The Path of a New Tourist, taken by an old one
11:57pm
I walked out of my building apartment after finishing class and eating my lunch. This time, I wasn’t ready to start my walk because the area is already familiar to me. I know that every time you walk the same path, you can notice something different each time. However, the location is the same and I want something brand new to explore. I would rarely ever walk around the busier downtown streets of Chicago because there are always many people, my parents didn’t want me going alone. Today was my opportunity to go into those parts of the city because I am finally old enough to be independent.
12:08pm
The red line towards 95th arrived. The sound of the train coming towards me scares me every time, but I try to act like I’m used to it. The wind made my baby hairs fly out of my ponytail. I hopped on to the train to notice a woman sitting with her groceries. I found one empty spot left to get me to Clark and Division street. Once I got off I could hear a lot of busy noise because the L stops are always crowded with people utilizing transportation. By walking through Division street I was at the heart of Gold Coast. I made the connection from my past walk in the area that it was an expensive residential area. There were dogs barking at one another as their owners walked past each other.
12:27pm
I walked through an alley to pass under the busy Lake Shore drive. It was dark and silent. The ground had puddles formed by droplets from above. As I exited, light appeared and I saw an amazing scenic view. Chicago has the ability to be a city of skyscrapers with a built in beach(well it’s a lake but basically same thing)! I was even able to capture the ferris wheel of Navy Pier all the way to the left side of the photo. The pathway of runners and bikers was hard to get across because there were so many of them. I could hear a lot of heavy breathing and gears moving from the bikes. I found my chance to rapidly cross through the road and when I strolled along the cement my favorite kind of senses to experience appeared. The waves hit the sand and I felt a cool breeze push my hair to one side.
12:36pm
I wanted to head back towards Michigan Avenue so I walked under the alley again. This time, it was a different one that had various types of artwork. I didn’t know the faces of the people or the meanings behind each masterpiece but it felt like it had something to do with the diversity of the city. With so many vibrant colors and patterns, it catches your eye’s attention.
12:40pm
Coming out from the silence, I heard a lot of noise. There were cars driving by, honking at each other. Then there was construction work going on right in the middle of everything. It was hard to pass through the street as a pedestrian because the neon orange cones were blocking parts of the intersection. This was probably my least favorite part of the walk but it also brought me back to the reality of the city of Chicago. The city is always fixing things up to try and make it a better and beautiful city. I remembered back to when I visited Ukraine over the summer and some of the roads were still bricks instead of asphalt.
12:52pm
I got onto Michigan Avenue and the sound of the excavator disappeared. The noisy cars continued to beep at each other but I mainly heard the people. Every time I walked past someone, I was put into the middle of their conversation. There were a lot of poor, homeless individuals shaking their cups of change up and down for more money. The man I took a video of was my favorite person to see. He was asking for change, but he was working for it. While his singing wasn’t the best, at least he was putting in effort to entertain the pedestrians and catch their attention.
1:04pm
I window shopped at the expensive designer stores. I imagined when I will be older that maybe I will finally go into one of the stores and be able to afford one of the products. The gorgeous Bulgari watch on display sparkled of diamonds and I pictured it on my wrist. For now, I will keep studying as the college student I am to work for the profession that I desire. In the meantime however, I could enter in the Zara that was across the street. I spent some time browsing through the new fall collection but I was lazy to try anything on. I had a voice in the back of my mind telling me not to spend more money on clothing and that I had no room in my tiny wardrobe to bring anything back.
1:40pm
By the time I had walked through both levels of Zara, I finally got out of there to walk towards the bridge on Wabash. I saw another art piece that said, “Love Me”. I think the artist wanted to go with a happy vibe where smiley faces are shown so that pedestrians could look at it and think positively. I also saw the back of the Trump Tower and it’s Front Entrance. I never noticed until today that there is a sign with information on the tower. It is the tallest building in the world with an all-concrete structure. The second tallest building in North America after the Willis Tower, and the sixth tallest building in the world!
1:53pm
As I looked over the bridge there was a tour boat, the rest of the river was empty. This was a soothing experience because I could hear the water and nothing else. There was no one on that bridge with me in that moment, it was the most silence I encountered that day. I think everyone has their favorite part of the city; Michigan Avenue, The Bean, Millennium Park, Navy Pier. Mine is the Bridge.
2:00pm
I found a plant that I wanted to know more about. Plants are a way of decorating an area and making it feel clean. I didn’t know these mini spikey purple flowers were called the blue mistflower. I took a photo of them and the next day, someone was able to respond back to me with an answer. It’s most popular in the Eastern part of North America so it is pretty common to see them in our area, yet it was my first time!
2:12pm
After my long walk, I wanted to treat myself to dessert. Magnolia Bakery was originated in New York with the only location being there and in Chicago. They are most famous for their banana bread pudding and I’ve always wanted to try it but never had the chance. Honestly, I didn’t know that the bakery was located here. I was observant on my walk so when I noticed it I was both surprised and excited. On the left is a boomerang of a baker finishing up her final touches on a cake order. I would recommend ordering from them the next time you need baked goods for a special event or even a cup of coffee during a stroll in the city.
At the start of my walk, I began to track my route on an app called “Walkmeter”. It logged in my exact path, telling me when I hit every mile. Here, I wanted to include both the apps route and my hand drawn map.
