e sightseeing. We decided to take the train and we will be traveling on Amtrak's Southwest Chief from Lamy to Chicago. This will be my first visit to Chicago and it has been quite a while since Thomas has been there - so it will be almost like a first trip for him as well. It will also be our first time traveling by train - we are both very excited abChicago is the third largest city in the United States, with a population of nearly three million people. Its scenic lakeside location, world-class cultural offerings and unique architecture are just some of the reasons why Chicago is a great place to live and visit.
Chicago is home to...
237 square miles of land
An estimated 2,896,016 residents
Dozens of cultural institutions, historical sites and museums
More than 200 theaters
Nearly 200 art galleries
More than 7,300 restaurants
77 community areas containing more than 100 neighborhoods
26 miles of lakefront
15 miles of bathing beaches
36 annual parades
19 miles of lakefront bicycle paths
552 parks
United States President Barack Obama
Did you know . . .
Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837.
Chicago’s nicknames include: The Windy City, the City of Big Shoulders, the Second City, and The City That Works.
The "Historic Route 66" begins in Chicago at Grant Park on Adams Street in front of the Art Institute of Chicago.
The first Ferris wheel made its debut in Chicago at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Today, Navy Pier is home to a 15-story Ferris wheel, modeled after the original one.
Chicago’s downtown area is known as “The Loop.” The nickname refers to
the area encircled by the elevated (‘L’) train tracks.
In 1900, Chicago successfully completed a massive and highly innovative engineering project – reversing the flow of the Chicago River so that it emptied into the Mississippi River instead of Lake Michigan. Each year, the Chicago River is dyed green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
The Art Institute of Chicago has one of the largest and most extensive collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in the world.
When it opened in 1991, the Harold Washington Library Center, with approximately 6.5 million books, was the world’s largest municipal library.
The Lincoln Park Zoo, one of only three major free zoos in the country, is the country’s oldest public zoo with an estimated annual attendance of three million.
The Sears Tower is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere at 110 stories high.
The Sears Tower elevators are among the fastest in the world operating
as fast as 1,600 feet per minute.
Four states are visible from the Sear Tower Skydeck (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan & Wisconsin).
There seems to be some different opinions about how Chicago got its nickname - "The Windy City". I found three different writings about this . . .
I am sure there are quite a few other opinions but I thought I got a good feeling about The Windy City from these.
There seems to be an endless supply of things for us to do while we are there so I am focusing on certain things. We both love architecture so we will be taking a river cruise that focuses on just that, we also love art so we will be visiting a few museums. And a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio has been planned. Both of us also like being outside so we will probably visit one or more of the following - Grant Park, Millennium Park, Lincoln Park, Museum Campus and Navy Pier. These things are just the tip of the iceburg - there is also lots of music (jazz, blues and rock), food, the zoo and aquarium and public art. So I think we will be busy the entire time. I will write about our trip on this blog probably every two or three days. So hopefully I will have a good journal of this trip by the time we get back home.
*The painting above is called 'Chicago Skyline' and is an Oil on Linen (22x28) - 2008 by Anastasia Mak.
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