We left Istanbul on a Tuesday, early afternoon, and arrived back in Chicago O’Hare on Wednesday (Istanbul time). Of course, it was still Tuesday in Chicago. Checking in to our flight back to Denver, we discovered that I had booked for a Wednesday. We were one day early for our Denver flight! All hotels were booked for a 50 mile radius from Chicago due to a big conference, except for some very expensive rooms. We eventually found an AirBnb near the Midway airport, so we got a cab ride there.
Wednesday morning, we decided to make use of our stay in Chicago by making a trip downtown. We had an early morning breakfast and headed for the “L“. Arriving downtown, we walked to Millennium Park, where “The Bean” or “Cloud Gate” is located. This is a really interesting stainless steel mirror sculpture.
The Bean, Chicago
I entered inside, or rather, under The Bean, to make this image. The mirrored surface creates some really interesting multiple reflections that I experimented with. I found this image to be the most interesting.
Inside The Bean
The geometry of The Bean creates some interesting effects. It is very difficult to find reflections of myself in these images. One would have to stand in very specific positions to capture an easy to find self-reflection. We continued through the park, heading towards Lakeshore Drive. I found these tent roofs hiding between the trees.
Tent Roofs, Millennium Park
There are some really interesting structures in the park. This pedestrian bridge crosses one of the busy streets to access park gardens on the other side. This bridge offers some interesting effects with reflections from stainless steel sheeting.
Pedestrian Bridge, Millennium Park
We crossed the Chicago River, where there are some really interesting buildings. That tall blue building on the left side is the Trump Tower.
Buildings Along The Chicago River
We found some river cruises that offer architectural tours of buildings along the Chicago River. This seemed like something educational, since we had already passed several interesting buildings. We joined a cruise that was departing in about 20 minutes. While waiting, I made this image of the curved surfaces of the Lake Point Tower. There were window cleaners busy near the bottom right of the image.
Lake Point Tower, Chicago
Our cruise tour guide provided an excellent commentary and presentation about the architectural history of several landmark buildings along the river front. The “Aqua” building in this image has come fascinating sky reflections in the windows.
Chicago Buildings, With Aqua At Back
One of the other well-known buildings is “Marina City“, or the “Corn Cob Building“. The lower floors of the building serve as a parking garage.
Marina City, Corn Cob Building
Another building is this one, with a facade that looks like dots and dashes of Morse Code, of open filing cabinet doors?
Morse Code Building?
Finally, I included this image of the Trump Tower in Chicago.
Trump Tower, Chicago
After returning from the river cruise, we had lunch and headed back to our AirBnb to collect our bags. We boarded the “L” to downtown, and switched to another line that delivered us to O’Hare for our return flight to Denver.
Our trip back home from Turkey, had an “Unexpected Bonus” with a visit to downtown Chicago. I would recommend that all visitors to Chicago make an effort to enjoy this very interesting architectural tour. This was a memorable conclusion of our fabulous trip to Turkey for our 40th Anniversary.
And the conclusion of my travelog that I eventually completed before the end of 2016. Best wishes for a Happy New Year!