A Kaleidoscope of Lights
18:50 — I met up with some friends who live in the suburbs for dinner in Lincoln Park before jumping on a train to the Loop. I had yet to have done much exploring Downtown, and was eager to get to know the neighborhood more. My only real experience with the Loop came from my Downtown film classes, both of which are on Jackson and State. I had not experienced much beyond this intersection.
19:30 — We disembark from the Brown Line at Washington and Welles. This L station was strange, as it was inside of another building all together. It was well kept, at least much more well kept than some of the other platforms I had been on. Electronic billboards displayed advertisements over our heads, soft music was playing, and there was not a single other person around apart from our group of friends.
19:35 — After exiting the L station, we had gathered our bearings. We had decided collectively to follow the river northwest, and then make our way to Millenium Park. We began walking westbound on Washington Street, and paused on the bridge to admire the view of the city. It was dark by this point, and the lights on the skyscrapers seemed brighter and more vivid than ever. From the bridge I was able to admire the bridges that ran parallel to the one I was standing on. I appreciated how all of Chicago’s bridges sort of fit a uniform style. Being from Pittsburgh, I am accustomed to a heterogeneous mix of all sorts of different bridges. Seeing them all look uniform was aesthetically pleasing. I also noticed that most — if not all — of the bridges were drawbridges. I wondered what it might be like to see them open for a passing ship.
20:00 — We stepped down from the bridge and joined the Chicago River Walk. The CRW is a mile and a quarter stretch of pavement which extends from Lake and Wacker, along the river, and to Lake Michigan. The River Walk was somewhat busy, mostly populated by young couples and families out to dinner at one of the many restaurants seated next to the river. There were pretty lights, live music, and fragrant smells coming from nearly every establishment we walked past. Dotted every so often along the riverwalk were children’s play areas, like jungle gyms and playgrounds and the sort. Each of the play areas had a great deal of time and attention paid towards its appearance, with each playground almost looking like the work of a famous architect or designer. They were all very weird, seeming like something played on by children in the year 3022 — futuristic, absurd, and interesting.
In This video, you can see another one of the playsets in the background. Each jungle gym was designed to be both entertaining to play on and to look at.
20:25 — Having spent a good twenty-five minutes walking the riverfront, we made our way slightly south to Maggie Daley Park. Having just walked through the heart of the city, we were now standing in a quiet green space, observing the city. It was quieter now, and we did not feel as much a part of the city as we did when we were walking the river. The feeling was similar to that of being atop the John Hancock Centre. We had a beautiful view of Chicago, but we felt somewhat removed from the city itself. I was observing the city I had just emerged from, watching it all happen before my very eyes. This made me think back to my High School English class, and specifically the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. When reading the play, we heavily discussed the idea of the “Green World.” That is, a natural, quiet, preserved world which exists outside of the hustle and bustle of city life. The Green World is the escape from all things real and tangible, it is a place in which your imagination can run wild. We had discussed how having an environment like this is important to one’s mental health. We as humans need a place where we can retreat when the world becomes too hectic or busy. To me, this park felt like one of those places. It was quiet and removed from the noisy city life. It was empty, sparse, and home to more plants and animals than people.
20:35 — After spending some time resting in the park, we decided to keep on trekking. We walked through the rest of the green space, admiring both the trees in the park and the distant skyline. We climbed onto the BP Pedestrian Bridge, which connects Daley park with Millenium Park. The bridge crosses over Columbus Drive, a large 6-lane boulevard which runs North and South, Parallel to Grant Park. The Pedestrian Bridge is a strange shape, looking almost like a tentacle or arm when viewed from above. It twists and winds across the motorway, forcing pedestrians to slow down and take a more scenic walk as they step closer to the city from the park. We paused above the boulevard to take a few long-exposure photographs of passing traffic and wondered where all of the cars were going. There were so many cars on the road, each of them filled with unique people driving to or from completely different places. It was almost mesmerizing to watch them pass one after another.
20:45 — After spending some time admiring the cars move to and fro, we descended from the top of the bridge and made our way to Millenium Park. More specifically, the bridge spat us out near Pritzker Pavilion, a beautiful music and performance venue in the park. Even though nobody was performing, I could picture the countless musical artists who have in the past. I could see crowds of people listening to the music, all while the city watched from afar. From where we were now standing, the skyscrapers were less of far-off objects, and they were beginning to tower around us. It felt as though we were standing in a little slice of downtown which was preserved for music and culture. This thought made me smile. We walked around the pavilion lawn and headed Northwest through the park. In the distance I could see a shiny orb reflecting all of the lights from the skyscrapers around it. It was The Bean. The Bean is of course a staple of Chicago, and it had been years since I had seen it in person. I was very excited to see it, especially at night. The city lights being reflected by the chrome finish was beautiful. It felt like I was looking into a kaleidoscope of all of the different lights from all of the different cars, windows, lights, and billboards in the surrounding area.
