Chicago

04/04/12-07/04/12

On my first full day in Chicago I stuck to exploring the downtown area of the city near to where my hostel was. I first followed Grant Park along to the modern Millennium Park at its northern end. The park contains a variety of different public art installations; one which was closed for the winter period was a fountain that projects different films of local people’s faces onto a huge screen, from the month water is occasionally jetted out but unfortunately I didn’t get to see it in action only the faces showed on the screen. The main one in the park that has become the new unofficial icon of the city is the Cloud Gate, or as the locals refer to it the ‘Bean’ due to its shape. The bean sculpture has a smooth reflective surface that acts as a mirror so it encourages you to of course take reflected pictures of yourself with Chicago’s skyline in the background, a fantastic interactive public artwork. Every city should have its own bean; hours could be wasted trying to take the most unique photo. The park also houses an outdoor theatre that holds various events throughout the year. Moving on I continued north till I hit the river that divides the city and followed its course west for a time being all the time checking out various famous buildings. I concluded my downtown tour by taking in the views from North America’s tallest building the Willis Tower (formally the Sears Tower). From the top you could see nearly four different states, it was a great view. The tower also had glass sections that extended out of the main building so you could walk over the street below.

The next day I crossed over the river to the north side of the city to a street called the Magnificent Mile to once again do some sightseeing. The street has all the designer shops you could expect running along it. I made my way up to the Hancock Tower to see the city skyline from an alternate perspective. Once again you cannot be but impressed by Chicago’s architecture, every building although different definitely adds to the city, all the different forms seamlessly blend together it’s a real treat to see. In the afternoon I headed down to the lakefront to visit the attractions on Navy Pier, site of the world’s first Ferris wheel. The pier has all sorts of attractions ranging from an amusement park to a stain glass window museum!

On my last full day I once again headed north to check out Lincoln Park which is home to the cities zoo, which is free to get in to. It houses an impressive array of animals from lions and tigers to even a polar bear; it has a better selection than some of the pay zoos I have been to. I spent a few hours looking at the animals and had a Chicago style hotdog (no ketchup allowed!) before I took one last stroll back through the city checking out the old town part. In the evening despite the cold I ventured back into Grant Park to watch the sun set behind the city skyline.

Time to move on again further east, this time my destination was to be the capital Washington DC. Once again I would have to spend nearly one whole day on a bus to get there back on the road with Greyhound. On route that day we passed through Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Like before the land is extremely flat and mainly consists of cornfields and barns though to my surprise a lot of these seemed to be white instead of red in this part of the States – a break with tradition!