Chicago, Chicago, My Kind of Town

Traveling to Chicago in winter, however silly it sounds from a Californian point of view, has its perks. It’s a real snow wonderland out there, not glittered cotton puffs in a surfboard store window. The most ambitious downtown in the nation, where the greatest architects’ competition, started in 1885, still continues, looks especially majestic on a starry night, all clad in white (rhymes unintended) with a City Hall Christmas tree, shimmering like a colorful childhood dream. A cup of latte after skating in Millennium park tastes like an elixir of life and restores the body exposed to icy rain, snowstorm, and freezing drizzle—all in 15 minutes time. As they say there, you don’t like Chicago weather? Wait 15 minutes, it’ll change. Comparing to the tanned children of eternal spring, Chicagoans are naturally pasty, but they get those rosy cheeks and that special midwestern warmth from negative temps combined with layers of The North Face wear. For a Bay Area softy, racing from Macy’s (formerly Marshall Field’s, thankfully keeping its traditional holiday decor) to Water Tower Place for some holiday shopping in a blizzard is like climbing Everest. Any public building lures a weary traveler to jump inside and hug the closest radiator. Of those public buildings, Chicago Cultural Center (1897) is a place to start your journey. The first free municipal cultural center in the nation, it’s a living museum of decorative arts with the world’s largest stained glass Tiffany dome, gilded staircase, and marble mosaic atrium. It houses Chicago Office of Tourism, which provides current city brochures, trip-planning advice, hotel reservations, and a free visitor service, Chicago Greeter, with over 40 special interest areas and 25 neighborhoods to explore. “Our greeters are all volunteers,” said Kristin Unger, a charming PR associate with the Office of Tourism. “Tours are offered in 20 languages, and are based on particular visitors’ interests. It can be architecture, food or shopping tour, or a tour of Downtown or Ukrainian Village… a greeter is matched with visitors, so it’s like meeting with an old friend.” There is also a unique InstaGreeter program that does not require an advance reservation. In a friendly city of Chicago there are three of the world’s tallest buildings—Sears Tower, AON Center, and John Hancock Center; world-famous blues and jazz nightclubs; Charlie Trotter and a host of five-diamond restaurant chefs in addition to hundreds of ethnic mom and pop cozy joints [Italian beef sandwich and deep-dish pizza]; the Art Institute of Chicago with the largest collection of Impressionist art outside Musee d’Orsay; Sue—the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex specimen—in the Field Museum; the Chicago River, dyed green every St. Patrick’s Day; Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus; Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate giant mercury drop in the Millennium Park, and so much more—too much to mention here. Find more information and reserve a Chicago Greeter tour at: Chicago Cultural Canter, 77 East Randolf Street, Chicago, IL 60602; call toll-free 877-244-2246; or visit www.cityofchicago.org/tourism; www.chicagogreeter.com. Photography by Yuri Krasov.