Chicago revisited

Tuesday Apr 4

Sears Tower Skydeck photos are here
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Check this link for more information on Chicago :

For the photos I clicked in Chicago on mar 31 check out this link:

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Saturday March 30th :

Left for Chicago at 2 p.m. in Vivek's car with Vidhya, self, vivek, Sonali and Nikhil. It was a pleasant drive and I enjoyed the warmth between these friends. Reached Chicago by 4:45 . Parked the car in a parking lot ( 22 $ for 2 hours)

We walked into the Millenium Park and downtown Chicago. The day was a bit wet and chilly. The famous chill wind of the Wind City was blowing . Thanks god I was covered in proper warm clothes and had proper socks and shoes. Even Vidhya who is used to Chicago was feeling uncomfortably chilly. Ofcourse both Sonali and Vidhya had slippers and not shoes on.

Chicago was crowded ( not in Indian sense but in Champaign/US sense) We walked across to Millenium park.

Chicago Millennium Park:
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First planned in 1997 as a way to create new parkland in Grant Park and transform unsightly railroad tracks and parking lots, Millennium Park has evolved into the most significant millennium project in the world. Located in downtown Chicago on Michigan Avenue between Randolph and Monroe Streets, the 24.5-acre park is an unprecedented center for world-class art, music, architecture and landscape design, where you can experience everything from interactive public art and ice skating to al fresco dining and free classical music presentations by the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus.

Among the park’s prominent features is the dazzling Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States, designed by Frank Gehry, one of the world’s greatest living architects.

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We walked round wriggley square.

Wrigley Square and Millennium Monument (Peristyle) :

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Located on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Randolph Street, the tree-lined area of Wrigley Square is an inviting open space for visitors to relax on the lawn or stroll paths. The Square is anchored by the Millennium Monument (Peristyle), a nearly full-sized replica of the original peristyle that stood in the same location between 1917 and 1953. With its graceful semi-circular row of Doric-style columns that rise nearly 40 feet, the Millennium Monument ties the past to the present and supports the designation of Michigan Avenue as a landmark district.
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There is a huge mirror shaped like a bean. It is fascinating. The mirror reflects the entire skyline on all sides. We clicked many photos here. It is convex on all sides. This is called Kapoor Sculpture designed by an Indian on SBC Plaza (Cloud Gate) called "The Bean"

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A major feature of Millennium Park is this 110-ton elliptical sculpture designed by the celebrated British artist Anish Kapoor, one of the most prolific and respected sculptors in the world. "Cloud Gate," the monumental sculpture located on SBC Plaza was named by the artist on June 29 when the final panel of the elliptical sculpture was installed.

The sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly-polished stainless steel "plates" that create an elliptically-arched, highly reflective work with Chicago’s skyline and Millennium Park itself as a dramatic backdrop. Visitors will be able to fully experience the majestic nature of the work by literally walking through and around, as it was designed for public interaction. Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high.

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We saw one open air theatre called --------- . Huge lawn with lots of accoustic tube like structures and speakers running cris cross. Vidhya told me that will give an effect of live performance wherever u sit. This place was huge.

Vivek and I walked on the BP bridge. It was cold but by now i could bear it and vivek was all admiration for me. I had come prepared for chilly windy chicago

BP Bridge
********************* Net ************************Connecting Millennium Park to Daley Bicentennial Plaza, east of the park, this 925-foot-long winding bridge, Frank Gehry's first, provides incomparable views of the Chicago skyline, Grant Park and Lake Michigan. Clad in brushed stainless steel panels, the BP Bridge complements the Pritzker Pavilion in function as well as design by creating an acoustic barrier from the traffic noise below. It also has a 5% slope to allow easy access for people who are physically challenged.

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The bridge leads to Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan
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Lake Michigan (43°30'N, 87°30'W) is the only one of the Great Lakes wholly within the borders of the United States; the others are shared with Canada. It has a surface area of 22,400 square miles (58,016 km²)[1], making it

• The largest freshwater lake in the US
• The largest lake entirely within one country
• The 5th largest lake in the world.

It is 307 miles (494 km) long by 118 miles (190 km) wide with a shoreline 1,640 miles (2,633 km) long. The lake's average depth is 279 feet (85 m), while its greatest depth is 923 feet (281 m). It contains a volume of 1,180 cubic miles (4,918 cubic km) of water. Its surface averages 577 feet (176 m) above sea level, the same as Lake Huron, to which it is connected through the Straits of Mackinac.

The history of Chicago is closely tied to that of Lake Michigan. Since before Chicago was founded, ships were bringing people and supplies from all points on the compass. Lake Michigan is the third largest of the Great Lakes, with a maximum depth of 925 feet and a size slightly greater than the nation of Croatia. The average depth off Chicago's shore averages 15-35 feet.

To reach greater depths, one must travel several miles out in the lake, or head north to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The lake bottom off Chicago's shore is littered with shipwrecks, ranging from schooners and tugboats to car ferries and even WWII airplanes. Scuba diving is a popular recreation for local residents, as are lakefront dinner cruises. In 1988 zebra mussels were discovered in Lake Saint Clair, and soon spread to all the Great Lakes, severely impacting the ecosystem. They have clogged intake pipes and fostered drastic changes in the base food chain. One unexpected result was the clarification of waters – in the 1970s, average visibility was 5-15 feet – on rare days, water visibility could reach 20 feet; now visibility averages over 20 feet, and often exceeds twice that.

