|
|
|
August 10th 2001 Chicago, Illinois.......my new home! Will Sinatra be right? Will it be my kind of town? Well, to start it is big. Chicago is not only a city but it is made up of numerous suburbs. Imagine Luton or Brighton being classed as a suburb of London and you will probably get the idea. Of course, half of the city is a 'no-go' area. You shouldn't enter the South or the West side unless you have a police escort. Driving through these areas is also quite dangerous. Several taxi passengers have been unfortunate enough to be in the way of some friendly fire between gangs in these areas. Not only is Chicago big width and lengthways but downtown or city centre to you, houses many of the the tallest buildings in the World. The architecture is quite stunning although downtown where most of the tall buildings are clustered together it feels very claustrophobic. It is very dull due to the lack of sunlight and you always have this feeling of concrete and steel falling on you. There is nothing as old as Stonehenge or as ornate as La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. There is nothing even as controversial as the Pompidou Centre in Paris but there are lots of very tall buildings. In fact Chicago has 6 out of the top 20 tallest buildings in the world. The Sears Tower of course is the tallest and held the top spot for 20 years after it was built. But then the Malaysians extended the antennae on both of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur (pronounce LUM-PURE in American but that is a different observation) which put the Sears Tower back into third place. The Chicagoans were a bit miffed about this and complained. So the Tallest Building in the World contest was split into 4 categories. Height to the structural or architectural top. Height to the highest occupied floor. Height to the top of the roof. Height to the top of antenna. The Sears Tower now is first place in the second and third categories and The Petronas Towers takes first place in the highest architectural or structural top. The World Trade Centre took first place in the fourth category until that disastrous day. Then there is the lake. Chicago lies on the shores of Lake Michigan. Its more like an ocean as it provides Chicago with lots of sandy beaches although they often get closed when it rains as too much water causes the drains to overflow and send tons of sewage into the lake. Drains are not America's great feat of engineering! The main thing that strikes me about Chicago is the lack of history.
The French were the first to discover Chicago after Native Americans of course,
around about 1779 but then the whole city was burnt down supposedly caused by a cow
kicking over a lantern in 1871. The city was rebuilt which led to the first ever
steel framed skyscraper to be built in 1885 and that is really Chicago...lots of very tall
buildings. Our apartment is on the ninth floor of The Belmont House. It used to be a hotel from the 1930's and the lobby area still reflects the grandeur that this building once enjoyed. The apartment isn't very big but all our bills are included in the rent including cable television. We have a lake view which is very sought after even though it is slightly obscured by the ugly apartment building in front of us. There is a path which runs along the lakeshore which is specially designed for rollerbladers and cyclists. A bit dangerous for pedestrians especially at the weekend as its a bit like the M25. Our neighbourhood, aptly named Lakeview, is quite hip and trendy. So hip
and trendy that the gay community have set up home here. Have you noticed how most
gay men have very small bottoms? Mmm....? My overall view of Chicago is that it is OK for a visit, but only in the Summer when you can usually get at least one day in the week when you can get a view from the top of Sears Tower. I don't think it's a place for a xenophobic Lady of Leisure to put down roots!
|
|
Copyright© Gillian Blakey 2002 Allow myself to introduce.........myself |
