The City of Al Capone
Well haven’t said much about Chicago, the windy city, the city of rail roads, the city of the great fire and obviously the city of Al Capone. I had always thought that I was a thorough city person but well the downtown in Chicago made me feel there s still a lot of citying left to do. If you stand anywhere in the downtown and just raise your head a bit and look around you see towering sky scrapers dwarfing you from every side; quite a humbling experience.
For a good beginning there are two quick tours to take that gives you a very decent idea about downtown Chicago. First is the trolly tour that tells you all about these towering buildings and the other is the cruise down the Chicago river snaking through the city (where they actually tell you about how and why they made the Chicago river actually change direction and flow out of Lake Michigan than into it). A few places that I would now say is a must see is the Shedd Aquarium and the Art Institute of Chicago. The Shedd Aquarium is one of the largest in the world and recreates both the marine world and fresh water bodies with its associated aquatic life in an uniquely represential natural habitat. My personal favourite however would remain the oceanarium with the sea lions, dolphins, penguins and otters. The Art Institute of Chicago was my first true introduction to the world of fine arts. With my friend acting as a guide I was introduced to impressionism, cubism and the renaissance styles of painting. Tagging along with a guide and my friends’ knowledge we managed an initial understanding of Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Remi etc. Oh one important trivia is that if you see outside the building you will find the names of Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael inscribed. No there s no art funda here but the real fund is that while we were having lunch at Benigans right opposite it, we were told that others had also sat like that stared at the names and decided to name a few of their creations after them: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Keeping to the museum trip the Field Museum is really worth a visit too, to see Sue (the largest T Rex ever found) in all her resplendent glory and also to pay visits to the Egyptian gallery and the House of Gems.
If you are like me and like looking down on cities from heights I guess Chicago is the place to be. You get two of the best views possible, one obviously from the world’s 2nd tallest building’s 103rd floor Skydeck, Sears Towers. Coming to think of it Sears Roebuck was the first case taught to us in B School. Just trivia, ignore. However the slightly lower but much better view is from the 94th floor Observatory in the John Hancock Centre. From here you might be a little lower than Sears and also the view of downtown might be a bit more restricted than Sears but its more than made up by the stunning view you get of Lake Michigan and the Lake Shore Drive running around it. In fact you can even see Wisonsin and Indiana in the distance. I didn’t manage to go up either at night but I guess it must be worth a visit.
A couple of other attractions that you can do but which is nothing to really write home about is the Millennium Park (just another park with couples all around) and the Navy Pier (akin to a cleaner Chowpatty by the lake; the only good thing being the music). Navy Pier however had a ship with cruises and dining on board where the best of Chicago went to dine with the finest ladies in their finest dress. Well I think someday I think I ll come here with her, gen for kicks! I didn’t see a couple of other places like the Adler Planetarium and the Museum of Science and Industry but yeah if you taking the City Pass, you might as well see it. I am a major wildlife lover and so couldn’t miss the Lincoln Zoo and managed to see a lot of animals from the Americas that had hitherto only heard about or seen on National Geographic.
There were 3 experiences that I will remember above this sightseeing and I must tell you about them. The first was that I went for my first classical concert that I had long been dreaming about. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra were playing Bach’s Magnificent and Mozart’s Requiem. I was initially hesitant about spending the $40 on the ticket but I finally gave in and once again with Ditchie and Ranga for a guide dove right into the world of art. The first thing that strikes you about these concerts is the grandeur of it all. The auditorium is grand and awe inspiring, people come dressed in their finest (even though we weren’t and hence looked quite an outcast but what the hell!), and decorum and propriety is written all over. If you don’t know how to behave here you better just follow the crowd else you will make a real fool of yourself, but it was just like I had seen in the movies. The concert at least sounded very good to me (I can’t comment more than that), but the composers went in and came out for the bows 7 times spread over the interval and the end, which was slightly too much if you ask me. I was also pointed out that there was Itzhack Polin, playing the violin in the concert who s among the greatest living violinists!
