Travel to “CHI” Town!

Chicago the windy city is named so for a verrry good reason. The day I landed, it was (weather) forecasted that the temperature would be in the early 60s (F) with a 30% chance of precipitation. In Lubbock, a 30% chance of precipitation translates to a “dry” day.....so there I am sure that it was going to be a bright sunny day! Instead I am greeted with gusty winds and lots of dark clouds... that brought a big smile to my face (I am a rain loving person). Regrettably my cheery mood lasted only till the end of the conference (I was in town for the WEFTEC thing). The silly rains did not stop as the weather person had predicted but continued to do so for the rest of the evening. The soggy evening ruined my plans of riding the wendella boats... something that I had been craving to do ever since I had googled ‘places to visit in Chicago’!

So all sad and dejected.... but determined to atleast see the boats... I programmed the GPS to take me there. Unfortunately the stunning Chicago sky line prevents the GPS from receiving any signals in the downtown area and consequently I got hopelessly lost in the underground maze of tiny streets। In utter frustration I took the first way out only to end up at Navy Pier (the big smile returns)! Happy once again... I decide to park and stroll a little... but it was soooooooo windy and chilly that I was forced to return!

Now completely out of patience I decided to just drive around near downtown and admire the architecture.... its spectaculer even to a layman with no architectural background. To my architect friends....it’s a remarkable feast for your eyes. The buildings are a medley of classic historical and modern architecture... very stylish!

Michigan Avenue is a must visit for all on the Chicago tour. I stumbled onto M.Avenue by quiet an accident. After multiple failed attempts of finding the wendella boats, I drove to downtown and parked at the nearest parking center.

<<Michigan Avenue

After bundling up,I was strolling around aimlessly in search of a bistro that had caught my fancy minutes earlier, when I discovered M.Avenue by sheer dumb luck!

Indeed........Michigan Avenue = Magnificent Mile!

It was spectacular, with all the top of the line stores and offices calling it home; the avenue was dazzling and full of life। I crossed the Michigan river to see the empty wendella boats bobbing up and down near its edge! YEAA... mission partly accomplished! I also saw Chicago’s “river walk” area all dark, damp and deserted; little scary actually!

I passed the royal Chicago Tribune building and a local radio station (very chic) just around the corner. Finally I saw a bakery and sandwich place which made the most amazing sandwiches....(had the ambience of a French café)....really wish could remember the name...this would definitely be at the top of my list of my recommendations of “things to do in Chicago”! After another quick walk and a heated debate on “is this Sears Tower or not”.... I unwillingly decided to call it a night. If I wasn’t alone, I would definitely have roamed the streets longer...sigh!

>>> Sears Tower in the background

Much later when I was seeing the pictures I had shot, I realized that I had seen Sears tower when I first parked my car... and here is the picture... dummy me!

Drive to Holiday Inn which was a good 30 minutes away was dull in the absence of the grandeur of M.Avenue! The hotel was comfortable and pretty nice. After a hurried dinner I watched W.A.L.L.E.! Had been waiting so long to see it, that my expectations had rocketed upwards... that kinda made the movie mundane... a robot with feelings; a lonely robot in love.. not the most original script I think! I also watched Namesake...Tabu was brilliant as ever... and PLEASE .... I DO NOT LOOK like her! GRR.... to whoever, who had said that!

The next day was bright and sunny contrary to my expectations of another soggy day. I had decided to sleep in late and laze around! But after seeing how sunny it was I practically ran all the way to breakfast and back and was all packed and set to go site seeing! I visited the “Millennium Park” and “Navy Peir that day”. Millenium park was nice... not very impressive... apart from the fact that it was on Michigan Avenue! I absolutely loved the Crown fountain with its face। There was this apartment on the other side of Michigan Avenue which I think I loved more than the park I believe! If there was this wish I could have granted.... it would be to stay in those condominiums!

>>>Crown Fountain at Millennium Park

>>>On my wish list!

<<Cloud Gate

The cloud gate is an ultra modern sculpture by some Indian architect. There might be some significance to it... but honestly it was vague and to me... all it does is shows you a distorted version of you...that too from 360 degrees ! I did not have to travel 2000 miles to see this! But it was on the way to the crown fountain and I did click a few pics... so herez a glimpse of what I think is the over-rated thing in Chicago!

After a lot of debating on “would I miss my 2:15 flight” if I run to the Navy Pier..... I beat my opposing "practical self" down and hurried back to the car. Following the GPS’s lead I reached Navy Pier with its bright red giant wheel (or as J puts it “laal laal” in his whimsical accent).

The Giant Wheel at Navy Pier!

The lakefront was dotted with white sailboats with little ripples lapping away at their edges...so picturesque। Wish wasn’t driving and could capture that scene on film which is now only stored in my memory

Navy pier was like a fair at a sea shore.... wonderfully colorful and bustling with activity. I got my caricature drawn there... which sadly doesn’t not even remotely resemble me...waste of $10!

Bought a bunch of postcards and souvenirs and rushed back to the car for my return trip to good old Lubbock। That’s the most I could sight see in a day’s visit to Chi town... really hope to return again this time with J to make the trip even more fun!

PS: I owe my trip to Anuja and Paru for helping me plan everything... they were my tour guides!

The trip was successful solely due to them! Kudos to Anuja for taking time to help me plan inspite her bad schedule! Also... I stole some of Chicago’s “pet names” from her!

Thanks a million dears.