Visit Chicago - Day Two

After a rather poor night’s sleep (damn jet-lag!) I started my day off by visiting the Harold Washington Library Center (right), which although it only opened in 1991, is a really cool building that’s a mix of the classical and modern, with marble floors and staircases contrasting with book-related quotes stencilled on the walls.

The library clearly has an impressive collection, including a floor dedicated to music, which particularly concentrates on the jazz and blues heritage of Chicago. On the top floor is the Winter Garden – a calm colonial-style oasis above the city. On my way out I got chatted up by a rather burly gentleman who nodded, made a teeth-sucking noise at me and said “How you doin?” before proceeding to follow me up an escalator and looking up my skirt. Welcome to Chicago, eh?

After escaping from my would-be suitor, I grabbed a healthy and nutritious breakfast from Dunkin Donuts and made my way to the Columbia College-affiliated Museum of Contemporary Photography (left).

The museum collaborates with artists, photographers, communities, and institutions locally, nationally, and internationally, presenting projects and exhibitions and acquiring works that embrace a wide range of contemporary aesthetics and technologies. I was very impressed with Greta Pratt’s visiting exhibition “Using History” which explores how we perceive history using humour and anachronisms, and Kelli Connell’s collection (in the Midwest Photographers Project gallery) of intimate, two-person scenes, played by a single model.

Next I made a brief stop at The Fine Arts Building (right), a historic artist's haven since 1898, with studios and offices for painters, sculptors, dancers, art therapists, voice coaches and more. Unfortunately the galleries were closed, but the building’s motto; "All passes - Art alone endures," could be felt in the halls, theatre box office, bronze cast elevator doors and ornate clocks.

Continuing the art theme, I went to the Art Institute of Chicago (left), which opened in 1893, the second year of the World's Columbian Exposition, and which is known especially for its extensive collection of Impressionist and American art. Here I saw famous works by Monet, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat, Van Gogh, Dali, Magritte, Hopper and Wood. However, the Institute contains more than paintings: amongst other things there are photographs, a collection of arms and armour, and ancient Oriental collection, a Pre-Columbian Meso-American ceramic figure collection and the Thorne Rooms which contain exact miniatures demonstrating American and European architectural and furniture styles.

After a snack on the sidewalk (a Chicken Mole Rojo Rustica flatbread sandwich from Cosi) I popped into the Symphony Center (right), a music complex which is home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Unfortunately I couldn’t see the Orchestra Hall, but the hallways and public multi-story rotunda (where they were tuning a large number of grand pianos) were very impressive. Outside I caught a free trolley bus South to the Museum Campus on the shores of Lake Michigan.

The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum (left) was the first planetarium built in the Western Hemisphere (in 1930) and is the oldest in existence today. Despite the two full-size planetarium theatres and the 35,000 square feet of exhibits including scale models of the Solar System, antique astronomical instruments, and interactive displays, I thought it was overrated and a bit of a let-down. The displays and exhibits are boring (and there aren’t actually very many of them as there’s a lot of space around each display case), and although the Zeiss Planetarium projector is capable of accurately reproducing the movement of every aspect of the night sky, the talk that went with it was relatively uninspiring.

Luckily the Shedd Aquarium (right) which opened in 1929, made up for my previous disappointment with its 5 million gallons of water and 650 species including fish, marine mammals, birds, snakes, amphibians and insects.

"Waters of the World" consists of hundreds of tanks containing creatures from blue iguanas to bluegills, and from sunfish to moon jellies and sea stars. In the "Caribbean Reef", a massive 90,000-gallon tank reproducing a coral reef, you can follow a green sea turtle, peek at eels and watch rays glide by, while getting close to parrotfish, angels, and puffers. An exhibition called "Amazon Rising" charts how the region’s animals, plants and people adapt to the water’s dramatic annual rise and fall, and creatures include anacondas, piranhas, giant spiders and tiny toxic frogs.

The "Oceanarium" is a large pool where you can watch Pacific white-sided dolphins play. Normally the beluga whales are here too, but they were sectioned off in a private pool due to the birth of a new calf a few weeks earlier. In a nearby cove sea otters tumble and dive; the core of the collection was a group rescued from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. The current special exhibit "Lizards and the Komodo King" features the world’s largest lizard, the Komodo Dragon and all his scaly cousins — from the tiny day gecko to the crocodile monitor, and every basilisk, chameleon and skink in between. "Wild Reef” recreates a Philippine coral reef and is filled with multiple species of fish and rays, and a 400,000 gallon shark tank with twelve foot high curved windows, allowing visitors a "divers-eye view."

After taking all the sights of the amazing wildlife in, and paying a visit to the gift shop to buy the cutest Sea Otter cuddly toy, I ran out of time to see the Field Museum and instead caught the free trolley bus back to the loop.

Walking to my hotel, I spotted Ristorante We (above), a Tuscan Steak House, which looked like a good spot for dinner. After getting dressed up at my hotel, I went back and got a table for one (I felt very grown-up and sophisticated reading the newspaper at my table!).

I selected a nice glass of red wine, and started with an amazingly fresh “Trio of Tomatoes”; a salad made with beefsteak, plum and cherry tomatoes, following that up with a 16oz steak and asparagus parmigiano. All steaks are served on a bed of rocket with a squeeze of lemon and accompanied by four homemade condiments that change daily – mine were barbeque sauce, horseradish and sour cream, salsa verde and porcini butter. Too stuffed for dessert, I paid up (a fairly reasonable $60) and went back to the hotel to bed.

Visit Chicago - Day One

After getting up very early I caught the train to Manchester Airport, where I had a long wait to check-in due to the increased security measures. My hand luggage was then thoroughly searched before entering the departure lounge and on boarding the plane (although the female security guard seemed more interested in my book than if I was carrying liquids!).

The flight was fine if a little turbulent, but American Airlines unapologetically forgot my lactose-free meals so I was starving by the time I reached Chicago! I got through immigration quite quickly and amazingly my suitcase was one of the first off the plane. Outside the terminal I managed to find my shuttle bus and was taken to my hotel, Club Quarters in the Central Loop (left). However, I then had to wait nearly two hours until my room was ready and I could finally unpack and have a shower. Grrr.

After relaxing, I decided to go in search of dinner. Following a recommendation in my guidebook I decided to try Trattoria No. 10’s all-you-can-eat bar buffet (right). For $12 you can stuff your face with as much fresh antipasti, bread, salad, cheese, salami, cold meat, prawns, bruschetta, pasta, and fruit as you can fit in, washed down with a glass of wine or a cocktail from the bar (about $10). Stuffed, I wandered back to my hotel and to bed.