Chicago: Paris on Lake Michigan
I had forgotten how much I love downtown Chicago.After all, it had been years. I've driven though and changed planes there, but it had been years since I'd truly been there. Once upon a time, it was a city I played in, tooling around town with S., my Winnetka friend, and spending afternoons at the Art Institute or in the park. He was a student at Northwestern then, and in those days I learned the drive between suburb and city by heart.
My husband has roots in Chicago as well, in the same North Shore suburbs. Chicago was the city he learned to love as a kid. After 20 years of marriage, this was our first stay together in Chicago.
Oh, sweet. it was sweet. Nothing can come between me and my Paris, but I found traces of Paris in Chicago. The cafés, mostly lined with broad planters, giving diners a bit of privacy. The tall, fashionably dressed women. The water taxis and excursion boats on the river. And finally, the parks and gardens.
This garden to the west of the old Water Tower reminded me of Paris, perhaps because it is across from a French restaurant I will certainly try on our next trip.
Our hotel was surrounded by steak houses, of course, and the aroma from 5 to 10 p.m. each night was tantalizing.
Having Chicago a half-day's drive away just might tide me over until Paris.
Comments
Yeah, Cyn, you may be right! Who knew?
Christine, when I was a kid, reading my parents' books on Sunday afternoons in winter, I used to look at the photos in this coffee-table book about the U.S. I recall a photo spread on Chicago and it's cosmopolitan scenes. Surely this was one of them!
And between you and me...I would LOVE to try the pizza Chicago is famous for....and on the steak front...good timing for me. I just ended a 4 day vegetarian kick...how could I go to Chicago and not eat a STEAK !
Happy October To You.
Best,
Kary
My husband did have a steak.
Just back from Paris last week where I had 12 fantastic days eating and drinking with family and old friends, seeing good French films, and re-visiting some lesser-known neighborhoods like the 19th and the 11th arrondissements, I was however very happy to be back in my adoptive town of Chicago that is as beautiful and lively as ever. I'm glad you enjoyed it but I personally would not compare it to Paris, its "sister city".
I thought of you walking through the marché de la rue Cler, and the Village Saint Paul, two places I know you are particularly fond of.
Bonne rentrée,
Alain
French Virtual Café
Alain, I thought of you, too, as I was walking down North Michigan. Not sure why, since I have no idea where you live in your wonderful adopted city.
I guess it was mostly the park near WTP that sent me back to Paris.
I think of Paris as an aging but elegant and stylish woman with layers and more than a few secrets, perhaps even a past.
Chicago is a brawny young man by comparison, but he has a surprising stylish bent and absolute audacity. He, too, has a few secrets.
I guess I just love cities!