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I and vivek walked along this great lake and took some photos. Vivek wanted to take me to Navy pier but it was getting late and chilly. Sonali, Vidhya and nikhil were waiting elsewhere for us. So we walked along the Chicago river. This reminded me of pune with so many rivers flowing thro it. Unfortunately the river side walks are not always as enjoyable as here in Chicago. On either side of the river tall buildings were touching the river bank . Lights were slowly coming up and i was excited to see the tall skyscrapers getting lit. This part of Chicago - downtown - has such a high energy feel abt it . Large branded malls lined the street. vivek said that we could only window shop and things were very expendive even by American stds. We walked on a busy broad traffic road with 4 lanes - ???????/ - and Vivek told me that when the ship has to pass the
entire road will open in the middle. I was awestruck by that. Such a huge road? open ? I would love to see that if luck is on my side.

The Chicago River is the seed from which the city of Chicago grew. Much of the layout of the city is based on the river and the many bridges that span it. ships which were taller than the bridge, could pass thro, when the bridge opened ! I got some mind blowing photos from the net showing the bridge opening. Check it out once i put the link here.

Now it was dark, cold and drizzling and we walked fast on our way to the Hancock building


John Hancock Center

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Known locally as 'Big John', the John Hancock Center is probably the Chicagoans favorite skyscraper. The 100 - story building, completed in 1969, has a remarkable design, with the huge X-braces serving both a structural and a visual purpose. Visually, it gives the impression of stability and it moves the eye away from the human-sized windows.

X Braces
The construction was designed by the engineer Fazlur Kahn and architect Bruce Graham from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Fazlur Kahn devised the frame-tube system, which he also implemented in the Sears Tower. This new construction method was made possible by new technologies, like more advanced software and new developments in steel. Thanks to the new construction method, it was possible for Kahn to design constructions which could resist the strong windforces more effectively by having the forces absorbed by all three dimensions of the building. The diagonals are connected to the exterior columns, making if possible for the forces to be carried over from the braces to the columns and back. The innovative construction also resulted in a 50% decrease of required steel compared to skyscrapers built with interior columns.

Multifunctional
The John Hancock Center is a multifunction building. It includes 48 stories of apartments (with a total of 711 apartments), 29 stories offices, shops, a hotel, a swimming pool, an ice rink, restaurant and on top of the 344 meters tall building radio and television facilities. On top it offers services like its own post office and a refuse collection. The apartments are located at the top of the tower. Some of them are so high that the inhabitants sometimes have to call the doorkeeper to ask what the weather's like down on the ground, as the apartments are sometimes above the clouds.

At the beginning of the project, it was controversial mostly because of the location of this massive tower, near the much smaller and more gentle buildings on Michigan Avenue. After its completion, most of the criticism dwindled, but much like with the Sears Tower, the plaza at the entrance was considered very user- unfriendly, being afflicted by heavy gales and loud traffic noise from Michigan Avenue. It was redesigned in 1995 and now includes a 3,5 meters high fountain to muffle the noise and a recirculation of office and shopping traffic.

Observatory
The observation deck at the top of the John Hancock Center gives one of the best views you can have on the Loop, Chicago's downtown area.

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My neck pained when I tried to look up to the top. We went to an American restruant on the 95th and 96th floor of the building. My head was spinning inside the elevator.

The Signature Room
At the 95th floor is the site of countless special occasions and memories for Chicagoans , this hotel is dimmly lit so we can see the magnificent view outside. What a breathtaking view. I felt like staying the whole night here. The brightly lit city of chicago lay like jewels all around us. But being a hotel we had to place order something. At least one item per person. and eat . Everything we ate that day tasted wonderful This was an unforgettable happy moment in my US travel. The young americal girls and ladies looked stunning in their mostly black dresses and
jewellary. We Vidhya , self and Sonali kept admiring them. The view from the womans rest room was the best.

Well we had to leave and spent the night in Vikrant's house in Schaumburg a suburb of Chicago. Morning I took a walk within his complex. His apartment is a sample of a well designed small and elegant American apartment and he has furnished it elegantly too. Vikrant has a good taste for fine living. There were 2 lakes within the complex , geese swimming , walking on the green grass and flying gracefully in the air. Lucky creatures. Aquatic, terrestrial and arial - three in one !! How I wish I could be like that The light green "Weeping Willow trees' lining the lake with their long tender light green branches swaying in the wind was a new sight to me and somehow I was reminded of ' Vikram Vethal "

We visited IKEA a huge furniture mall - and drove in pouring rain to a venketeshwara temple in 'Arora" in Chicago. NO photos could be taken due to the rain. All were very very eager to get there. well it was more due to devotion to the yummy hot hot idli, dosa, wadai , pongal etc. which is available as prasad than due to special devotion to Lord Venkatesheshwara - may the lord forgive us our temptations.

We reached chicago OHare airport and vidhya and sonali helped me upto security clearance. But the walk (run ) to gate C15 was quite a long one. My throat was parched dry with tension to reach and board the flight on time. I did manage to sit in the right craft and was on my way to Washington DC .