Chicago is a Town Worth Visiting
- Fernanda Fisher
- Jun 23
- 12 min read
Last Saturday marked a significant milestone as my youngest daughter Sofie, graduated from Santa Clara University. the day was filled with joy, from the beautiful ceremony to the celebratory party with her friends and their families. But once the party was done, it was a whirlwind of activity to get her completely moved out of her apartment and across the country.
She had packed most of her belongings beforehand and had also sold or donated most of her furniture. We still needed to load up the car and reserve the clothing she would need for her job and after work clothes which were coming with she and I on the plane. Her dad was going to drive her car across the country to Chicago that week.
Leaving a beloved place is always challenging, but returning to a cherished city brings its own joy. This blog captures the bittersweet essence of both experiences. For Sofie, she was leaving her happy place where she had solid friends, a wonderful roommate and the comfort of known surroundings. She was moving to Chicago without knowing anyone and would be living in an apartment by herself for the first time.
For me, it was a return to a place filled with nostalgia and happy memories. Bike rides from my house in the suburbs to the Magnificent Mile. Cubs games and bleacher seats with my Dad so many times I lost count. Lake Michigan with blue water clear to the horizon.
We took an early plane from SFO to Chicago followed by a cab ride downtown. As we drove, we quietly absorbed our new and familiar surroundings. Arriving at Sofie’s new home, we unloaded our bags and figured out the security codes and keys needed to open the door to her new life.
After dinner and a quick stop at Jewel/Osco for groceries, we went our separate ways for the evening.
I am staying at the hotel EMC2, a Marriott Autograph property with so much style that I giggled when I entered my room. Dark walls, brass fixtures and black metal give a cocoon like feel. Two of the bathroom walls are made of glass that is viewed by the rest of the room. Dark blue curtains may be pulled to surround the glass for privacy. I slept like a log that first night.
While Sofie went to her first day of work, I spent an entire day exploring the Art Institute of Chicago on Michigan Avenue. This is one of the world’s greatest art museums, with collections from Egyptian Mummies to Paul Klee paintings and everything in between.
The Art Institute is a place that I know well but have not visited in decades. So much changed over the years that it felt like a new museum in some sections. But there were other areas, like the Thorne Miniature Rooms, that had not changed at all.
I spent hours wandering the halls of the Japanese, Chinese and Korean exhibits.
I would never have expected a painting of this serenity from the man who painted The Scream.
I visited the Chagal stained glass windows and greeted them as old friends before going down the steps to the Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room. Memories of visits with my Mom and Dad came flooding back causing some happy tears.
I paused for lunch in the museum cafe and had a lovely matcha latte and a pressed turkey sandwich. Sitting outside in the garden, eating my lunch and resting my feet, I couldn’t help thinking what a lucky person I am to spend an entire unstructured day at this museum.
Five o’clock came too fast and it was time to make my way down Michigan Avenue back to the hotel. Sofie was done with her first day of work and we were going to have dinner together. I walked through Millenium Park, past the Bean and the Pritzker Pavillion.
Stopping to take a couple photos on a bridge over the Chicago River I could see both the Wrigley Building and the Chicago Tribune building. I remembered an elementary school field trip to the Tribune to see how the paper was made and to visit the father of a classmate. Seeing the typesetters and watching the printing presses churning out the paper are a memory I will never forget.
There are many new buildings, restaurants and lively bars to explore in downtown Chicago as well. This town is vibrant and full of young adults, tourists, and longtime residents carrying their groceries back to their apartments.
On Tuesday, while Sofie went to work and learned more about her new position, I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. The MCA is a very different museum than others that I have visited. I saw a Paul Pfeiffer exhibit entitled Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom. Pfeiffer uses film and removes the sound, and then hires young people in Manila, the Philippines, to voice over the action on the film. The idea is to make the videos more alive than the sound recorded at the time.
An example of this includes the 1961 World Cup between Germany and England, where England won the Cup. The sounds of the crowds was deafening in the exhibit just as it likely was in the stadium that day. Chants and cheering, singing of both the German and English national anthems.
Wafaa Bilal, an Iraqi American artist who lost a brother during the Iraq war, had a very intersteing and moving exhibit. Sadam Hussein envisioned sending golden statutes of hiself into space when he was still the leader of Iraq. Bilal created artwork based on Husseiin's desires of celestial fame.
Another exhibit space created art themes using examples from the museum's permanent collection.
