Where to now?
Shortly after returning home from the New York marathon some years
ago, my son bounced into the room saying “guess where we are going next
year?” I had accompanied him when he went to run in New York – the trip
of a lifetime for me (that will come in a later story) – so I just
raised an eyebrow - ?
Chicago, he announced, and the year leading up to this new trip simply flew by.
We
planned for a week, arriving a couple of days prior to the marathon
event, and a few days after for us to sightsee. So what would there be
for us to see?
Where to stay?
Chicago lies on the shores of Lake Michigan and from all that we
read, it is a beautiful city. So we were keen to see as much as
possible and made copious plans. We booked a week’s stay at the Blake
Hotel, which turned out to be a wonderful period building and well
positioned to get out and about. Of course the main focus was on the
race, which was due to start and finish in Grant Park on the lakeside.
He had booked me into the hospitality suite at the Finish line so that I
could soak up the atmosphere of the event, and be well catered for
during the day.
Exhibition Hall - Marathon Expo
But this piece is not about the race; that is for my son to do on his
own pages at another time, and I am overrunning my tale. On the
Saturday he had to go to the exhibition hall to register for the event,
and where the race expo was taking place. So we took a taxi from the
hotel on the morning and made our way there. The exhibition hall is an
amazing piece of architecture, and we knew we could spend all day there
exploring. The Marathon expo filled a whole hall of the building with a
variety of stands as well as eateries and drinks stands, and it made it
a lovely day out. Duly registered for the event the next day, together
with a bag of race ‘goodies’ we gathered an assortment of ‘freebies’
that are always available at such events that would make mementoes of
the holiday when we came home.
Aerial views of the city. . . .
We soon discovered the tallest skyscraper in Chicago is the
John Hancock
tower, so that was a must see sightseeing visit. You can buy a ticket
and ride the elevators to the very top and the 360 degree views of the
city, (each side of the building at this floor is window) and the vista
has to be seen to be really appreciated. Of course you are also aware
of exactly how high up you are, and reassured by the strong railings
around the windows!
Adler Planetarium
Following Race Day we had decided on an assortment of ‘things to do.’
One excursion was to the Adler Planetarium, both of us are interested
in astronomy so this was an obvious choice. It was not a
disappointment. The typical dome shaped roof of the building is
reminiscent of all planetaria, and is an imposing and eye catching
building close to the lakeside. There are impressive views across the
waterway from the plaza-style walkway around the building. Inside it is
an amazing collection of displays, exhibitions, and things to do. It
is also well equipped with seating so that you can sit and rest between
shows and display areas, and there is also an excellent cafe with views
across the lake.
Signs of the Zodiac
Interestingly the exterior of the Planetarium is decorated with
plaques denoting the 12 signs of the zodiac, which of course, are
astronomical, but also relate to that other ancient science of
Astrology, and these two sciences do have some interaction. Being a
circular building, these plaques form a continuous circle, in much the
same way that the signs of the zodiac traverse our skies. It was a hot,
sunny day, so we explored slowly and then sat outside in the cooler air
to survey the scene across the waterway.
Field Museum
Another excursion was to the
Field Museum, an imposing
building, that I have subsequently recognised in various TV films. In
the main entrance hall there is a complete skeleton of a
Tyrranosaurus Rex named
Sue. I instantly recognised her because there had been excellent
documentaries on TV about her discovery, I think in the Montana area
where a huge number of dinosaur remains have been uncovered over the
last few decades. After all the research she had been donated to the
Museum and is a worthy centrepiece.
There is also a very rich
Egypt ‘room’ full
of artefacts casting a fascinating insight into the days of the
Pharaohs, and reminding us all of the most well known mummy ever
uncovered – King Tut. Ironically, he is remembered above all other
Pharaohs because of his tomb, rather than his life – he was only 19 when
he died. He truly achieved what all Pharaohs sought – immortality.
It was also around the time of Darwin’s 200th birthday – and their
Darwin exhibition
was of great interest to me, as he had been born in Shrewsbury,
Shropshire in England, and at the time I had been working for a
newspaper in that area, having prepared several pieces about Darwin
around that time. So this exhibition was also a must. Fortunately
there was also an excellent tea room here, because this museum really
needs several days for research, so we had a couple of ‘resting the
feet’ breaks as we tried to see as much as possible in the day we had
dedicated to this visit.
Exploring history
We spent a day exploring the Navy Pier (which will be another story) and also went on what should be a ‘must do’ tour –
‘The Untouchables.
As Chicago was the city of Al Capone, there is much made of his
activities around this city and this bus tour was a real insight.
Operated by two ‘historic character enactors’, the tour was led by two
‘spivs’, who transport you back to the time zone and take you around
the Chicago that existed at that time. The location of buildings where
much of his slaughters occurred, but which are no longer there, were
pointed out with due reverence, and you really do see parts of Chicago
you would
NEVER find as a ‘tourist’. A beautiful church was
pointed out that still has bullet holes inflicted during one of the
street battles that were common at this time. This tour covers a good
couple of hours and was a sitting down activity! On our return to the
start, we happily purchased our untouchable souvenirs as reminders of
our trip back in time.
Explore as much as possible . . . . . .
Shopping on the
Golden Mile was another escapade, and over the
week we discovered a wonderful range of eateries – pancake houses,
pizza parlours, Chinese restaurants, and the inevitable ‘Starbucks’ on
the opposite corner to the hotel was our first call of the day. As the
hotel restaurant was ‘under renovation’ and therefore closed, we were
able to ‘order in’ from local take-aways and we found two excellent ones
that we used a couple of times during our week. As a sports person my
son also obtained for us tickets to a
ice hockey game at the
local stadium and this was an evening not to be forgotten. In fact
the whole week constitutes a never to be forgotten trip and rates high
in my trips of a lifetime memories.
