Chi-Town

I have had an ongoing love affair with Chicago since my first visit a few years ago. Our corporate office is there so I get to visit relatively often. The Chicago of my childhood imagination was dirty and windy and I had absolutely no desire to visit - ever. I could not have been more wrong. Chicago is this amazing mix of city and garden. I have to admit that I have only seen the downtown vicinity but it is truly one of the most beautiful, vibrant places that I have ever visited. And yes, I have been in the winter time during the snow and I even loved it then!

How can you complain when the view from your hotel room looks like this?

This visit I made a point to walk down by the water. On my way, one block from my hotel I came upon this...



What is funny is that I totally missed Millennium Park which was about a block over. I was completely taken by this area and it is nothing compared to the full park which has some unbelievable art installations. Ah well! Gives me something to visit next time...

I finally made it to the water. The weather was perfect. A storm was blowing in and I felt fall coming in for the first time this year. It was lovely.

What a view. I am not sure photos can capture the immensity of the Chicago skyline. The city sitting right on the water of Lake Michigan is an amazing contrast and took me by complete surprise the first time I visited. Who knew? Lake Michigan is the largest freshwater lake entirely within the US border and it is the 3rd largest of the Great Lakes (thanks Wikipedia). That sucker is crazy huge! It looks like it goes on forever but on a clear day, from the top of the skyscrapers, I hear you can actually see Indiana across the way.


One of my favorite things in the world is walking around a new city and seeing what surprises you happen upon. That was always one of my joys when we would travel in Europe. I have so many treasured memories from London, Italy and Amsterdam of us walking around and stumbling across the unexpected.

If this doesn't count as the unexpected, I don't know what would...

To top it off, we got to go to the roof of the Aon Center and peer over at the city below. This was not my first time but it always takes my breath away. 82 stories up. What an amazing place. (And here ends the Chicago Travel and Tourism ad!)