Anyway from here we went straight to a jazz club, called House of Blues, from where we were kicked out because of me, since I was not carrying my passport to prove my age. The good that happened was that because we had to go back to pick up my passport, we ended up going to the most famous jazz place in Chicago called The Green Mill, which I believe was frequented by Al Capone himself and even to date has tunnels below that he had built to escape out if need be. There were 2 saxophones, drums and an organ and the music was very good. The band would have played till 5 in the morning but sometime after 2 we decided to call it a day. Since this was my first visit to an American night club I wasn’t very sure of what to expect but I would just say maybe people are just 25% more liberal than we would see in the up market night clubs of Bombay and Bangalore. Yes there were couples making out at different places but hell they do that in Indian cities too and its pretty sweet and you Bajrang Dalites can go take a hike.
The third was a walk I took along Michigan Avenue or what is called the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. It truly is beautiful. It has famous buildings, shops, musicians lining this walk from the Chicago river to a little further than the Hancock Building. So while you can walk into a Cartier or Tiffany’s, you also have an official Walt Disney Store and also the Apple showroom. While you ll have the street musicians playing over turned paint buckets as drums and trumpets, you ll also find protesters (one of whom had a poster which read ‘FBI Stop Raping my Wife’; I don’t know why). One of the major attractions here is the Chicago Tribune building which has rocks from different parts of the world that their correspondents have been to embedded all through the structure. So you have rocks from Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China, Berlin Wall etc. and also a moon rock which I m sure no correspondent of theirs ever went to.
A mention must be made of the place where we spent a couple of nights, in the Chicago International Hostel. These are places where international travellers can sleep in the dorms at a low rate. It’s a place where you basically sleep and I believe they exist all across the world for travellers to use. We made friends with Andre, from Australia who had been back packing around USA for more than a month. These are nice affordable places but it would help if you were travelling with a friend. We also managed to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant and also at Pizzeria Uno, the origin of the Chicago Deep Dish pizzas.
I have spent a lot of time walking around the Chicago downtown and have come to really like the place. In fact couldn’t stop singing Sinatra’s ‘Downtown’ all along and would recommend that everyone stay close it in Chicago and spend as much time as you can walking around it, especially at night. I think its safe. Right now I await the departure of my US Airways flight to Washington that’s delayed by more than an hour for no apparent reasons. Yes, such things happen here too.
For a good beginning there are two quick tours to take that gives you a very decent idea about downtown Chicago. First is the trolly tour that tells you all about these towering buildings and the other is the cruise down the Chicago river snaking through the city (where they actually tell you about how and why they made the Chicago river actually change direction and flow out of Lake Michigan than into it). A few places that I would now say is a must see is the Shedd Aquarium and the Art Institute of Chicago. The Shedd Aquarium is one of the largest in the world and recreates both the marine world and fresh water bodies with its associated aquatic life in an uniquely represential natural habitat. My personal favourite however would remain the oceanarium with the sea lions, dolphins, penguins and otters. The Art Institute of Chicago was my first true introduction to the world of fine arts. With my friend acting as a guide I was introduced to impressionism, cubism and the renaissance styles of painting. Tagging along with a guide and my friends’ knowledge we managed an initial understanding of Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Remi etc. Oh one important trivia is that if you see outside the building you will find the names of Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael inscribed. No there s no art funda here but the real fund is that while we were having lunch at Benigans right opposite it, we were told that others had also sat like that stared at the names and decided to name a few of their creations after them: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Keeping to the museum trip the Field Museum is really worth a visit too, to see Sue (the largest T Rex ever found) in all her resplendent glory and also to pay visits to the Egyptian gallery and the House of Gems.
If you are like me and like looking down on cities from heights I guess Chicago is the place to be. You get two of the best views possible, one obviously from the world’s 2nd tallest building’s 103rd floor Skydeck, Sears Towers. Coming to think of it Sears Roebuck was the first case taught to us in B School. Just trivia, ignore. However the slightly lower but much better view is from the 94th floor Observatory in the John Hancock Centre. From here you might be a little lower than Sears and also the view of downtown might be a bit more restricted than Sears but its more than made up by the stunning view you get of Lake Michigan and the Lake Shore Drive running around it. In fact you can even see Wisonsin and Indiana in the distance. I didn’t manage to go up either at night but I guess it must be worth a visit.
