Unfortunately I didn’t do anything for Earth Day/wk but sleep/hang out in the burbs, there was cool stuff going on in Chicago, as I found on a (live earth-related) Earth Day website, ranging from events at UoC, interfaith discussions, hikes, Mt. Trashmore at Northwestern(!), and a park cleanup. Alas.. Next year? I visited Milwaukee, Chicago and the burbs in this trip though, what was in downtown you ask– (BTW, Just uploaded all my Chi and Mil pix)

It's the Cloud Gate

So I took the same bus back into Chicago, and the next 2 mornings my aunt dropped me off at the “El” (train/lightrail) station, so I could get into Downtown and explore! My first stop was Sears Tower, turned out there wasn’t much to see there if I didn’t want to pay ~$12 to go up an elevator, but that’s okay. From there I decided to get on of those “Hop On, Hop Off” tour buses/trolleys for $25. I used it to go just a few stops to the Art Institute, which is a chill art museum. I then headed to the nearby (and new-ish) Millennium Park, where “the Bean,” as the locals call this curious shiny ‘sculpture.’ On the last leg of the day I went to Chicago Cultural Center to buy a Visitor’s pass, which is $9 for 2 days for CTA buses/trains, and this has to be the cheapest and most convenient way to see all the sites in Downtown. Too bad its only for visitors, that makes New York’s Unlimited ride card more useful+accessible, as NYC’s can be bought anywhere. And then I went to find my trolley/bus so I could finish off the tour, which instead of having me wait ~25 minutes, I had to wait over an hour for, and since I caught the last one of the day there was very little tour value to it. Since I tend to linger at sites/museums, this was easily $25 wasted, and I don’t recommend it to anyone who wants to see many things in Downtown. It’s not time or price convenient. This brings us to my second day in Downtown Chicago. I started off walking down the “Magnificent mile” a bit and checked it out, that was kinda fun, I was also questing for some hemp shoes so I could volunteer with Habitat in NYC which is one way having a cell phone was useful during my trip, then I headed down to Pilsen, which is a largely Spanish-speaking neighborhood, wherein I quickly found an organic convenience store! Yeah! Unfortunately, even being a local, her business is not doing so well (not surprisingly? organic in a “lower-income” area?). It/she was cool though. Next I got to my destination: The Mexican Fine Arts Museum.. it was brilliant! From the first exhibit I saw, about the famous Chupacabra, that my Spanish teacher Francisco taught us about as we began our stay in México. The exhibit was brilliant, if it ever happens near you, GO! And if you’re ever in Chicago, GO TO THIS MUSEUM! I think it’s fair to say that it’s my favorite museum EVER! And its free? “wtf” some might say, I just say They know whatsup! This is part of the reason I was sorely disappointed at my next stop, the DuSable Museum of African-American History. After having just visited a museum that recognizes the struggles of immigrants, minorities, or more generally folks’/countries that powers such as the US have such great influence over, this museum sorely missed all marks. Their highlighted exhibit was “Blacks In The Armed Forces.” Sorry, but learning about African-Americans in war doesn’t even vaguely elevate my opinion of them. The history of Africa in the museum also seemed slightly out of place, considering its an AA museum, and it didn’t do much to tie it to today. I can’t think of more to say, so I’ll leave it at that. I wanted to visit the Museum of Science and Industry after that, but! Even with relatively early starts to the day, I still run out of time! My last task of the day, and now in the rain, was to find a pair of eco-friendly shoes. After some searching (calling different shoe stores, and sometimes getting leads from them, making great use of Google 411), I FINALLY find a shoe store selling ecologically-friendlier shoes FOR MEN. (Everyone else only sold them for women!) I ended up choosing one of Simple Shoes‘ Ecosneaks. Check out the ingredients! (My favorite are the bike tire treads!) So that concludes my time in downtown! What I missed: But there was so much more I wanted to see! I wanted to borrow/rent a bike and cruise around the neighborhoods, or see the Lakefront or parks. The neighborhoods are supposed to be the cat’s Meow, there’s Devon (Indian), (I did walk through Greektown though!), Lakeview and Wrigleyville – a punk haven with a mishmash of subcultures, etc. I didn’t even attend any live music! As far as sites, I skipped the Planetarium (but saw some skyline/view from nearby), Social Justice-style CCAT place (Ask John/Noelle for more info), field museum, zoo, Museum of Contemporary art, Museum of Science and Industry (supposed to be huge+great!), the (free) stained glass museum at the Navy Pier, nor did I pay attention to architechture (e.g. Frank Lloyd Wright stuff). Non-downtown (Suburbs): • The saddest thing I missed was touring the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant – Cicero. I just found out that the (or 2nd) largest Waste Water (Sewage) Treatment Plant in the country is for Chicago’s poo! I have to let someone know ~30 days before. There’s a Baha’i House of Worship, Illinois Railway Museum, and the largest mall (measured by retail space) in America.

me and the bride

The mall is notable because it’s in Schaumburg, the same city where the wedding I came to attend took place. This was my 2nd cousin on my dad’s side, Preeti Prasad , marrying Pradeep Kodali. (Their names both start with ‘P’! Well, this post is _severely_ overdue, so I’ll have to end it here, but to mention that it was great to see several of my cousins (and their families! wow i’m young I guess!), who are (mostly) all cool people. More (and better!) pics can be seen from the father-of-the-bridge on picasa, email me for that link. (Dunno if it was meant to be private, so I’ll only give it out to friends/fam)

© Ajay for Californication meets Tranpacificism, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, chicago, downtown, family, illinois, touring, traveling

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh