Everyone I’ve ever talked to always has great things to say about Chicago, and after being here a few days I definitely have to agree with them. Sure, it has it’s crime areas but then what big city doesn’t? Chicago is an amazingly walkable city, particularly as a tourist and frankly I can’t say that I’ve felt in danger or anything, even when walking back down town to get home after a night out in the River North Area.

The city is chock full of amazing architectural wonders, and an amazing number of high-rises. I would even guess that it probably has more floors per capita than any other city in the world. Historically it has the (former) Sears tower once called the tallest building in the world yet there are a huge number of tall buildings considering that I think the population of greater Chicago hovers around something like three million people. It probably makes a whole lot of sense with such bitter winters and blistering winds it apparently gets. I’ve been really fortunate with the weather this week with only one day where it was drizzly and though I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s been hot, we’ve had a few days where the temperature has definitely been a very comfortable one.

I think Chicago is fairly well known for some of its art pieces, including the well known Cloud Gate affectionately known as the “Bean” (the picture above I took from below for something different) located in Millennium Park. It remains a huge draw card and why wouldn’t it with its still highly polished exterior producing a vast array of angles skewing any normal reflection. Just down from there is The Crown Fountain with the images of local Chicagoans smiling and moving around and then every fifteen or so minutes stopping to spout a stream of water from their mouth. I definitely recommend downloading the audio tour from the Millennium Park website as well.

Although I’ve been here for about five days, I can definitely see why Chicago appeals to so many people. There are plenty of art installations around the city (I especially liked this physical manifestation of the American Gothic painting) and the city seems walkable and for those that get tired or just plain lazy, taxis are cheap and public transport is very reasonable.