to complete the mosaic.

Picasso gave this to the city of Chicago.  It was of his girlfriend.

 He also stopped at a beautiful mosaic done by Marc Chagall

 The building that houses the Chicago Tribune is very interesting. It is a neogothic style and there was a contest in Chicago for the best design. Before the Tribune Tower was built, reporters for the Chicago Tribune had brought back artifacts from around the world from a variety of important historic sites. Many of these are incorporated into the lower levels of the building, so you can walk around the building and see them. A rock from the moon was displayed in one of the windows for awhile but could not be put into the building itself as NASA owns all moon rocks. Recently a piece of steel from the fallen World Trade Center has been added to the wall. To see pictures of the artifacts see the link. There are 149 in all.

http://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2013/03/05/pictures-of-all-149-rocks-stuck-on-the-tribune-tower/

 Millennium Park was originally scheduled to open for the millenium but did not open until 2004,4 years behind schedule.  It houses the Frank Gehry bandshell, the Bean, the Crown Fountain.  On the Crown Fountain a picture of a local Chicagoan appears.  After awhile the person purses their lips and water spurts out of the fountain apparently through the pursed lips.  It is quite amusing to watch.

I know, a little weird, but fun

Frank Gehry bandshell with fabulous acoustics

After our tour, we got some coffee and lunch and walked the Magnificent Mile along Michigan Avenue (like 5th Avenue in New York and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills) and then to Gold Coast beach area before heading back on the red line.

Chicago is celebrating the Blackhawks 2015  Stanley Cup Champions!

 We met Virginia before she went out for the evening. We walked to Mass right in her neighborhood. We went to the grocery store for a salad bar dinner and then did some studying to get ready for our next couple of days in Chicago.  So far, we think Chicago is fabulous.  Their public transportation is wonderful, simple and so efficient.  Tomorrow to get to the White Sox game we walk 3 blocks, hop on, get out for 1 transfer,walk 5 feet, hop on and get out at the ballpark.  Amazing and only $3.00 to ride. Fantastic!