Chicago
I was in Chicago last week, and I just loved it.
The architecture was fantastic and widely varied. And the city (both government and inhabitants) actually cares about it. They restore it, they make an industry out of giving tours of it, they have public debates on it, and they build new public buildings that are both beautiful and fundamentally fit into into with the existing architecture while still being modern.
The public transportation was reasonably priced, worked extremely well, and thus were was well-used. Why the L and the Metra don't seem to be connected, however, is a bit beyond me. However, we were able to go everywhere we wanted to (except for the trip out to the suburbs) including to and from the airport with no problems.
The museums were solid (though the Contemp. Art museum was full of the style of contemp. art that I have little patience for, but hey, it was free the day we went). The Art Institute was nice but much of it was closed for renovation. This is further evidence of a long-running conspiracy preventing me from seeing Magrittes. The Field museum has a FANTASTIC Egyptian exhibit--more mummies than I have ever seen anywhere, including animal mummies. Both the Field museum and the aquarium were just beautiful beautiful buildings. The aquarium (which had a truly lovely beluga whale, dolphin, and otter exhibit section) was stunning with sea life cast into the plaster and painted on the tile around the light fixtures. And the science museum was a lot of fun. The Chicago Historical Society museum was...educational, as I suppose it should be. And finally, we ended up stumbling across my favorite art of the trip as we were exploring the Chicago Cultural Center, where Stephen Wilkes' "Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom" exhibit was hanging. (you really should click on that and look at the pictures)
Overall, lots of local products (more local coffee shops than Starbucks and most restaurants featured local teas and the such). And people were generally nice. We had several locals overhear transportation discussions and offer better (and free) alternatives to our plans.
Oh, and a cute repurposing of an old cigarette machine now used to sell art from around the nation in pack-sized boxes below the cut.
*ETA: And I forgot about the zoo. A wonderful public zoo (no admission!) with a cafe serving local organic food!
The architecture was fantastic and widely varied. And the city (both government and inhabitants) actually cares about it. They restore it, they make an industry out of giving tours of it, they have public debates on it, and they build new public buildings that are both beautiful and fundamentally fit into into with the existing architecture while still being modern.
The public transportation was reasonably priced, worked extremely well, and thus were was well-used. Why the L and the Metra don't seem to be connected, however, is a bit beyond me. However, we were able to go everywhere we wanted to (except for the trip out to the suburbs) including to and from the airport with no problems.
The museums were solid (though the Contemp. Art museum was full of the style of contemp. art that I have little patience for, but hey, it was free the day we went). The Art Institute was nice but much of it was closed for renovation. This is further evidence of a long-running conspiracy preventing me from seeing Magrittes. The Field museum has a FANTASTIC Egyptian exhibit--more mummies than I have ever seen anywhere, including animal mummies. Both the Field museum and the aquarium were just beautiful beautiful buildings. The aquarium (which had a truly lovely beluga whale, dolphin, and otter exhibit section) was stunning with sea life cast into the plaster and painted on the tile around the light fixtures. And the science museum was a lot of fun. The Chicago Historical Society museum was...educational, as I suppose it should be. And finally, we ended up stumbling across my favorite art of the trip as we were exploring the Chicago Cultural Center, where Stephen Wilkes' "Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom" exhibit was hanging. (you really should click on that and look at the pictures)
Overall, lots of local products (more local coffee shops than Starbucks and most restaurants featured local teas and the such). And people were generally nice. We had several locals overhear transportation discussions and offer better (and free) alternatives to our plans.
Oh, and a cute repurposing of an old cigarette machine now used to sell art from around the nation in pack-sized boxes below the cut.
*ETA: And I forgot about the zoo. A wonderful public zoo (no admission!) with a cafe serving local organic food!