Chicago Tour - Day Two

Now on our second and last day in Chicago. Not wanting to waste more time. We parked at the underground carpark of the Millennium Park. Not the cheapest of parking lots, but you get what you pay for. Brunch at the nearby Park Grill. We ordered the best of what Chicago has to offer - Vienna dog, hamburger with kettle chips, pulled pork sandwich, and some coleslaw. It was a great way to spend lunchtime as we watched the people mill around The Bean. After lunch, we first visited the Crown Fountain. This piece of public art is impossible to miss - two 50-foot glass block towers facing each other at opposite ends of a shallow black granite reflecting pool.

Designed by Catalan artist Jaume Plensa, the U$17-million Crown Fountain is a piece of glass sculpture, a water fountain, and a massive LED screen all in one. Behind the glass blocks is a 24- by 49-foot LED display that randomly projects a person's face, a nature scene, or a solid color. The collection of faces, Plensa's tribute to Chicagoans, was taken from a cross-section of 1,000 residents. What's interesting about the fountain is that every 3 or 4 minutes,the faces pucker up and water shoots out in a steady stream. Later, water rushes down from the top to "wash away" the face, and another images takes its place. This is a favourite with the kids - running across the water-covered plaza and standing under the water jets.

The centerpiece of the Chicago Millennium Park is the dazzling Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion and the Great Lawn in front of it. Although an outdoor concert venue, the state-of-the-art sound system mimics the acoustics of an indoor concert hall by attaching speakers to an overhead trellis of crisscrossing steel pipes. The trellis spans the 4,000 fixed seats and the Great Lawn, which accommodates an additional 7,000 people. The pavilion itself is 120 feet high, crowned with a headdress of brushed stainless steel ribbons that resembles a blooming flower. A great place to read books, play frisbees, or just lie down on the grass.

Another attraction of the park is The Bean (real name Cloud Gate). No wonder it's called The Bean by the locals because it looks like one. The 3-story, 110-ton polished stainless steel sculpture is the work of British artist Anish Kapoor. Originally estimated to cost U$6 million, the privately-funded sculpture cost U$23 million upon completion. Measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high, it has a 12-foot-high arch, which allows people to walk underneath it and see their reflections from different angles. Because of The Bean's elliptical shape, it reflects the surrounding skyline and the clouds above. Wonderful, wonderful object to take pictures of.

Having had our fill of The Bean, we headed for the Marshall Field's and Co. State Street store, passing by the Chicago Cultural Center. If you haven't heard by now, the iconic Marshall Field's was acquired by Macy's and is now officially known as Macy's on State Street. I heard the locals weren't too happy about this, they even had public protests and boycott-Macy's campaigns. Not much they can do though, a deal is a deal. Macy's has already changed the awnings and put its bright red star logo everywhere. Since the Marshall Field store is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is part of the Loop Retail National Historic District, Macy's was required to keep the Great Clocks and the iconic name plaques. First thing you notice when you first walk in the store is the high ceiling, stretching up to several stories. The ceiling was done by Tiffany using 1.6 million pieces of Favrile iridescent glass.

Another Marshall Field innovation is the introduction of tea rooms or food shops inside the department store. In those days, ladies would go shopping, then go back home for lunch. This is so because having lunch at a downtown restaurant without the company of a man is considered unlady-like. Story goes that one time, a Marshall Field's clerk shared her lunch of chicken pot pie with a shopper, and that's how in-store tea rooms started. Enter the Walnut Room with its crystal chandeliers and imported dark Russian wood paneling on the seventh floor. Even today, the Walnut Room still serves the traditional Mrs. Herring's chicken pot pie. My brother tells me that it's almost a tradition to have Christmas lunch or dinner at the Walnut Room. It doesn't take reservations during the Christmas season, so be prepared to queue up. For your patience, you'll be rewarded with a chance to dine under a 45-foot-tall Christmas tree decorated with 1,000 handmade ornaments. How's that?

Next up, we visited the downtown theater district - Chicago Theater, Oriental Theater, etc. Further off is the Daley Center Plaza with the Pablo Picasso sculpture with no name (simple known at the Chicago Picasso). The cubist sculpture stands 50 feet tall, weighs 162 tons, and is made of Corrosive Tensile ("Cor-Ten") steel, the same material used to build the Richard J. Daley Center behind it. The reason Daley Center has a rusty color is because that's actually rust. Cor-Ten steel is designed to rust, actually strengthening the structure. If you say so..... Just nearby are the City Hall, the Chicago Temple (a.k.a the First United Methodist Church) and the Thompson Center. For those interested in trivia, the Chicago Temple is 173 meter (568 foot) tall, has 23 floors, and is the world's tallest church building. It is home to the First United Methodist Church of Chicago and the Silk Road Theatre Project theater company. The steel-and-glass James R. Thompson Center (JRTC) has 17 floors and being used as offices by the State of Illinois. The funny 29-foot tall, 10-ton white fiberglass sculpture in front of the building is called Monument With Standing Beast (Monument a la Bete Debour), by Jean Dubuffet.

Making a left at La Salle from Washington, we walked all the way to the Chicago Board of Trade, then followed the Loop along Van Buren Street towards the Harold Washington Library. This is the reddish-brown building with the copper-green roof with giant gargoyles on every corner. Too bad it's already closed when we got there. We made another left and strolled down Michigan Avenue. Lots of nice building around - the Art Institute, the Athletic Association, the Architecture Foundation, the Orchestra Hall, etc. While my brother and Dad had their coffee fix, I proceeded to Grant Park for more picture taking. There's the Buckingham Fountain and the James C. Petrillo Music Shell. I wanted to check out the Lurie Garden at Millennium Park, but as always, not enough time.

Crossed over to the Pritzker Pavilion to watch the finale of the free outdoor concert called The Stars of Lyric Opera, presented by Lyric Opera of Chicago. A pre-season teaser, the free concert feature a selection of overtures, arias, and ensembles by composers including Giordano, Gounod, Mozart, Ponchielli, Puccini, Rachmaninoff, R. Strauss, and Verdi. As we came late, all the seats on the lawn were already taken so we had to watch from the sidelines, as many others did. You can still hear pretty well though. With less people around, I was able to take better pictures of The Bean and the Crown Fountain.

For dinner, we went to John Hancock Center's Signature Room at the 95th, so called because it's on the 95th floor. We killed two birds with one stone because the restaurant also functions as an observation deck. We could've gone to the taller Sears Tower, but we have to pay an entrance fee for Skydeck, and not sure if there's a restaurant there. Normally there's a long queue at the Signature Room because most people think like us, and people who managed to get tables tend to stay longer than usual, but we got lucky and had to wait for only a few minutes. The place is a bit dark for my liking, but that's ok. Too bright and you won't enjoy the sweeping views outside. Ninety-five floors above ground level, you'd be surprised by the number of big spiders outside the windows. Seems to me the window washers are not doing their jobs properly.