2013/08/22: Chicago

Chicago is famous to be a “windy city”. Today it was first of all a rainy city. After having a perfect bagel breakfast with Bruni, I “only” visited to attractions today: the Baha’i Temple in Linden, at the northern edge of Chicago…

…and the Historic Pullman Visitor Center and industrial community at the southern edge of the city.

As Chicago is a huge city, the way from the north to the south and back took some time that I spent on buses, elevated subways…

…and a Metra commuter train. The little door on the left is the only exit of the platform!

Although it is very slow compared to most European subways and crowded at the rush hours…

…I love Chicago’s elevated subway. From a tourist’s perspective, Chicago’s subway is one of the best in the world.

The heart of the subway network is the “loop”, an elevated circle which gave its name to downtown Chicago.

The areas south of the Loop are often poor, run down and not safe. Unbelievable, that in a country as rich as the United States hundred thousands of people have to live in areas like this… I didn’t feel comfortable enough to take the big camera out of the rucksack all the time, but you can follow the green subway line south of 35th street (on Google Earth or in reality), and you know which areas I’m writing about.

The areas north of the loop are often (but not always) middle- and high income neighborhoods, which sadly in 2013 still means that there are mostly Whites living, while the south of Chicago is mostly inhabited by Blacks. Dirk Bronger wrote that Chicago therefore is a mirror image of 19th century United States.
In Belmont I found stations of a new bicycle sharing system and bicycle racks which look almost as great as the ones designed by David Byrne.

While I’ve been exploring the edges of the city, my parents visited all the important tourist attractions (Willis Tower, the former Sears Tower and at the same time the former highest building in the world; Millennium park, which is still my favorite place in Chicago; Oak Park, famous for many Frank Lloyd Wright buildings and Ernest Hemingway’s birth place; and so on). Result: They love Chicago! I’m a bit surprised, because the weather was anything but perfect today, but I absolutely understand that they love this great city.