Gold Coast and Lake Shore Drive

- Dearborn Street, Soldier Field, Museum of Industry and Science, McCormick Place

Gold Coast is a Natinoal Historic District since 1978, and the richest neighbourhood in the USA, after Manhattan's Upper East Side. It is situated just to the North of Magnificent Mile. Here you find small scale old townhouses, churches, lost of trees and luxury highrise apartment buildings. Here you also find the very small but nice Washington Square Park, that has a fountain in the center and is popular for events. Next to the park is the Newberry Library.

The first day in Chicago, we started to walk on N Dearborn St in the Gold Coast district, giving the first impression that Chicago was more small scale then expected, a bit like Boston. But once we reached the Magnificent Mile, that starts just South of Lake Shore Drive, everything felt more urban and large scale, as one might expect from Chicago. Gold Coast is a tranquil residential area with small houses, hence the impression. In 1882 the Chicago business man Potter Palmer built a large and very beautiful mansion in the area, that is now demolished unfortunately. That was the beginning of the gentrification of the area. Palmer is the man behind State St and Palmer House hotel.

Along the coastline of Lake Michigan goes the attractive Lake Shore Drive, where you have views of the lake, the beaches and the skyline as you drive or take the bus here. Lake Shore Drive goes along large parts of Chicago's coast line, creating a very continental atmosphere. Lakefront Trail is parallel to it, here you can walk or ride the bike just next to the beaches. When we escaped from the heavy thunderstorm the first evening, we took a ride in a taxi along the drive, not seeing much because it was dark and the weather was horrible!

Museum of Industy and Science is situated in along S Lake Shore Drive, in Hyde Park, on the border to downtown. It is an impressive and very popular museum, situated in a large neo-classic building. This is the only building that is left from the 1893 World Fair, called Palace of Fine Arts during the fair. It is the largest science museum in the Western hemisphere. We planned to visit it, but unfortunately we had too less time.

Along the South part of Lake Shore Drive, you also find Soldier Field, a football stadium, right next to the lake. It opened in 1924 and was partly rebuilt in 2002. It is mostly known as the home for the American football team Chicago Bears.

McCormick Place, the largest convention center in North America, is situated at S Lake Shore Drive, right next to Soldier Field and Lake Michigan. It opened in 1960 and consists of 4 interconnected buildings. It is houses the annual exhibitions of the Chicago Auto Show, International Home & Housewares Show and the National Restaurant Association. Chicago is one of the most important exhibition cities in the world, that is one reason it often can be hard to find a hotel room in Chicago, and the hotel prices during exhibits increases a lot.