Next on our agenda was the Sears Tower, the tallest skyscraper in the United States is also the fifth tallest building in the world. The 108 story, 442 meter high skyscraper was completed in 1973 and is now known as the “Willis Tower”. This skyscraper was made to accommodate about 350,000 employees of Sears, Roebuck & Co. designed by chief architect Mr. Bruce Graham and head structural engineer Mr. Fazlur Khan. With the antenna the building stands at 527 meter. Lightening stuck these antennas about 700 times in a year.The Sears Tower observation deck ‘Skydeck ‘is located on the 103rd floor and takes about 60 seconds to reach the skydeck in the Schindler Groupelevators. Glass Balconies of about four feet are in the process of installation scheduled to be opened for public on July 2, 2009. There is another Skydeck on the 99th floor, which is used when the 103rdfloor one is closed. We didn’t go to the skydeck to make the experience of Hancock Observatory nearer to the Lake unique.
We proceeded to the Millennium Park, a 24.5-acre Park featuring the work of world-renowned architects, planners, artists and designers. It is a center for art, music, architecture and landscape design. The major attraction of the park is – Cloud Gate sculpture designed by British artist Anish Kapoor, the interactive Crown Fountain designed by Jaume Plensa, Jay Pritzker Pavilion designed by Frank Gehry and the BP Bridge.
Cloud Gate is a 66-feet long, 33-feet high, 110-ton elliptical sculpture of seamless and highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city’s famous skyline and the clouds above. One can go through a 12 foot high gate to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture. One can see multiple reflected images and take some easy snaps too. Every one was busy taking pictures by lying on the ground, underneath it in different angles. A marriage ceremony was also taking place there.
The Crown Fountain, deigned by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, consists of two 50-foot glass block towers at each end of a shallow reflecting pool. One can see different images in the tower which laughs, cries, blink eyes, etc. The collection of faces was taken from a cross-section of 1,000 Chicagoresidents. People of all ages were enjoying the change of faces with children playing in the shallow water.
Jay Pritzker Pavilion is 120-feet tall with crisscrossing steel pipes and stainless steel ribbons to support the sound system. It has 4,000 fixed seats and an adjacent lawn ‘the Great Lawn’ capable of accommodating 7,000 more people. Most of major festival of Chicagoincluding the Grant Park Music Festivalis organized here.
BP Bridge is a 925-foot-long winding bridge which connects the Millennium Parkto Daley Bicentennial Plaza. From the bridge one can see the Chicago skyline, Grant Park and Lake Michigan. We enjoyed the beauty of the evening from the glass enclosed structure having some innovative stone structures for tourists like us to sit, lay and relax.
The Art Institute of Chicago was nearby and we had a glimpse of it too. This is the place where Swami Vivekananda introduced Hinduism to the world in the Parliament of the World’s Religions held in 1893. The Art Institute of Chicago possess some of world’s great art collections; wood sculpture, masks, ceramics, furniture, textiles, beadwork, architectural drawings and various paintings.
Our place of stay was within walk able distance and as we were on our way back we saw people enjoying Chess in the footpath. ‘Challenge me’ was a play card written and man, women of different age were enjoying the game. A unique site for all of us.