Magnificent Chicago

The third-most populous city in the United States, positioned along Lake Michigan, the city is an international hub for finance, commerce, industry, technology, telecommunications, and transportation.  After visited Chicago for the second time, I declared that it is now my new favorite city of America.  My old favorite city was New York City.

I loved its weather in summer, its clean streets, beautiful parks, gardens, architecture, history and restaurants.   Do you know only in the down town within in the loop, there are 7300 restaurants?

I enjoyed my short visit there and the photos I took there, I hope you do too.

Millennium Park - Crown Fountain

Designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa,
The fountain consists of two 50-foot glass block towers at each end of a shallow reflecting pool. The towers project video images from a broad social spectrum of Chicago citizens, a reference to the traditional use of gargoyles in fountains, where faces of mythological beings were sculpted with open mouths to allow water, a symbol of life, to flow out.

Millennium Park - Cloud Gate

According to the City of Chicago web site: Cloud Gate is British artist Anish Kapoor's first public outdoor work installed in the United States.
The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect Chicago’s famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a "gate" to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.
Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high.
Cloud Gate sits upon the AT&T Plaza, which was made possible by a gift from AT&T.

Millennium Park - Jay Pritzker Pavilion and Great Lawn

According to the city of Chicago web site, here are some facts about Jay Pritzker Pavilion:

Schedule

Design Commencement – June 1999
Completion – July 2004
Dedication – July 24, 2004

Size

Includes 95,000 square foot lawn area; 4,000 fixed seats and approximately 7,000 lawn seats 
Description 
The Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park is one of the world’s most state-of-the-art outdoor music pavilions featuring a proscenium surrounded by billowing curves of stainless steel and a steel trellis that spans the audience. 
Owner 
City of Chicago 
Architect 
Gehry Partners, LLP
Los Angeles, California

Millennium Park - Lurie Garden (2)

More flowers from the Garden: