Chicago : Snowy Skating at Millenium Park

Ep.67

January 2013.

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant. If we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” – Anne Bradstreet.

ORD – Chicago, USA.

The Cloud Gate

New port, new excitement. It is my first time to Chicago and the Christmas New Year Sale has not been ended yet. Yeay! And every upside has downside. It was friggin cold in US, especially this year, which happen to be long winter. I checked on the weather and it was snowing heavily and the temperature was subzero. Wohoo! The other exciting fact that most of the Indonesian crew of my batch got this flight overlapping one another. That is why I got my itinerary already before the flight. Yeay!

preparation

Let me gave you a hint before I started blabbering about this post. When I first saw Chicago on my roster, my mind directly brought to The Lake House scene and Source Code. *movie addict* Yep! I’m talking about the whole Bean in the Millenium Park. But let save that for a while. It was in January and the captain made announcement 30 minutes before landing, informing all the passenger about the time differences between HongKong and Chicago and the ground temperature at that moment was -11°C. Ouch! I did really hopr it would get a little bit better around noon.

freezy smile.

Well, not really. As soon as we checked in, me and some other crews were too excited to hit the shopping center for the Sale was not over yet. The excitement were way too overpowering the exhaustion. We enquired the concierge and we got the time table for the shuttle bus to the mall. We changed into our civilian cloth and meet up again in the lobby like in a half an hour. The super nice shuttle bus driver, drove us to the Oakbrook mall, the fact is, that we didn’t stay at downtown Chicago, we stayed at Lombard. Anyway, as soon as we got off from the bus, it was a cloudy snowy day. Yeay! Christmas was still around. It snowing lightly as we hop from sale shop to another sale shop. The good thing was, I got all my shopping list to be bought and there I go again with the calculation of couponing. *they got a lot of couponing system in USA*

snowflake upclose

There were 3 ladies and a man in our crowd, and after the completion of our shopping list, it’s time for our tummy to be pampered. The weather seemed to be bearable for the body, as I got myself 4-layered in some heat tech shirt and wind breaker jacket, but it was such a pain in the a** for facial and ear area. I put my earmuff on but I can’t possibly put anything to cover my nose, right? This is what I think at that time, “if anyone asked me on ‘what does it feel to be in subzero temperature?’, I would answered ‘anywhere below zero feels the same, as you are numb already.”

BA!

We agreed on having our late-luncg-early-dinner at the best restaurant of all USA, The Cheesecake Factory. And it was located quite far compared to the stores that we hopped to and from, so we better run. It was quite funny as we were set out our target and the moment we were out from the mall, breezes swept us and snow fall all over us, we were kinda mapping our own running track towards the restaurant. We even count one two three and started running. The funniest part was no matter how cold and chill it was, we managed to stop from the run and took some picture in the middle of the way. Ha-ha! I even managed to set my camera lens into macro and took a close detail picture of a snowflake. Love it! It is really does look like the one that we saw in Christmas decoration.

name on ice

reflection.

We agreed on ordering some items from the manu and shared, each of us would be paying not more than USD 11 including the tips and that was an awesome deal. American portion is something to be shared anyway. The topic around the table was, of course, around the flying and cabin rumours. Exchanged experience and shared some annoying stories, even complaining about company. Oh come on, every employee in this world would do the same. Complaining about the company, yet still stick their butt and slave diligently in order to survive and pay the bills, aren’t we? Ha-ha! 

gave up already?

train station's platform

After the feasts we continued on window shopping, while killing the time until the scheduled time for the shuttle bus to pick us up. Dragging our shopping bag around, we finally felt the combined exhaustion both from the flight and the hyperactive shopping time. I did collaps on my bed shortly after taking a good bath, but still managed to contact Hendra, my batchmate that overlapping my flight scheduled. We agreed on the downtown sightseeing the next morning, no matter what happens. *hyperbolism*

walk before you skate!

The next morning, Hendra gave me a call, asking whether we would still stick to the plan or not as it was seems to be heavily snowing outside and the temperature went down to -18°C. Yeah, it was a minus sign before the number. I peeked out from my window and I could see there was snow stacking on top of every cars in the parking lot and it was surely heavily snowing. I said, I’m still going no matter what, since I wont stay inside anyway. Whatever will be, will be. Hendra agreed and we both set our meeting time at the lobby shortly after. The concierge said it would be quite cold and windy outside. Well, Chicago was called the windy state for a reason after all. He gave us two packs of shaked heater, the one that you shaked and hold inside your pocket and it would turn hot after few minutes for quite sometimes. That was nice of him. He dropped us at the Lombard train station and we bought our ticket to downtown, waited for the train and off we go.

throw!!!

The first impression when I stepped into the train was that Source Code film moment. Awh! *I did swear to watch that movie again after this trip, and I gladly done it.* We sat nicely and shared some stories, well gossips, and we arrived at Chicago in abour 45 minutes after. The first thing on the list was,of course, Millenium Park, but we also got Willis Tower coming next to it. And considering the distance and the location on the map, in the weather like this, we might want to do it on a go and no de-tour from point A to B or vice versa.

make it a good shot so we wont have to retake

It was a quite fun walk through the snowy road in the middle of downtown Chicago. We even snapped some pictures and play around with the snow. It was windy, indeed, but well it was fun. It was an easy task to find the Willis Tower, a place where you can take picture in a glass platform from 103^rd floor of the building, the one that enabled you to look all over Chicago from the top of it. The easiest way to find it if you’re not a map person in by looking at the highest building and go towards it. It was famous for it called one of the tallest buildings in the world and the tallest building in America.

