Architectural Chicago

[psychobiologist]

Chicago, a big city in illinois, is commonly known as the Windy City. Winds can be very strong and cold in early summer, and becomes more moderate during summer itself. It is an architectural wonderland, where by many of the buildings and skyscrapers there were built by different architects with diverse inspirations in the early 20th century.

Situated between the financial district (where the Sears & John Hancock skyscrapers are) and the Magnificent Mile (a mile long road - michigan avenue i think where by high end shopping malls, office buildings flank it) is the millenium park, where you get to see interesting fountains and structures.

Some of the interesting things to do in chicago is to go up to the John Hancock Building, to the 96th floor and have a drink at the bar there. The cheapest drink there is USD $7.90 excluding tax and tips. The John Hancock observatory is located at the 95th floor and admission costs $16-$17 dollars, which makes a visit to the bar on the 96th floor more rational (free entry)

Other things to see, i.e. the upcoming 0.75 billion Trump Condominiums, the Wrigley Building, Britannica encyclopedia building, Carbon and Carbide Building, Water Tower, Millenium Park, the Field Museum (where Night at the Museum was filmed), Navy Pier etc.

Millenium Park has this very nice bean like structure that is reflective, and its up to how the photographer want to compose or snap it at different angles. Remember to snap it when the weather's fine, i snapped it after a rain and the whole bean was a little blurry than the usual sharp reflections.

Accomodation is expensive downtown, and its more rational to stay further from down town where motels are cheaper. I stayed near the Ohare Airport which costs only 1/3 of the price of a room in town. It is about 20 minutes drive away from town though, and one must wake up early to escape the traffic jams that are pretty common. Drivers are impatient in Chicago most of the time and one has to get used to all the honking. Parking in town is expensive, but I did it illegally most of the time.. (at the risk of your vehicle being towed).

Apart from the architecture, something that one should try in chicago is the deep dish pizza.. a two inch thick pizza. Giordanos and Lombadi pizzarias serve this unique pizza. I ate at Lombadi, and had a huge salad as well. The red wine vinegarette is really nice and I miss it a lot.

the writeup and crap aside.. here are some pictures to share..

The View from 96th Floor John Hancock


Millenium Park, Looking at the buildings in the Mile


The Reflective Bean at Millenium Park


Lombadi's Deep Dish Pizza

[psychobiologist]

Apologies for the distortion in some of the pictures, was a little too near at times and couldnt get the picture in w/o tilting the camera

From the Park, before the rain


Chicago River


Sears Tower


Wrigley Building and Chicago Tribune

[Donna]

oOooo.. pizza looks good. =p

very nice pictures. I love The Reflective Bean at Millenium Park.

[bent]

the sky looks unbelievably blue!

any filter?

[psychobiologist]

Originally Posted by Donna oOooo.. pizza looks good. =p very nice pictures. I love The Reflective Bean at Millenium Park.

thanks glad you like them. i've got a huge series of pictures though, new york, boston, toronto, niagara, san francisco, los angeles, las vegas, grand canyon, yosemite, sequoia nat parks etc.. but havent gotten down to selecting them.

Originally Posted by bent the sky looks unbelievably blue! any filter?

nope~ no filter used. on nikon's most-vivid with -0.67 ev compensation the saturation is quite high which is what i like

[engta]

Nice..

[ckii96]

Nice city-scapes. Thanks for sharing.

[londonray]

Originally Posted by psychobiologist thanks glad you like them. i've got a huge series of pictures though, new york, boston, toronto, niagara, san francisco, los angeles, las vegas, grand canyon, yosemite, sequoia nat parks etc.. but havent gotten down to selecting them. nope~ no filter used. on nikon's most-vivid with -0.67 ev compensation the saturation is quite high which is what i like

was this a single trip? or are you actually currently residing in US for studies/work? Just wanted to find out how long you took to cover all these places... cheers!

[psychobiologist]

Originally Posted by engta Nice..

Originally Posted by ckii96 Nice city-scapes. Thanks for sharing.

Thankyou

Originally Posted by londonray was this a single trip? or are you actually currently residing in US for studies/work? Just wanted to find out how long you took to cover all these places... cheers!

i studied there and prior to returning to singapore, i took a long trip. covered all these places mostly by driving.. and in a total of three flights.

[etegration]

thanks for sharing! beautiful!!!

[SilentWave]

Lovely. Thanks for sharing those photos. It made me miss that city.

[Outlook]

The Reflective Bean at Millenium Park