Chicago, IL, USA

The final stop in my trip was Chicago.  Now, if you have been paying attention on this blog you will know that (a) I had been there before and (b) I am not in the habit of going places twice.  I first went to Chicago as the first stop on my Route 66 trip which gave me only little over a day there.  Since then I have always had a desire to go back and explore the city some more, so that's what I decided to do.

 

It seems that it is festival season in Chicago at the moment, particularly in Grant Park.  The weekend before I arrived there was apparently a book festival, and the weekend after I left an art one (either of which would have been great for me!)  However, the weekend I was there was the Chicago Blues Festival.  Now, the blues is not necessarily my choice of music, but as it was free I thought I would go along for a bit.  Weather conditions meant that it wasn't ideal - heavy rain the night before meant that the ground was flooded, but the sun had come out meaning it was the hottest it had been (and there was limited shade).  As such I didn't stay too long, but with 4 different stages there was certainly a lot going on.

 

There was, though, an arts festival on for me to visit.  The Old Town art festival had 250 stands, with artists selling work from all over the US.  As ever at such fairs there was a huge variety of styles on display - all for sale but the risk in transporting it back to the UK meant I held back on purchasing!  There was also live music, including an impressive band (the Harris family band) who were all 18 or under.

 

Part of the reason for going back to Chicago was to get out and about a bit more.  Next to Old Town was Lincoln Park, home of Chicago's Zoo which is apparently the largest free zoo in the world (or America, or somewhere!).  Zoo's aren't necessarily high on my list of places to visit, but as it was near and free it was fun to have a look around.  It is situated next to the Lincoln Park Conservatory - a big glasshouse of tropical plants.  The next day I went out to the Oak Park district of Chicago to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright house.  This was the first house he lived in when he got married.  He built it himself (obviously being a new architect paid well in those days) and over the years added to it as he tried out new styles and ways of working.  You can only visit it in tours (of limited numbers),  but it is obviously popular as the tour I was on was at its maximum even on a wet Monday.

 

The weather was a bit hit and miss over the trip, with some heavy rain during my time in Chicago (and some other days that were either cloudy or chilly).  However, I picked the right day to visit the Skydeck viewing platform.  Last time I was in Chicago I went up the 360 Chicago at the John Hancock Centre but this time I went to Chicago's highest building.  Whilst it was relatively unpublicised I got a day/night ticket which meant I could also go back at sunset (fortunately the weather stayed good all day!).  Like the tower in Toronto, the Skydeck had a glass-floored area, this time as small pods which were on the side of the building.  These were very popular, with queues of people usually waiting to go on them.  With the height of the building you can see a long way, and it was especially impressive to see the city lit up at night.

 

The Skydeck wasn't the only place with an odd ticketing policy.  A number of big tourist attractions had "headline" ticket prices that were quite expensive (around $30) which included shows and the suchlike, whereas you could actually visit the main bulk of the attraction for a lot less.  A good example of this was the Shedd aquarium which I visited for only $8 despite them pushing main options at $30.95 and $35.95!  I wonder how many people this puts off...

 

It was also notable that last time I lucked into a number of "free admission" days at attractions, whereas this time they appeared to be a lot more limited to locals, rather than general tourists. 

 

Being me, I visited a number of different art galleries and exhibitions during my time in the city.  Some smaller places that I hadn't visited before included the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Architecture Centre, the gallery at the Water Tower, the Loyola Gallery (which focused on religious art), the Spertus Gallery and Illinois Gallery.  I also revisited the Cultural Centre and the Museum of Contemporary Art, both of which had new exhibitions from when I last visited.  In the case of the Museum of Contemporary Art there was more to see last time I was there, with a lot of the displays this time being video art (which is always tricky as you come in half way through).  At the Cultural Centre however there was a good display about advertising focusing on Valmor products which made all sorts of claims over the years!  On my last morning I also went back to the Art Institute of Chicago (apparently voted on Trip Advisor the world's greatest museum).  A lot to see there as ever, including special displays on Irish art, but I think in terms of "world's greatest" the Detroit Institute of Art really shows what can be done in presenting and explaining art.

I also went to a number of museums.  With my liking for slightly odd museums I visited the International Museum of Surgical Science (which was particularly odd where it had a room on Taiwan).  I also went to the Chicago History Museum, which was well presented and the Harold Washington Library, which also included some interesting  displays (not least on the man it is named after).

 

In getting out and about I also road some more on the "L" - Chicago's local train system.  Unlike in most cities this isn't underground - it is in fact elevated both in the centre of the city and out in the suburbs.  This means that at street level you have roads covered with a scaffolding-like set-up which is now obviously a part of Chicago, but you do wonder how any city would react if someone proposed adding it today...

 

The L wasn't the only method of transport I used.  I took a ferry trip across the bay, which was a good way of taking a different look at the city.  It also took me to the Navy Pier, where I found that there were evening fireworks (that evening!) which made for an unexpected treat.  And, as ever, I did a lot of walking round the city, looking at (and in) buildings and exploring the place.

