Chicago Part 3: City views

Day three in Chicago and it was time to meet my friend Michelle who, while she lives in New York, comes from Chicago and had arranged to be in town during out visit. I've mentioned Michelle in previous in posts as we met in line waiting for day tickets to the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty exhibition at the V&A and we've been firm friends ever since, despite a 20 year age gap! And we've met up several times in the past year in New York, London x2 and now in Chicago. In fact I've seen her more often than some of my friends who live in the UK in the past year!

Before we met with Michelle we spotted some of the wonderful L train tracks which meander through the streets. Chicago is a city full of so many different levels, it's amazing. 

 After a spot of brunch we went over to the Chicago History Museum. Michelle's friend works there and kindly arranged for us to get in for free. She also gave us a wonderful tour of the show she had helped to put together 'Silver Screen to Mainstream: American Fashion in the 1930s and 40s' which was really interesting and I learnt a lot but I completely forgot to take photos! 

 The other show, which had opened that weekend was called 'Amplified Chicago Blues' which was brilliant and the perfect compliment to our earlier trip to Chess Records. 

The only downside was that our trip was on Monday morning which meant the whole museum was full of school kids and boy were they noisy! 

Over the road from the Museum was a street called Astor Street which was full of large, well off houses, built in the late 1800 and early 1900s. 

To be honest they weren't as impressive as I thought they would be but perhaps I was hoping it would be similar to the houses we found by chance in an area in Antwerp a couple of years ago which was just jaw dropping. 

But the weather was fine and it was fun to see how the other half live! 

We then headed through Lincoln Square to another historical part of Chicago. 

The range of different architectural styles was fascinating, above is the Olsen-Hansen Row Houses representing the Queen Anne style row house. 

If memory serves me well this is another Queen Anne style row house called Crilly Court. Both date back to the 1880s. 

I love the wooden archiectural style that you find through out the US, especially the colours! 

The final highlight on our architectural tour is this WAcker House built in the 1870s. I would have loved to have get closer but there was someone coming out of the house with a buggy so I didn't want to intrude. 

To finish off a wonderful day we had cocktails in a club with amazing views! We were looking down on the Millenium Park and the infamous Bean. You can also see Lake Michigan at the back. 

While it's commonly called The Bean it's actually called Cloud Gate and was designed by the wonderful Anish Kapoor, one of my favourite sculptures. 

It was reflection heaven!

It was reflection heaven!