CHICAGO - ATTRACTIONS

CHICAGO – ATTRACTIONS

One of the principal features of Chicago, of course, is Lake Michigan.  The planners set aside huge stretches of lake-front for the people’s use.  Think of Battery Park in New York, but stretched all along the shoreline of Manhattan up to the 100’s on both sides; with beaches.

 

I was at this beach on a Monday and there were a fair number of boats anchored just off the beach, and there was some serious partying going on, with competing stereos booming across the water.  You can also see the Spirit of Chicago and another local cruise ship in the background in these photos.

 

One touristy thing to do is to visit the observation deck on the 103^rd floor of the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower).  Buildings are always competing as to which is tallest, and these seem to all involve a fight whether to include the TV towers and spires.  In any event Willis is some 1450 feet tall, or (there’s a calculator in the lobby for this) approximately 245 Larry Carpenters tall.  It wasn’t a very clear day, but here are some views from on high.

 

But the big attractions on this floor are called the Skydecks, which are glass rooms about four feet wide that project out of the side of the building, so that you appear to be standing on air.  It is a very weird feeling when you look down.  I’ve included a few different shots, including a girl doing a little impromptu acrobatics, and also a view of the Skydecks from the ground (they’re the tiny boxes you see near the top of the building.

 

Another big draw is Millennium Park, a large green space below the Chicago River, where rests what is perhaps the most famous sculpture ever - the Cloud Gate, more familiarly known as the 'bean'.  I first visited it around one AM (don't ask) and had to view it from outside the park, but I went back in the daylight.

 

 

This was a much more mind-bending experience than I anticipated.  As you walk under the sculpture, you are reflected at many angles.  The curved shapes made my head spin in a way that the Skydeck never did.  I believe I am in the big picture at least six times (I held my arm out at an angle to make it easier to spot myself).

Another neat sculpture is made of two huge glass blocks where images of ordinary Chicagoans are projected while water pours down on the other three sides.  There's a shallow pool between them that's very popular with the little ones.

The freakiest thing about this fountain is that the images (which are videos, not fixed) will occasionally appear to be spouting water (there's a fountain jet strategically placed on the area where the projection appears). 

Another sculpture in Millennium Park is actually the outdoor stage where the Chicago Pops and others play.  The huge shapes apparently are good for the acoustics.

Not all sculpture is so monumental, of course, and not all of it is in this one park.  Here are some examples.  The bronze is called 'crack the whip', and the bigger installation is made entirely of aluminum canoes.

Flowers also figure in sometimes, as in these two examples.

But I happened on the best attraction in Chicago quite by accident.  And it's free.  It's the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank.  There's a museum showing old styles of money, such as these.

 

But the best reason to visit here is this guy standing in front of the cube of one million one dollar bills.  His name is Jerry Nelson, and he gives the most lively presentation regarding the operation of the Fed.  He's full of amazing facts and figures, and sounds like a carnival barker, but he's actually a retired Fed futures analyst and can (and does) hold forth at length regarding inflation, the Euro zone, and the economy in general.