Chicago...!

       Chicago with an exclamation mark is the apt title for this blog because it is exactly how I felt about Chicago. Since coming to the US on September 2010, this was the first time I saw a real american city. Well, atleast it is not just me who thinks so; when I looked up Chicago in Wikipedia, one of the references for Chicago was that it is "the most american of big cities". I don't know why they call it the "most american of big cities", but for me it was american just because it is a big city with skyscrapers and all that as how they show in movies. It does not matter where the character lives in the US; all the time, the opening shot for an American city would be that of either the Chicago or the New York skyline...

          Our trip to Chicago was for 5 days and 4 nights and we were lucky enough to get a good hotel in the downtown area itself, which meant that we had enough time and all the places of interest are within walking distances from the hotel. We were just near to the "magnificent mile", the famous street of Chicago with its high end stores and some beautiful buildings. What I found interesting about the "mag mile" is that apart from the high end designer stores like Gucci, Armani etc, if you go to a normal store which you would find anywhere, like the Macy's, the price of the items are comparable to what we would get in a normal Macy's anywhere else. I was thinking of Bangalore then.... If you go to any store in say, Brigade road in Bangalore, the price for anything would be the double that of the same item from any other store in Bangalore: just because of its location.

             During the four days we visited the Field Museum of Natural History, the Science and Industrial Museum and the art museum. Of the three, I personally liked the art museum. Well, I can describe the art museum and the wonders in it for one full page, but it is not worth it because  one has to see it to get the real beauty of a beautiful painting. I could have spend maybe 3 days or so in the art museum... But then we have to leave something for the next visit...We then went to the Sears tower (now named Willis tower), once the tallest building in the world. The view from the top of the Sears tower was amazing. On the last night of our trip, we had the famous Chicago stuffed pizza. I heard that there is a competition between the New York pizza (the one which we get in India) and the Chicago stuffed pizza, which looks like a pie actually. Of the two, I would go for the Chicago one.

               Another thing which attracted me in Chicago was that I am at last seeing some people in a city in US. After coming from Bangalore, I was disappointed with the city I stay in, Detroit, because if you go to the downtown area, all you see is abandoned buildings and no people at all. It is actually kind of sad. So it was a good change for me to see a dynamic city like Chicago. I hope to come back to Chicago sometime or the other and my impression of Chicago will stay as a great city. (Well, atleast till  I see New York ...)