When you are in a new city, there are things which show real character of the place and I would say downtown & Magnificent Mile of Chicago show real character of Chicago city of Illinois. Not only that, while taking the stroll around Magnificent Mile, you would be able to relate to many facts you would have heard about Chicago City. We will go deep into those facts and why do I say these 2 places show real character of Chicago City.
The Magnificent Mile is actually an upscale section of Chicago's Michigan Avenue. This place start from one side of the Chicago River to Oak Street on other side. The Mag Mile is located adjacent to downtown and serves as the main thoroughfare between Chicago's Loop business district and its Gold Coast.
Magnificent Mile is also termed as The Mag Mile. The Mag Mile is popularly known for shopping opportunities for tourists visiting Chicago town. Above photograph shows one of the beautiful sculptures installed outside those big showrooms of Magnificent Mile in Chicago.
Magnificent Mile is currently Chicago's largest shopping district with mid-range and high-end shops including retail, restaurants, museums and hotels. Rentals on The Magnificent Mile is the eighth most expensive in the United States, behind Fifth Avenue in New York and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Isn't that crazy and shows one of the character of Chicago City. Chicago is an international hub for finance, culture, commerce, industry, technology, telecommunications, and transportation.
Tall buildings like North Michigan Avenue are part of Magnificent Mile area of Chicago City. Other landmarks along the Magnificent Mile include Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower, the Chicago Water Tower and the Allerton, Drake and Intercontinental Hotels. When you walk around this part of the city, you come across some of these names quite often and this part of the city has lot of hustle bustle. During 3 days in Chicago, every evening I was around this place and thoroughly enjoyed walking on these streets.
While walking around skyscrapers of Chicago City, I came across various sculptures dedicated to personalities who have contributed significantly in building or evolving the Chicago City. Probably I will do a separate Blog-post on these sculptures and Art-forms of Chicago.
Chicago is the most populous city in Illinois state of USA and the third most populous city in the United States. Chicago is located on the shores of freshwater Lake Michigan. From the lake, the city looks beautiful with these high-rise buildings all around. Walk around some of the architectural marvels is an experience in itself.
Chicago made noted contributions to urban planning and zoning standards in the past, including new construction styles, the development of the City Beautiful Movement, and the steel-framed skyscraper. That's one of the characters of Chicago City and it's known for it's beautiful buildings.
Some of the United States' tallest towers are located in Chicago city. For example - Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower) is the second tallest building in the Western Hemisphere after One World Trade Center and Trump International Hotel & Tower which is again in Chicago is the third tallest in the country. The Chicago Loop's historic buildings include the Chicago Board of Trade Building, the Fine Arts Building, 35 East Wacker and the Chicago Building, 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments by Mies van der Rohe. Apart from that many of the buildings find a mark in architecture area because of one or reason around style, earth-quake resistant capabilities, material used, record time accomplishments etc.
Chicago city is also famous for its outdoor public art with donors establishing funding for such art as far back as Benjamin Ferguson's 1905 trust. A number of Chicago's public art works are by modern figurative artists. Among these are Chagall's Four Seasons, the Chicago Picasso, Miro's Chicago, Calder's Flamingo & Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate which has become an icon of the city.
Two fountains near the Chicago Loop also function as monumental works of art - Crown Fountain as well as Buckingham Fountain.
While you plan to walk around the downtown and Magnificent Mile area of Chicago City, you need to be mindful of few things in winters. Usually temperature during winters is below 0 degrees, so ensure that you multiple layers of cloths with a good jacket, cap & gloves.
Around these skyscrapers of Chicago city, there are good number of historical structures with different kinds of architectures.
Magnificent Mile and Chicago Downtown are great places to walk around, observe things and see how this city runs. Walking around any city is a great way to explore the place and get to know about it's people, culture, food habits, art etc.
If you look at the variety of photographs in this post, it's evident that I took multiple walks around Magnificent Mile and that too during different hours of the day. You would see daylight landscapes as well as some of these blue hour shots of high-rise buildings from Chicago City.
I had rewarding walks around Chicago Downtown and Magnificent Mile. During this, I also crossed through various museums and it was a good opportunity to enter into some of them & understand Art/Culture influence in the city.
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