Hendra and me.

What did we aiming for? Ah! The famous skydeck. The Skydeck is open daily offering spectacular views spanning up to four states, a one-stop Chicago experience full of interactive exhibits and…The Ledge, a glass balcony experience extending four feet outside the 103^rd floor of Willis Tower! Yes I wrote “outside”. The balcony was a protruding part of the building and made entirely by glasses. Large windows provide maximum light and views, further enhanced by the corridors created by the tower’s set back on all sides. Only the finest materials are used throughout the buildings common areas to highlight the property’s prestige, such as the lobby’s walls of travertine highlighted with stainless steel trim, polished granite flooring, and decorative ceiling lighting.

Ta-Da!

We paid the admission fee for USD 18 per person and we were heading to the 103^rd floor, squeezed in an elevator with few other tourists. It would be fits for few more people inside but with our bulky attire, I don’t think so. Am I afraid of height? No, baby! I will look straight down on my feet! Hendra and I had 1 mission in our head, made the USD 18 worth the picture! We took numerous pictures on the ledge, few times ten, at least. I did all the poses on the very corner od the balcony and the view was breathtaking. This is a lifetime experience that everyone should try at least once in their life time I guess. Enjoying the view from the top.

the famous Millenium Park

Next on, Millenium Park. It was also an easy task to find Millenium Park. Just follow the main road and it will be heading to the most happening park in the city. Millennium Park is considered one of the largest green roofs in the world, having been constructed on top of a railroad yard and large parking garages. It is also originally intended to celebrate the millennium. And it’s housing the world famous Cloud Gate sculpture, which is also known as, The Bean *just like in the last scene of Source Code*.

what its look like from the top

The Bean is a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor, is the centerpiece of Millennium Park, moreover, the landmark of Chicago. Said to have been inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture's surface reflects and distorts the city's skyline. Visitors are able to walk around and under Cloud Gate's 12-foot (3.7 m) high arch. On the underside is the "omphalos" (Greek for "navel"), a concave chamber that warps and multiplies reflections. The sculpture builds upon many of Kapoor's artistic themes, and is popular with tourists as a photo-taking opportunity for its unique reflective properties. I did take “few” picture there. And we did also walk through the omphalos. So feel lucky to touch and see it. Another tick on my must see item before I died. Ha-ha!

my glorious fall

my victorious glide

Remember the scene in the Lake House when Sandra Bullock watched over people skating in the park? Well, we did the same thing. Hendra was all excited as we saw the plank read “Skate in the park - $10 to rent skate -unlimited time”. He dragged me to rent the skate shoes. Well, if there is something in this world that I have learned and not doing well, it was calculation science subjects, driving and definitely skating. But that was not an excuse not to try again, right? Life is about trials and errors anyway. I rent my 7.5 skating shoes and wish my self luck. I skated for abour 30 minutes and I couldn’t believe that I was actually sweating inside my jacket in this subzero temperature. It was thanks to the uncountable times I fell and tried to get up on again on my skate. It was damn hard for me to glide on the ice, I guess.

Chicago Theatre

After the painstakingly 30 minutes, I treated myself a good cup of coffee. We stopped at Starbucks for a good hour and we hit the chill and snowy downtown Chicago again. This time, it took me back on the set of Burleque and Chicago movie. Those broadway cabaret performances place is Chicago Theater. The Chicago Theatre was a dominant movie theater enterprise. Now the Chicago Theatre is a performing arts venue for stage plays, magic shows, comedy, speeches, and popular music concerts. The distinctive Chicago Theatre marquee, "an unofficial emblem of the city", appears frequently in film, television, artwork, and photography. We strolled around the main street, checked out the Harley Davidson store as well as Crocs store. Even though we didn’t buy anything, we still had fun though.

faster click and snap this picture.

As the sun set, the temperature were getting lower and lower, we took the journey back to Lombard and we were knocked out on the train back. Lucky enough, we haven’t missed our stop. As soon as we took the shuttle back to the hotel, Hendra asked me whether I would like to grab some dinner at the mall nearby. I guess not. It was too cold outside, I would take the room service perhaps. I was already on the brink of my limit to bear the cold. I headed to my room to find that my flying and shoppig troops from yesterday leave a message in my room, they invited me to gather in one of their room for chit chat. It was actually the room across to mine, and so I knocked the door and they were all gather around to have some think Giordano’s pizza. Yumm! Lucky times two!

that snowy path

102 floors below...

We had a long dinner talking about some random topics, even mock at the ads on the TV. Such a night full of laugh. There were like 5 of us, yet we still didn’t manage to finish all the food. I finally back to my room around midnight and had a good night sleep. I woke up the next morning, dragged my feet to the mall nearby to grab something to eat and back to the hotel and stay until the pick up time came, and operate back to HK. Chicago, the heaviest snowy winter I have ever encountered, yet, I’d love to visit you in other season. At the bottom line, those snowy scenery might look good in these picture, but when you stand in there, well, you better be layered enough.

“Life is about trials and errors, right? Just give it another shot and see what will happen next. You’ll be surprised.” – Me.