One word can summarize Chicago: impressive. I tried to think of a better synonym but "impressive" is the best descriptor.
Our day began with a delicious (vegan!) breakfast at the B&B, paired with some great conversation with other guests there. One guest was a recently-retired teacher, so we spent a good amount of time chatting education with him. That's the best part of staying in a B&B--the personal, comfortable feeling.
After breakfast, we walked to the L station to head downtown. We needed to buy CTA all-day passes, so we stopped in two convenience stores looking for them. Never before have I gone into a convenience store in a city (even in touristy areas) and felt 1. safe and 2. welcomed. Both clerks were super-friendly and even...happy. This friendliness is a theme that continued throughout the day. So, after getting our passes, we hopped on the L and were again shocked at the helpfulness of the CTA employees and the cleanliness of the train. Coming from the East, it's so hard to avoid comparing cities to Philadelphia and New York. In our Chicago experience there is no comparison in terms of good ol' fashioned manners and comfort.
We got downtown and headed to Millenium Park, one of the most beautiful public spaces I've ever encountered, and enjoyed a symphony orchestra rehearsing for the park's music festival later in the week. All I wanted to do was dance across the lawn, spinning, pirouetting, leaping, and I totally would have if it had not been 95 degrees already.
Millenium Park has fantastic gardens, modern sculptures, and interesting landscape architecture features that we wished we had a cooler day for which to explore.
Photos from Millenium Park
The heat in the city was unbearable even before noon. The best plan of action was to seek shelter in a museum; once again, Chicago delivered in quality. We took a bus (and after my experience getting pepper-sprayed on a bus in San Fran, I was exhilarated by Chi-town's buses) to Solider Field (Bears' stadium) and the Field Museum, both on the waterfront. The Field Museum, sitting on the site of the 1893 World's Fair, is humongous. Much of its collection was donated to Chicago after the Fair, so their holdings are quite impressive. We were considerate and didn't use our flash in the exhibits, but here are a few pics from that excursion:
Pacific NW Indian house posts, mask. A ceiling medallion in the Tibet display.
We decided to beat the still-imposing heat by taking an architectural river tour of Chicago. The boat motored up and down the Chicago River while we got a very educational look at the structures that comprise the city. This tour sealed my newfound obsession with Chicago and I will be promptly purchasing a Chicago architecture book upon my return home.
The diverse styles of the Chicago skyline
On our way back to the train after our tour, Chicago showed us its true colors. We stood on a corner waiting to cross the street and encountered a ranting, homeless woman, which every city seems to have at least 264 of. She was saying, and I quote, "Yeah, [expletive], you come ovah here an' I'll break my other wrist--right in yo' face! I'll break my wrist on yo' face!" Everyone on the corner was moving away from her as she ranted and moved through the crowd. But every time she needed to get past someone, she said, "Excuse me---I'ma break my wrist on yo' face!--Excuse me, 'cuse me..."
A block later, a panhandling woman begged for change, and when I ignored her, she said, without irony, "Have a good day!"
We can't wait to come back to Chi-town!
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