Chicago 5D4N! - Part 1

Hi all,

its has been the longest of time since i've blogged... Was kinda bored down by midterms and planning for the Chicago Trip. Anyway, now i'm back! and i want to tell you guys that Chicago is a great city for you to visit. Although it does not have times square, it has madison shopping area which is highly similar to our Orchard Road. Although it does not have outdoor activities nearby, it does have a coastal route for cycling that beats east coast park hands down. Let me just bring you guys through what happened over the past few days. But before that, let me just say that i've decided to split the tour into different parts. This way, it'll be easier to read and also easier for me to type.

Day 1 (13/10/2007)
After about 4 hrs of flight (it took extraordinarily long because i took airtran. Airtran brings us to Atlanta before to Chicago, thus explaining the longer flight time, but its much cheaper than the rest of the airlines), we finally reached Chicago. After bidding good bye to You'an (since he's meeting his friend), i made my own way to downtown Chicago. The downtown looks really nice. Its skyline consists of lots of skyscrapers (did you know that the first skyscraper was built in Chicago?). Just imagine Shenton Way multiplied by 10 times. That's downtown Chicago. Nice and Clean. As i'll be meeting up with Philip (a fellow exchange student from Germany) only at night (coz he took a later flight), i explored around downtown including CBOT, CME and other buildings. Just like Shenton Way, the place was empty during the weekends.

CBOT

CME

Screen in one of the buildings

Chicago Fed

Bridge connecting Downtown Chicago and Northern Chicago

I then made my way to Sears Tower (Tallest building in US) and visited the top of the building. Although its not the tallest building in the world (its actually the 3rd tallest after Taipei101 (1st) and Petronas Tower (2nd)), the view was breathtaking. The main reason for this is because there are tons of other skyscrapers around and being on the tallest one really gives you a good view of the whole Chicago. Together with a 360 degress viewing platform, you can see different parts of Chicago from a bird eye's view. With beautiful buildings and architecture, the view you get is like Sim City. You see a beautiful city right under your legs. It would be an architect's dream (i think) to build something here.

View from Sears Tower 1

View from Sears Tower 2

View from Sears Tower 3

I also visited the bean. Its original name is called the cloud gate and its this mercury bean-looking structure that stands in the middle of the millenium park (one of the many parks in downtown Chicago). its really nice giving you a good view of the surrounding buildings. There are also many other interesting structures in the park such as the open air theatre. It really looks quite cool.

open air theatre (panaromic with bad photo skills)

the bean (cloud gate)

the bean at night

Millenium park layout

Before meeting Philip in the evening, i bumped into Manchi along the streets (what a small world!) After meeting my Philip, I brought him around town and eventually up John Hancock Building (5th highest in the world, 3rd highest in US). After getting another breathtaking nightview of Chicago, we checked into HI-Chicago (one of the Hostelling International Franchise hostels, you guys should really stay in these hostels when you're here).

View from John Hancock Building at night

I will tell you guys more abt the next few days in the next parts... Trust me, day 2 and 3 are much more interesting...

Note: There's no pics of me on day 1 coz couldn't find people to help... next days would have more