Chicago by Daphne Beames

Chicago: second city and major airline hub - city of Lakeshore Drive and the Gold Coast, of Frank Lloyd Wright, President Obama and the Loop. A city to be loopy about, inspiring deep emotions. A city of museums and culture, walking tall and thinking big: the Sears Tower remains the tallest skyscraper in the Americas and enjoyed the status of ‘tallest building in the world’ from 1974 – 1998; even the flow of the Chicago River has been innovatively reversed to accommodate city planning.

‘Chicago’ is a French derivative of the Indian word: ‘Chicagoua’ or ‘Shikaakwa’, for the wild garlic that once grew in profusion around Lake Michigan (although onions, leeks, and even skunks have all been associated with the name). In the18th-century the area at the south-western tip of the lake was home to the Potawatomis who had replaced the Miami, Sauk and Fox peoples - the first permanent settlers arrived between 1770 and the early 1800s, and in 1818 the State of Illinois was admitted to the Union.

Flying in to Chicago, O’Hare International (the second busiest airport in the world) is an experience. From the sky the neat lines of trees, farmland, green fields and pristine pastures all create an impression of rural tranquillity but – beyond the leafy front lies one of the largest conurbations in the United States.

Once on the ground, the ultra-modern air terminals flash with colour-coded, psychedelic lighting (both for direction and decoration) and are streamlined with the last word in polished, metallic accoutrements. Efficiency is key, and in January 2007 O’Hare won the Global Traveler Award for the ‘Best Airport in North America’. (Even the cloakroom attendants, guarding the automated sanitary ware, wear avant-garde white chest ribbons emblazoned with the label, ‘Hygiene Custodian’. The immediate reaction is: ‘Can this be for real?’)

A 30 minute taxi ride whisked us to the swish Drake Hotel on the ‘Magnificent Mile’: Michigan Avenue’s Gold Coast. This 535-room icon (a member of the Hilton Hotel Group) first opened in 1920 and is, today, a lakeside landmark and a ‘Chi-City’ legend.

A stone’s throw from the lovely Oak Street Beach as well as from the trendiest restaurants and best nightlife in the city, the hotel has played host to the rich and famous for over 80 years, and Queen Elizabeth II; Diana, Princess of Wales; the Empress of Japan and Elizabeth Taylor are just some of the celebrities who have passed through its doors.

Positioned on priceless real estate – the beautiful swathe of sweeping lakefront that is one of the ‘Seven Wonders of Chicago’ - The Drake has featured in numerous movies: among them Mission Impossible, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Continental Divide and What Women Want.

Afternoon Tea is an affair to remember - served 365 days a year, to the strains of a harp, in the fashionable Palm Court where the centrepiece is a gorgeous limestone fountain incorporating a giant, antique urn. Evening cocktails can be enjoyed in the delightful Coq d’Or lounge and fine dinners are on offer in the award winning Cape Cod Room (where Jo DiMaggio once carved Marilyn Monroe’s intitials), or the Drake Bros’ steak restaurant.

Ascend in a fast-track, Schindler elevator to the top of the Sears Tower - there is a sky deck on the 103rd floor of the 110-storey building, from where visibility is about 32kms and views over the city and the lake are amazing.

A 2009 upgrade of the sky deck is in progress and horizontal, glass-bottomed observation boxes, high over Wacker Drive, are being constructed to provide a spectacular bird’s eye perspective of the streets below. Beware of vertigo and be warned, this is ‘windy city’ and the whole structure sways perceptively in the breeze – which can be decidedly daunting.

Catch a high ride on the ‘L’: the elevated, 8-line, rapid transport rail system, synonymous with the city and encircling ‘the Loop’: the cultural, financial and commercial downtown centre.

These are just two of Chicago’s must-see sights. Others include the Wrigley Field (hallowed baseball park); the Water Tower (listed on the National Register of historic places and the only building, still standing, to have survived the devastating fire of 1871); the University (a pioneer of nuclear research) and the marvellous Museum of Science and Industry.

This interactive museum, built to inspire inventive genius, is one of the largest in the world - it boasts 14 acres of hands-on exhibits and rivals the Smithsonians for excellence. Whether you choose to descend a coalmine, see the only German U-boat on US soil, walk through Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle or make discoveries about ‘Ships through the Ages’, Chronology and ‘The Great Train Story’ - the experience is unforgettable.

Personal favourites include the beautiful ‘Decorated Christmas Trees from around the Globe’ and ‘Yesterday’s Main Street’. The yesteryear exhibit portrays Chicago around 1910 – complete with cobbled and brick streets; a Nickelodeon Cinema showing classic, silent movies and old-fashioned store-fronts like Gossard’s Corset Shop, Marshall Fields and Finnigan’s Ice-cream Parlor. Round off the visit by having a photograph taken beside a vintage1902 motor car.

The name ‘Marshall Fields’ is famed in the shopping world, and a visit is obligatory. The 1892, flagship department store inspired such loyalty and devotion that, when it was finally swallowed up by Macy’s in 2006, crowds protested in the streets (and returned one year later: on the anniversary of the takeover).

Now known as ‘Macy’s on State Street’ this gracious old-timer is calculated to impress. The elegant, historic entrance still bears the original name of the store on a burnished plaque high above street level - and is flanked by granite columns that are rivalled in height only by the giant pillars of the Temple of Karnak in Egypt.

The ticking of the two great clocks, hanging suspended over the sidewalks by ornate, wrought-iron cords, has long kept the city on time. Once through the portals of this marble palace (declared a national, historic landmark in 1979) there is a Disneyland appeal about the ‘Lost Fountain’; the 11-storey atrium (a mid-store light shaft; with Corinthian columns and an amazing, vivid blue and gold Louis Tiffany ceiling) of fragile, iridescent glass.

Be sure to visit the Archive on the 7th Floor and the 8th Floor ‘Trend House’: displaying over 70 years of interior design. Stop for refreshment in the elegant Walnut Room (this ‘department store first’ blazed a trail by allowing the unthinkable: women shoppers could dine unaccompanied while browsing for merchandise) and remember to take home some of the signature ‘Frango’ mint chocolates.

Climb aboard a classic Chicago Trolley or a red Double Decker for a ‘Hop-on-Hop-off’ cultural whiz through the city. A bus stops at each of the modern American architectural landmarks every 10 -15 minutes. Drive past a forest of skyscrapers and circle sights that include shimmering Lakeshore drive and the ‘Magnificent Mile’, the Financial District, City Hall and the Civic Opera, the Wrigley Building and the Field Museum of Natural History.

See the home of Muhammad Ali and make a special stop at the house and studio of Frank Lloyd Wright in Oak Park: the famous, ground-breaking architect lived here for 25 years and if you seek his monument, it resides in the suburbs of Chicagoland!

On a clear day one can see forever – don’t miss the one hour, historic Chicago River cruise. The tour boards at Naval Pier and passes the John Hancock Centre as it snakes up the north branch of the river, then winds past forty metropolitan marvels and finally veers south past Sears and the old Post Office.

America’s second city scores an uncontested first for culture, hospitality and tourism. Go there.