Great photos! I was born in Chicago and my extended family all lives there. My parents moved away when I was just a toddler. I've never seen much of it because when we would visit we just saw family and did family stuff.

The last time I was there was 3 years ago for my grandmother's funeral. We drove for 2 days, stayed for one night, went to the funeral, and spent another 2 days driving home. My kids were troopers. It would have been great to stay longer but DH was starting a new job that week and we had no time.

Oh thank you for this. I have only been to Chicago once, but my SIL lives there and my darling nieces grew up there. Perhaps it is time for another visit.

Thanks for again showing us how special Chicago is. I can hardly believe I haven't been there since 1995.

I have never been to Chicago but my US based family and friends both rate it highly as a place to visit.

I live in a provincial city that can get a bad rap too - for being boring, without a beach, and having a foggy climate.

While in one way these things are true, in other ways they are so wrong and the people doing the critiquing are often so ignorant and narrow minded. I played a game on one of them once, by having a bet how long into our conversation he would bad-mouth our city, and then when he did, telling him I had won some money!!

Love your beautiful words and even better photos. It's cool to see a city you think you know through the eyes of someone else, a different artist. Always loved Chicago, always will.