Before I left the MCA I stopped by their cafe and had a cup of coffee.
The art here is experiential art. It is meant to make you think more than to observe. This is clearly not like the traditional contemporary modern art museums I have visited before. But I encourage you to come and to experience something different. The museum itself is located just off Lake Michigan right in the heart of the Northwestern University medical campus.
It was a hot day in Chicago on Tuesday but I chose to walk back to the hotel anyway. Walking along Lake Shore Drive I took turns looking at the lake and then turning to the beautiful apartment buildings overlooking the lake. It made me think about moving back to the city. The draw of a place you love can be very strong.
The Cubs played the Milwaukee Brewers in a triple header this week and tonight I went to a game with a local friend. Maris and I met for dinner at Mordecai just across the street from Wrigley Field. We had lots to catch up on as we dined on juicy burgers and crisp salty fries. The drinks were strong, and our conversation lively, as we caught up on our lives over the last couple of years.
Then it was on to the main event! The Cubs hold a special place in my heart, as they do for many residents of Chicago and the northern suburbs. I spent a lot of time seeing the Cubs with my father and celebrating every time they caught rather than dropped a ball. The poor long suffering Cubs and their fans waited 108 years between World Series wins. It had been over 30 years since I had seen a game so I was very excited.
Our seats were behind home plate and we sat down ready for anything. What we saw was a Cubs win and and explosion of songs and cheering.
As I walked to the bus stop through a sea of people in blue and white, I took in the smies, laughs and chatter about the best plays of the night. What a great way to cap off another wonderful day in the Windy City.
Architecture Day
I booked a Viator tour that took me into some of the city’s most beautiful and historic buildings. The tour, given by an architectural engineer named Henry was excellent.
For years I have driven by many of these buildings and known only what they looked like from the outside. While some of the buildings are not very impressive from the outside, the insides are a very different. Some of the lobbies are like secret jewels that few people, save for workers, get to see.
We started at the Chicago Board of Trade building built by Hollabird & Root and completed in 1930.
The building's facade and entrance are graced with touches of the commodities that are traded here. Shafts of wheat and stalks of corn mingle with black marble and metal. It is evocative of the past but is still in use for trading today.
Figures of owls are used in and on the building because owls eat mice and small birds that would feast on the grains and corn.
Chicago has many buildings from this time period with a similar external shape. Walking through the city you will see many buildings that look like they are in the form of an H or a very large chair.
There is a good reason for this design. The buildings were without air conditioning and heated with coal. Had they all been just rectangular or square in shape and lining the streets, there would have been very little air flow. Additionally, with buildings taking up almost half a city block square, there would not have been any way to cool the internal spaces without windows.
The Rookery Building, built by Burnham and Root and finished in 1886, is situated just down the street from the Board of Trade. Mr. Root, Sr. Designed the Rookery while Junior built the much larger and more externally impressive Trade building. But entering the Rookery shows where true beauty can be found.
It is not uncommon for a building to experience renovations after being built and the Rookery is no different. Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to update the building and he added his own touches while maintaining the original character of the lobby. Gold colored insets in the marble walls and classic Wright shapes are seen throughout this area.
The story of the ‘floating stairs’ is a funny one. When Frank Lloyd Wright built them, people were afraid to use them because they looked unsafe. He added a purely decorative piece to the center and people were reassured. You cannot tell from the photo but the detail is not even connected to the stairs!
The Field Building was built in 1934 for the large administrative staff of the Marshall Field Company.
The architects of the U.S. Bank Building wanted to incorporate all the best ideas from previous styles under one roof. I think it works pretty well.
The Marquette Building is in the Chicago Style. The broad base is followed by tall columns of windows. At the top, there is a decorative cap.
Outside, above each of the Marquette's entrance doors, is a decorative piece describing Marquette's arrival in the area and his meeting with the Indiginous Americans.
What we found inside was even more marvelous than the previous buildings.
Louis Comfort Tiffany, the brother of the jeweler Tiffany, is known for his decorative glass lamps. He also did commissioned pieces like these and the original Chicago Public Library. Sadly my photos do not do justice to the glimmering beauty of his work.
In addition to the Tiffany glass mosaics are the heads of the Indigenous American Chiefs and explorers from the time of Marquette’s exploration. The lions outside the Art Institute were designed by the same sculptor.
Walking through Chicago is not just about architecture though.