 

All in all, it was good to go back and look more at Chicago (if a little expensive - hotels particularly aren't cheap!).  The whole trip has been busy with lots to see and do - it certainly felt like more than a fortnight (in a good way) and even the occasional rain did not put a dampener on things.  Now, where to next? 

 

US TV 2015

One of the interesting things about going to America is the TV situation as, whilst things have fundamentally stayed the same, there has been a lot of change since I was last there.

The main change is in late night.  There is a peculiarity about the US whereby there is a lot of TV being produced very late at night and very early in the morning (local TV morning programmes can start at 4:30).  Some of the most famous shows attempt the late night talk shows which start at 11:35 at night (and tend to be followed by another an hour later).  That is apart from in Chicago, whereby being on the Central time zone they show everything an hour later (as opposed to on delay which happens on the west coast).  This means that I was able to see a bit more of them than usual on this trip.

Since I was last in the US there has been a wholesale set of changes in hosts going on.  For many years there has been Jay Leno on the Tonight Show and Dave Letterman on Late Night.  Now Leno left a year or so back (for the second time) to be replaced by Jimmy Fallon.  He seems to have settled in well into the role and has kept the spirit of the show whilst adding his own personality to it.  Letterman has only just left Late Night and they have be used to have a pause before the next host and are putting on repeats of the likes of Hawaii Five-0 (the current one) which means that their first talk show is now gone midnight thirty.  CBS seem to like their British hosts for this show, replacing Craig Ferguson (who was always more famous in the US than the UK) with James Cordon (who is almost certainly more famous in the UK than the US).  I only saw a small bit of this show (even an hour earlier it is still a bit late for me!) and it does seem a bit odd to see him there.  You wouldn't think that a show gone midnight was a "promotion" for him, but in the strange world of US TV it kinda is.

PS - the fact that the backdrop for the local news in Chicago isn't real was shown in the heavy rain on Monday as there were some rather large raindrops behind the presenters...

Spotted

A few unusual or interesting things (well, you be the judge of that) spotted on my trip.

When F1 was in Detroit...

This cake is called a cobblestone, and the toy is a Cobbler's bench!

Go Hawks!

One of the reasons for going to Milwaukee today was that Chicago was going to be full of Chicago Blackhawks fans - there was a victory parade for the team that won the Stanley Cup (for the third time in 6 years) earlier this week.  There were apparently around 2 million people in Chicago today, and you saw them pouring in at the station when I departed this morning.  It has been a big thing - leading the local news all week.  Like a lot of US sports the final was played over the best of 7 legs, with the Blackhawks winning 4-2 in Chicago on Monday.

(If you, like me, wouldn't know what sport the Stanley Cup is in, it is Ice Hockey, and therefore great for June!)

Milwaukee, WI, USA

Going to Chicago (of which more later) gave me the opportunity to get out and about a little.  This included a 90 minute train ride up the lake to a new city and a new state in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

The first thing I noticed about being there was that there were hills!  Chicago is very flat (possibly causing it to be windy) and looking back Detroit and Toronto were fairly flat too (Niagara Falls excluded!).  Not as hilly as (say) a Bristol, but some slopes never-the-less!

There are two main museums in Milwaukee that I visited.  The first was the Milwaukee Art Museum, situated on the lake.  It is currently in the middle of some serious remodelling (apparently - you couldn't see where the work was going on) which meant that there was only a special exhibition open.  This was fine - in a "here's one bit of art from a number of artists" kinda way, but I got the impression that it would have been far better had it been fully open (and much better value).  They were also setting up for an art fair at the weekend, so more of the museum and grounds were closed off than normal.  The second was the Milwaukee Public Museum, which is a natural history/science/history museum.  It had a lot of content, but wasn't particularly engaging.  The fact that they were advertising their first new permanent exhibit for over a decade shows it is relatively old fashioned.  The best bit was a butterfly room, where you were in the room with the butterflies (and had to check they were all off you before leaving!)

However, there were also a number of other things to see in Milwaukee.  There was a public market which was interesting, a war memorial (which was a building rather than just a statue as might be elsewhere) and a Cathedral which had a dramatic modern statue of Christ on the cross hanging over the alter.  Around town you could also see the German influence on buildings and industries - there is a lot of local brewing and even a German Sausage firm!  I also had the local delicacy for lunch - deep fried curd cheese which was delicious.

Given my previous comments on the use (or otherwise) of trains in America, it is worth noting that Milwaukee is spending a lot of money on redoing it train station at the moment - it meant that we had to get on and off by walking over tracks, but it should be impressive when it is done.

All in all a nice place for a day trip - quieter and more open than the other places I have visited, but with very friendly people and a good atmosphere.

Detroit, MI, USA

In choosing to come to Detroit I didn’t really know what to expect (to be honest, before planning this trip I would have put it somewhere else on a map of the US!).  Leaving, I am I am still not sure (although I know roughly where it is now)!

