Chicago Nov 2007

I took a weekend trip to Chicago in early November, 2007, to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform Bruckner's 4th symphony. My judgment of their performance is probably biased by my gratitude and enthusiasm for the music they performed, but it's clear why the CSO is respected worldwide. I am thankful I took this opportunity to hear Chicago and Bruckner live. Dohnanyi was conducting during my visit, but the first photo in my gallery is a street sign next to Symphony Hall which pays homage to late superstar-conductor Georg Solti.

There's a lot more to Chicago than Symphony Hall, as I found out. A kind friend made a list of her favorite sites and restaurants. I couldn't visit them all in one weekend, but I was happy everywhere I went. There are wonderful parks to walk through, where you can see art displays, Lake Michigan, or fathers teaching their daughters how to play basketball. I used vegetarian-friendly restaurants as my excuse to tour the diverse neighborhoods: Chicago Diner in Lake View East/"Boystown", Handlebar Bar and Grill on the western edge of Wicker Park, and Victory's Banner in Roscoe Village.

During the two days I spent in Chicago, I was surprised to see bunnies in three different locations -- two in parks, and one at a train station. I watched a squirrel near Hamlin Park hauling Halloween candy back to its nest. While on the Orange Line train in the downtown loop, two kids ducked under a turnstyle without breaking stride and tried to board my car. The train's driver chased one away, and a plainclothes policeman in my car caught the other by by the back of his neck. Afterward, several passengers bragged that they knew the big fellow in the beige jacket was a policeman, and shared their police-spotting insights. I learned that no matter how slow the Brown Line feels, some taxi drivers feel even slower when you're late for your flight.

As a visitor, you'll need more than a weekend to grow tired of Chicago. Now I'm wondering what my excuse for a return trip will be -- perhaps another CSO performance. Or maybe a trip during St. Patrick's day, to see the Chicago river magically turn green? Because my first visit was so short, I only have a handful of photos to share. The first photo on the second page was taken from a forgotten downtown corner, so I used Google Earth's 3D models of Chicago buildings, and Google Map's "streetview" feature, to reckon I was near W Upper Whacker Dr. and N LaSalle St. I included screenshots from those applications (photos two and three on the second page, respectively), because it amazed me how similar my photo, Google Earth's model, and Google's streetview photo looked.