Northern America -
Chicago

This is the view of Chicago that many may know. In the foreground, there is the famous fountain, which is so famous that you don't have to know its name - a rule I would like to follow at this moment. In the background the enormous big amount of enormous high buildings, which Chicago is famous for. And above all outstanding weather, which Chicago is not so famous for.
 

From close up, the downtown Chicago looks like a fortress, built of countless towers made of concrete and steel. Some of these towers seem to be made of finer materials when the sun shows them in the right light. Against who this fortress tries to protect itself, you can't tell it. The threat can't be that big, because from even closer up, this fortress dissolves in an ocean of facades made of glass, which brings up the assumption, that half the population of Chicago makes it living by cleaning windows. And the other half probably watches them.
 

The most outstanding building in Chicago would be the Sears Tower. Extremely high, very square and quite black. If you walk around in the city ravines, it is quite difficult to take a look at this skyscraper. And then you suddenly stand right in front of it and you don't know what to do with it- it is much too high to seem comprehensible high. Also all the fuss about the building in the entrance area doesn't lead to any conclusions, because in this country there is fuss about nearly everything. Fortunately, this time I was spared an I-max presentation, and I also went without the souvenir picture of my with the painted image of the Sears Tower. The huge and silent elevator wasn't able to create a feeling of the height neither - the fear factor was missing. If you want to go looking for it, you should pass by in Cincinnati ...
Up there on the top, the view opens over this endless sea of buildings called Chicago, which is at the eastern end kept by the as endless Lake Michigan from spreading out further. From up here you can take a close look at everything, just as you stood in front of a reduced model of the city. And if you look very close look, you can see them all, the other prominent things: the famous fountain in the park, the Hancock Center (with open air viewpoint), the State of Illinois Center, the second highest church tower of the world (the highest one is located in Ulm, Germany, and about 500 years older), the streets, the green river, which tightly holds enclosed the city centre, the train station and many other high buildings, which maybe once have been the highest building of the world.
 

Another building worth mentioning is the State of Illinois Center. It is a high rise building (actually a wide rise building) with an interior of 100m height. I am not that sure about this figure, but in any case it is very high. And closing with a round glass facade to the front. Some time before I have seen a report about this building on TV (that kind of TV that makes you smarter). Unconsciously, I set as my goal to admire this building in real life, even though it seemed extremely unlikely to me that I ever would visit it. And there it suddenly was, as we came around the corner. I already forgot it for a long time and correspondingly big was my surprise and my delight. By the way, it is a public administration building and closed on the weekend when I come for a visit.
 

Now you could come to the impression that Chicago only consists of buildings. But this is by far not like this - because there are also streets, on which people get to these buildings. Above some streets, there runs an elevated railroad, so even more people can be transported to the buildings. Other streets, on the other hand, are so narrow, that you actually can't transport anything on them (please note the fire escapes that are real and not just a dramatic tool of the film industry). On the weekend, the streets are really that empty, because Chicago (at least downtown) is perhaps more a city of buildings than a city of people.
 

And the few people that are still there and take their time can experience the picturesque sunset in the city ravines of Chicago.