A couple of other attractions that you can do but which is nothing to really write home about is the Millennium Park (just another park with couples all around) and the Navy Pier (akin to a cleaner Chowpatty by the lake; the only good thing being the music). Navy Pier however had a ship with cruises and dining on board where the best of Chicago went to dine with the finest ladies in their finest dress. Well I think someday I think I ll come here with her, gen for kicks! I didn’t see a couple of other places like the Adler Planetarium and the Museum of Science and Industry but yeah if you taking the City Pass, you might as well see it. I am a major wildlife lover and so couldn’t miss the Lincoln Zoo and managed to see a lot of animals from the Americas that had hitherto only heard about or seen on National Geographic.
There were 3 experiences that I will remember above this sightseeing and I must tell you about them. The first was that I went for my first classical concert that I had long been dreaming about. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra were playing Bach’s Magnificent and Mozart’s Requiem. I was initially hesitant about spending the $40 on the ticket but I finally gave in and once again with Ditchie and Ranga for a guide dove right into the world of art. The first thing that strikes you about these concerts is the grandeur of it all. The auditorium is grand and awe inspiring, people come dressed in their finest (even though we weren’t and hence looked quite an outcast but what the hell!), and decorum and propriety is written all over. If you don’t know how to behave here you better just follow the crowd else you will make a real fool of yourself, but it was just like I had seen in the movies. The concert at least sounded very good to me (I can’t comment more than that), but the composers went in and came out for the bows 7 times spread over the interval and the end, which was slightly too much if you ask me. I was also pointed out that there was Itzhack Polin, playing the violin in the concert who s among the greatest living violinists!
Anyway from here we went straight to a jazz club, called House of Blues, from where we were kicked out because of me, since I was not carrying my passport to prove my age. The good that happened was that because we had to go back to pick up my passport, we ended up going to the most famous jazz place in Chicago called The Green Mill, which I believe was frequented by Al Capone himself and even to date has tunnels below that he had built to escape out if need be. There were 2 saxophones, drums and an organ and the music was very good. The band would have played till 5 in the morning but sometime after 2 we decided to call it a day. Since this was my first visit to an American night club I wasn’t very sure of what to expect but I would just say maybe people are just 25% more liberal than we would see in the up market night clubs of Bombay and Bangalore. Yes there were couples making out at different places but hell they do that in Indian cities too and its pretty sweet and you Bajrang Dalites can go take a hike.
The third was a walk I took along Michigan Avenue or what is called the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. It truly is beautiful. It has famous buildings, shops, musicians lining this walk from the Chicago river to a little further than the Hancock Building. So while you can walk into a Cartier or Tiffany’s, you also have an official Walt Disney Store and also the Apple showroom. While you ll have the street musicians playing over turned paint buckets as drums and trumpets, you ll also find protesters (one of whom had a poster which read ‘FBI Stop Raping my Wife’; I don’t know why). One of the major attractions here is the Chicago Tribune building which has rocks from different parts of the world that their correspondents have been to embedded all through the structure. So you have rocks from Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China, Berlin Wall etc. and also a moon rock which I m sure no correspondent of theirs ever went to.
A mention must be made of the place where we spent a couple of nights, in the Chicago International Hostel. These are places where international travellers can sleep in the dorms at a low rate. It’s a place where you basically sleep and I believe they exist all across the world for travellers to use. We made friends with Andre, from Australia who had been back packing around USA for more than a month. These are nice affordable places but it would help if you were travelling with a friend. We also managed to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant and also at Pizzeria Uno, the origin of the Chicago Deep Dish pizzas.
I have spent a lot of time walking around the Chicago downtown and have come to really like the place. In fact couldn’t stop singing Sinatra’s ‘Downtown’ all along and would recommend that everyone stay close it in Chicago and spend as much time as you can walking around it, especially at night. I think its safe. Right now I await the departure of my US Airways flight to Washington that’s delayed by more than an hour for no apparent reasons. Yes, such things happen here too.
posted by Abilin Mukherjee at 10:38 PM
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