Chicago
September 23rd 2009 14:53
The first thing you notice about Chicago is that it’s a very clean city, the cleanest one in America that I have ever been to. There still are homeless begging for change in the street. I was in a Barnes and Nobles one day when a homeless man banged on the window and asked for change. My eyes invited him over because after I turned away, he was at my window. Besides the cleanliness, there’s something else that makes Chicago different from any other city I’ve been to.
Stores are downtown and shopping malls are downtown, whereas in most big cities, the stores and especially the malls are in the suburbs and no one wants to be downtowns because nothing is going on there. Another difference is that no one is allowed to build along the river so it remains the perfect place to go to hang out and do tourist things like take boat rides, have lunch or dinner or ride the different rides that the riverfront offers. There is always something to do in Chicago.
Chicago has this street called the Magnificent Mile with lots of high end stores. And the stores are large. This is more for the visitors with money. But there are also restaurants along the street. My two favorites are the Grand Lux café and the Cheese Cake Factory. I had salmon three ways in the Grand Lux Café; horse radish crusted with asparagus and almond ginger, soy glazed with shitake mushroom and white wine butter sauce with green beans. It was absolutely delicious. I didn’t get dessert because yesterday I had dessert for my birthday treat at the Cheese Cake Factory. For dessert, I had a red velvet cheesecake and it was good. I shared the appetizer with my aunt, the ahi tartare and I wished I would have gotten one so we could have double.
The Sears Tower, which is now the Willis Tower, has this glass ledge that you can stand inside and look down on Chicago from 108 feet in the air. It is a bit scary since you feel like you’re walking out onto nothing because the glass is so clear and you wonder how much weight can it hold. “It’s new,” was what Chicagoans kept telling my mom, my younger sister, my aunt and I each time we mentioned the Sears/Willis Tower in our inventory of participated activities, which included the John Hancock Center, which I truly loved, an architecture boat tour along Lake Michigan, the Art Institute of Chicago, which I also loved.
I think David Schwimmer was the reason I loved the John Hancock Center. He narrated the tour and I loved listening to his voice. You felt like he was giving you the tour in person, pointing at the various sights like the giant Ferris wheel.
The one thing that was mentioned on just about every tour we went on was the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the myth Mrs. O’Leary’s cow. If I’m not mistaken, the old woman went to check on her cows with a lantern. One of her cows kicked the lantern the fire spread throughout the city.
I love Chicago, everything about it but those chilled windy winters. It was commented by one of my family members that I traveled with that Chicago is as friendly as any Southern city. I’m planning on applying to Columbia College, which I loved after going to their open house. But, could I get used to the frozen wind? I’ve been to Chicago in the winter a few times and nothing is colder. But, we all adapt when we have to so maybe I’ll have to learn to adapt.
Stores are downtown and shopping malls are downtown, whereas in most big cities, the stores and especially the malls are in the suburbs and no one wants to be downtowns because nothing is going on there. Another difference is that no one is allowed to build along the river so it remains the perfect place to go to hang out and do tourist things like take boat rides, have lunch or dinner or ride the different rides that the riverfront offers. There is always something to do in Chicago.
Chicago has this street called the Magnificent Mile with lots of high end stores. And the stores are large. This is more for the visitors with money. But there are also restaurants along the street. My two favorites are the Grand Lux café and the Cheese Cake Factory. I had salmon three ways in the Grand Lux Café; horse radish crusted with asparagus and almond ginger, soy glazed with shitake mushroom and white wine butter sauce with green beans. It was absolutely delicious. I didn’t get dessert because yesterday I had dessert for my birthday treat at the Cheese Cake Factory. For dessert, I had a red velvet cheesecake and it was good. I shared the appetizer with my aunt, the ahi tartare and I wished I would have gotten one so we could have double.
The Sears Tower, which is now the Willis Tower, has this glass ledge that you can stand inside and look down on Chicago from 108 feet in the air. It is a bit scary since you feel like you’re walking out onto nothing because the glass is so clear and you wonder how much weight can it hold. “It’s new,” was what Chicagoans kept telling my mom, my younger sister, my aunt and I each time we mentioned the Sears/Willis Tower in our inventory of participated activities, which included the John Hancock Center, which I truly loved, an architecture boat tour along Lake Michigan, the Art Institute of Chicago, which I also loved.
I think David Schwimmer was the reason I loved the John Hancock Center. He narrated the tour and I loved listening to his voice. You felt like he was giving you the tour in person, pointing at the various sights like the giant Ferris wheel.
The one thing that was mentioned on just about every tour we went on was the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the myth Mrs. O’Leary’s cow. If I’m not mistaken, the old woman went to check on her cows with a lantern. One of her cows kicked the lantern the fire spread throughout the city.
I love Chicago, everything about it but those chilled windy winters. It was commented by one of my family members that I traveled with that Chicago is as friendly as any Southern city. I’m planning on applying to Columbia College, which I loved after going to their open house. But, could I get used to the frozen wind? I’ve been to Chicago in the winter a few times and nothing is colder. But, we all adapt when we have to so maybe I’ll have to learn to adapt.
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