Street art reminds visitors and locals that Chicago is the Home of the Blues.
And for anyone who saw the movie The Blues Brothers the Chicago elevated trains, or the L, will be easy to recognize. It would have been fun to have been downtown while the crew was filming the chase scenes through Chicago’s Loop.
Next up on the architectural tour we saw the original Chicago library building.
Similar to the Marquette Building there are walls covered with Tiffany mosaics to mesmerize viewers. Even more amazing is the Tiffany glass dome.
It is hard to believe that were it not for Mayor Daly’s wife Maggie in the 1970’s, this building and the Tiffany dome, would have been demolished for new construction. We have Maggie and the Mayor to thank for creating the rules to keep historic buildings safe here.
As we stood hearing about the history of this building a large boom came thundering through the building. Some in the group looked confused at the sound but I smiled and knew what it was, the start of a Chicago thunderstorm.
Eating in Chicago
Chicago is a city full of life and flavor. It is a city filled with German and Polish foods brought here by early immigrants. I think the best hotdogs in the world are served in this town.
During the week we ate dinner at Rick Bayless’ Frontera Grill on North Clark Street. I had an amazing Frijol con Puerco, pork shank braised with black beans and garlic, Chorizo, pickled jalapeños and Queso fresco while Sofie dined on Camarones Adobados. Beautifully decorated with lively music, this Bib Gourmand restaurant is worth a visit. It was a great meal and place to end a very long and tiring day.
To celebrate her first day in the office, we snagged bar seats at the popular Purple Pig on Michigan Avenue. Since I didn’t have to work the next day, I had the Blue Bayou cocktail made with Roku Gin and Planterey Pineapple Rum. We split the Duck Croquettes and then I had a small seafood risotto and Sofie had Squid Ink Chitarra (mussels, shrimp and octopus). It was all delicious!
I had read about the Purple Pig, another Bib Gourmand restaurant, many times and it was worth the wait and the bar seats to eat there. The staff was attentive not pushy, letting us sit for quite some time after we finished our meal so we could continue chatting.
The Chicago food scene is quite vibrant and varied. While early immigrants were primarily German and Polish, there is also a very vibrant Ukrainian community here as well as many other nationalities. With each new waive of immigrants to the city comes their cuisine.
During my stay I ate many types of food. Two nights we gravitated to Ramen, because it is a family comfort food,
we also ate Mediterranean, Mexican, and some very good seafood for lunch at a place called Brown Bag Seafood Co on East Randolph Street.
I enjoyed coffee and conversation before my architecture tour with Veterans,
had breakfast at the EMC2 restaurant the Albert where the design is both modern and scientific.
What I missed this trip was an authentic Chicago style hot dog. Vienna beef hot dog in a poppy seed bun with sweet pickle relish, yellow mustard, chopped white onions, a slice of tomato, dill pickle spear and celery salt. It is a lot of action in a bun and it represents the eclectic nature of Chicago itself.
When Sofie's dad arrived with the car we walked to Nora Restaurant on N. St. Clair Street for a final dinner of lamb ragu, chorizo cacciatore and steak. Close and delicious it filled our stomachs with savory flavors while we had our final meal of the trip together.
Other great restaurants to consider if you visit the city are Gene & Georgetti for Italian and steak, Carson’s for ribs, The Berghoff Restaruant for German, Billy Goat Tavern for burgers. You really can’t go wrong here for food. There are 19 Michelin rated restaurants, plus many others that deserve recognition.
A Week to Remember
This week in Chicago will forever be etched in my memory. From helping Sofie transition to her new life, reconnecting with old friends, to rediscovering the city of my childhood, every moment was a cherished experience. Learning to navigagte the city by public bus system was a personal achievement. Seeing the beautiful interiors of buildings I grew up driving past encouraged me to push open a couple of other revolving doors just to take a look inside. And learning that a distant uncle was a fairly well known architect in Chicago during the early 20th Century made me feel even more connected to this city that I love.
Chicago is a town worth visiting. There are so many places to visit here that I did not touch upon. Chicago has two zoos, great venues for symphony, opera and even Broadway musicals. We have many well known museums in addition to the two I visited.
Chicago has two baseball teams (White Sox and Cubs), a great basketball team (Bulls), a football team (Bears), and a darn good hockey team as well (Chicago Black Hawks). You could easily spend two weeks here and still have sights to come back and visit.
This makes me want to visit Chicago soon!