usa: illinois: chicago

Despite spending the first two weeks of my summer break with Kelley in Chicagoland, I went into the city just once in all those days.

Social media lets me know about a lot of things, including the various travels of friends and former colleagues. This happened in mid-July, I was able to arrange meeting up with someone who is normally in Florida.

I got up early, and took the Metra train into the city. My meetup was mid morning, so I took my early arrival time as a chance to walk all the way to the old water tower.

When I got there I had to admit I never would've thought it used to be a water tower. It's made of stone, and was one of the only structures to survive a fire that destroyed most of the city in 1871. Very photogenic, but not worth more than a minute to see the tower.

From the tower I walked to a branch of a coffee shop chain called Intelligentsia Coffee. It was great to see Laura again, we figured out it had been more than 10 years since we met and worked together in Seoul. It was also nice to meet her boyfriend Ryan.

From there it was another long walk to Manny's deli. I felt like I'd earned the calories of a giant corned beef sandwich and potato pancakes.

After eating I didn't have any specific sights planned to see, so I walked back toward the city center, which is generally full of people and things to see.

At one point I realized I was walking by a library with great decoration outside. The inside was pretty impressive as well.

Not far from the library was a dog park with a great skyline view of downtown. Since it was mid afternoon on a hot sunny day, I was the only person out there. If there had been benches and shade, I'm sure more people would've been there.

More walking brought me to Buckingham Fountain. It's big, but you can't get too close because of a low chain that blocks off the whole thing. Though I wanted to get close enough to feel the cold water, I was happy to take a photo without anyone in the frame, since no one else could get close either :)

One place in Chicago that I'd wanted to see was the Art Institute. I'd wanted to see it until I got through the front doors and discovered the entry fee was $25. That felt a bit steep, so I opted to save the museum for another visit. Sigh.

Looking at my phone, I discovered the Chicago Cultural Center wasn't far away. It's a beautiful building, and best of all, it's free to visit! The stained glass window at the top is amazing, as are all the mosaics throughout the building.

Chicago is amazing, I know I'll be back.