Travel Memories: Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

I have noticed that many non-Americans who visit the USA as tourists tend to stick with the two coasts. They will generally have visited Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas in the west, and New York and Florida in the east. Perhaps even somewhere like New Orleans in the south. But ask them if they’ve been to Chicago – home to blues music, an iconic NBA team and a thriving theatre scene – and most will say no. They’ve heard of it, of course, but it had never really occurred to them to visit. I was the same. I had been to the east and west coasts multiple times, but had somehow bypassed one of the USA’s largest cities. Indeed if I hadn’t had friends to visit there, I may well not have gone at all. In any case, I eventually found myself landing into the world’s sixth busiest airport, O-Hare, on a chilly spring evening, all set to see what America’s Midwest had to offer.

There is admittedly only a handful of ‘tourist sites’ as such in Chicago; it’s more of a place to just wander around, soaking up the big-city vibe and captivating architecture. It reminded me quite a lot of New York, minus the extra hype. (By the way, if you’ve ever wondered where the name Chicago came from, it’s derived from a French rendering of the Miami-Illinois word shikaakwa or ‘garlic plant’, which grew along the Chicago River. The city itself was founded by Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable in the 1770s). ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).