Obviously Detroit has had its problems over recent years.  Famously the city itself went into bankruptcy a few years ago, and as somewhere so based on auto manufacturers it has struggled during the financial crisis.  However, as you explore move you find that it is a city that suffers from cycles; there have been several other auto slumps over the years that have impacted on its fortunes.  You do see poverty and begging about – although you see that in many places in the US, along with abandoned buildings (there were several that I saw during my trip along Route 66).  I didn’t venture much out of the core central area, but even this comes in waves.  There is a core downtown area by the river, then essentially a rundown “gap” until you get to the area around the main museums and university, and then another gap (where once car factories were) until you get to the “new centre” (which itself isn’t really bustling). 

 

The initial impression I got was probably not helped by the trip to the hotel on a crowded bus in high temperatures along a very dusty road.  The road is actually dusty for a good reason – there is a major investment going on into building a new tram system along the road, but it can give a misleading impression!  Generally there does appear to be some optimism around the city, with a lot of start-up businesses in the area – and the car manufacturers are starting to do better too.  Also, despite the city going into bankruptcy, there are still public services such as libraries about and open (which is better than some councils in the UK are doing in the management of their finances).  The people are friendly – I even got asked for directions by locals a couple of times despite looking very much like a tourist!

I can also report that, as a tourist there is a lot to see and do.  My first stops picked up on some of Detroit’s history.  I went first to the original home of Motown music, which started off from a standard house 9and eventually took over a number of other houses in the road!).  Here you got to see the original “Studio A” where many famous hits were recorded, and find out more about how the label(s) developed.  Strangely, despite a lot of the museum being set out as a standard museum (with exhibits, labels etc) you could only go round on a guided tour.  Interesting to see where it all began.

My next historical stop shared many qualities with this.  The reason Motown was so named is because Detroit is Motor City, with almost all significant US (and therefore world) car firms starting out there.  Perhaps the most famous is Ford, and the Piquette factory is where the company started out and where the Model T was designed and originally built.  Again, you get taken round the museum on a tour – less heavily scripted than at Motown though (I think it depended a bit on the person taking you round) and you are able to go off and look yourself.  It has a collection of old cars as well as the story of the cross-fertilisation between the different car firms at the time (with people leaving one firm to start another).  There is a bigger Ford museum out at Dearborn – which is where the assembly line production eventually took place – but naturally you need to get there by car!

As I mentioned, the Downtown area is somewhat separate and therefore doesn’t have the same tourist attractions that some cities might.  However, it still has a number of things worth seeing, including some impressive buildings from the golden age of Detroit.  There is also a monorail system (the Detroit People Mover), which goes around the limited area of Downtown in a loop.  Frankly, it feels very much like the “Marge vs the Monorail” episode of the Simpsons with a vanity project rather than a useful investment in public transport.  Certainly when I used it there were very few other passengers on it (compared to the buses – the main public transport provision – which were usually packed).  It also spends more time stopped at stations rather than moving; unlike the Toronto Subway which stops for as little time as possible with the People Mover it was possible for me to leave the train, go down two flights of stairs and get half-way down the street before it moved off from the station!  Lovely for a tourist to have a go on (at only 75 cents too) but I would be surprised if there weren’t better things to spend money on!

The Downtown area is where Detroit meets the river.  There is a good area for walking long its side, including a nature garden and fountains for children to play in.  Also there is the headquarters of General Motors and the fantastically named COBO centre.  A short(ish) walk from Downtown (and not served by the People Mover!) is John K King’s Rare and Used book store.  This warehouse of a building has 4 floors filled with almost any book you could imagine and many you couldn’t (if you happen to need a copy of Roy Jenkins’ Mr Balfour’s Poodle they have two!).  Great fun exploring for someone like me, even if I am limited in my purchasing by airport baggage limits!

 

The main art gallery in Detroit is the Detroit Institute of Arts.  This has a large collection spanning the ages (far bigger than I expected!), which it actually takes time to try and explain (what makes a particular artist unique?  How did styles develop?) in one of the best approaches I have seen (and I’ve been to a few galleries in my time).  On a Friday night it is open until 10pm, and also puts on free concerts (which you may have already read about!). 

Also visited in and around this area were a number of other museums and galleries.  The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit only really had three exhibits – and one of them was a painting of President Obama from each day of his presidency, so was a bit repetitive!  The Museum of African American History was interesting and had some good insights.  They did though have an annoying habit of showing timelines that theoretically showed what was happening in Detroit, Africa and the World over the same period, only for the periods to start and end at different years for each row!  Maybe that’s why I appeared to be the only visitor they had (no, it was just early and you had to follow a route which meant I would have been ahead of anyone else).  The Detroit Historical Society museum had a variety of different exhibits on different aspects of the city, including a (small part of a) working car assembly line!

All in all I am glad I went to Detroit.  There was certainly more there to see than I imagined there might be, and it was interesting to get a measure of it as a place.  I will be interested to see how it develops.

 

PS - Richard Branson was in town at the same time I was launching a new route to the UK.  He attended an event at a college I could see from my hotel room window.  It was big news on all the local TV stations (Branson, not me)!