"My Windy City" Chicago by shopgal

There's only two seasons in Chicago, Winter & Construction :)
The temperature changes within the split second, and Winter is usually longer than Summer. Downtown Chicago has the most beautiful skyline after San Francisco & Manhattan.

Chicago is terribly breezy being next to Lake Michigan, and during Winter, the windshield could get 20F colder than the actual temperature.

You may also remember one of the biggest mobster in history, Al Capone who built his empire in Chicago in the 1930s.

Since it's a v. old city, Chicago has plenty of great architectural buildings namely the Water Tower, Sears Tower, Hancock, Field Museum, Harold Washington Library, Wrigley Building, and many more.

There are also old cathedrals such as Old St. Patrick's & The Holy Name Cathedral. Old St. Pat's & the Water Tower are one of those which survived the Big Fire back in late 1800s.

You should definitely check out the Field Museum (one of the largest museum in the US), Museum of Science & Industry, the Architectural Tour on Water, Gangster & Ghost tours, and definitely Shopping!! :)

I moved to Chicago back in Summer of 2002, after getting engaged to a British man from Chicago. You should definitely check out my Los Angeles site as well.

Summer is usually hot & humid, temperature ranges from 60F to 95F!! It's usually the biggest thing, all Chicagoans will be out by Lake Michigan in their bathing suits. The "beach" would be SRO (Standing Room Only). I'm lucky to live by the Lakefront, my eskimo, Milo & I would be running, biking, or just hanging out by the doggie beach.

Fall is my favorite season in Chicago, especially when the leaves start to change colors, it's simply fabulous. It's the time when the weather is just perfect, a little chilly at night, but not too hot during the day (jacket weather). It's also time to "Fall back" in time, we shall all turn our clock an hour back.

Winter is v. cold and snowy. It's really beautiful when it's falling & fresh, after that, would be muddy & gross! Although we get lots of snow in the Winter, Chicago is way too flat for me to go snowboarding :(
You'll definitely have the White Christmas here, also, you may ice-skate @ the Millenium Park downtown.

It rains a lot in Spring, and usually the flowers are not yet bloomed since it could still be 30F outside! Check out the tulips along the Mag Mile (Michigan Ave Shopping paradise).

Like all other states, Chicago has their own teams as well. There's the Bears for the NFL, which just got their new home, the Soldier's Field re-opened again. There's two Baseball teams here, the Cubs of the North, and the White Sox of the South. Then of course, there's the Hawks for the NHL.

Traffic in Chicago is horrible, it just seems like people go places 24/7 in this city.

If you love the theater, check out some cool theaters along the Theater District, namely the Cadillac Place, Oriental/Ford, and the Schubert.

Ethnic restos are all over the city, there're Little Italy, Greektown, Chinatown, Indian district, Middle Easterns, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, Cuban, Mexican, Ethiopian, Sweedish, Japanese, and many more.

Mon chien, Milo

One of the v. few snow days in Winter 04...

Skyline during dusk

One beautiful evening...

• Pros:Beautiful, artsy, historical
• Cons:Traffic
• In a nutshell:More yuppies moved into the city to make it a less friendly place :(