Monday 1 October 2012

And the Travel Sic Award for Best City In The World Goes To.....Chicago

Chicago skyline

 
 
Everything about Chicago is amazing. Everything. I sound like someone blinded by love, and rendered inarticulate, but don't worry, I am going to go on for hours about why this city is so fab.

Chicago has the third biggest art collection in the US, the second biggest airport, and the eighth tallest building in the world. It used to be the biggest port (impressive for an inland city), have the biggest post office, and make the most TV shows and films. Are you getting the picture? It isn't really the best or biggest at anything anymore. But this is why I love Chicago. It doesn't care. It just wants to be the best it can be, and it definitely is. It is the most inward looking city I have ever visited, a city more concerned with its residents and visitors than how the rest of the world perceives it.

So what's so nice about it? Well, you can't really talk about Chicago without mentioning the skyline. What a scene: a total melting pot of architectural styles from the last hundred years. Chicago was almost decimated by a fire in 1871 and used this opportunity to rebuild the city, and like a Phoenix out of the flames, Chicago soared up and up. This vast city invented skyscrapers, but not to the detriment of the residents or the beauty of the city. Since skyscrapers were first built, city laws have used these vast buildings to its benefit: for example, private buildings are not allowed to build on the waterfront unless they also build a public waterfront walkway for pedestals, and as a result Chicago has miles of gorgeous waterfront paths. We took a river cruise which explained the background of Chicago's architecture, our guide was a volunteer who spoke breathlessly for 90 minutes with great knowledge and enthusiasm. She is just one of several volunteer guides we encountered during our stay, it seems Chicagoans love their city so much they will help visitors to appreciate it for free. I find that refreshing and encouraging.

Back on the ground, the streets of Chicago can be a little dark, in the shade of these monstrous buildings. I read a great description about dark shadowy streets, punctuated by the machine gun roar of the L train, and this is fairly accurate (although it does pain me to write anything even slightly negative about this amazing transport system). To help brighten these streets up, Chicago has commissioned huge, unique artwork from artists such as Picasso. This is taken to the extreme in Millennium Park, one of several public parks. The artworks here include a huge glass brick skyscraper fountain, with the faces of local people projected on it, and of course, Cloud Gate. Cloud Gate is a giant bean, weighing over 100 tonnes, made of silver, which vibrantly reflects both the skyline, and the people looking at it. It puts you in Chicago, which funnily enough is exactly what Chicago is all about. It is a human city, the most human city I've ever been to. It is about human endeavour (it's motto is 'I Will') and human achievements (look upfor evidence of these) and human beauty (the art is something even I can appreciate) and just living (seen in my beloved L train, the easiest transport invented!). The bean is something everyone can love and appreciate, and for everyone it reflects different things, exactly like Chicago. It is literally the best art I have ever seen.
 
Cloud Gate
 
 

So why else is Chicago amazing? The culture here is second to none. Vibrant blues clubs still rock every night of the week (we spent a glorious night watching Mary 'if you like me buy a CD, if you don't, hell, buy one an'way' Jane and her blues band), there is a wonderful art gallery, and too many museums to mention. It also has one of the oldest and coolest cinemas, out in the suburbs. All the films are about four months old, you enter down a tattered red carpet, there are no adverts, and the leather chairs recline. Now you wouldn't find that in New York!
 
Buddy Guy's Legends Club
 

Of all the museums in Chicago, we especially enjoyed the Field Museum, home to Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaur ever found (and found by a woman, called Sue!). We learnt loads at this museum thanks to our excellent tour guide, who, in her real job, was an advertising exec, (anyone know that you date a T-Rex the same way you date a tree? Count the rings on its ribs!). And best of all McDonalds had helped to pay for Sue to be in Chicago, so there was a McDonalds at the museum!!

Of course, what really makes a city is its food. Chicago invented the pizza pie. Yes, this is a pie made of pizza. Yum! We took on a woman vs food style challenge and bravely ordered a small Chicago pizza pie to share. We epically failed, not even managing a quarter of it. I carried the rest of it home, and had to to stop for a breather, a pizza pie would make a pretty decent weapon if thrown or dropped.

But perhaps the biggest reason why Chicago is the 2013 Travel Sic Best City in the World, is the toilets. Well, one toilet in particular. Like many sky scrapers, the Hancock Building has an observation deck you can pay to go up. It also has a free cocktail bar. 'Ha' we thought, 'we're not mugs, we'll go up to the cocktail deck and spend our entry fee on a drink!' But after an extensive queue to get in, we were sorry to see that a) we were nowhere near a window, b) the rest of the Western Hemisphere had had the same idea, and c) it had taken so long to get up there that the sky had gone dark, and the cocktail bar faces the lake, so we could see nothing. Dejected I headed for a free wee (when you're a traveller you take them wherever you can get them!) and was hit by the most impressive view I have ever seen. The whole skyline of Chicago spread before me in shimmering light. I was so awestruck walked straight into a toilet door. Who needs sky decks when you can take a wee with his view? And that, Chicago, is why you are the best city in the world!
 
Best loo with a view 2012
 

 

 

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