Chicago is a spectacular city. The home of the skyscraper, it's architecture is everything that epitomizes "the big city" - even more so than New York.

The coolest thing is that it runs right up against Lake Michigan - this helps also to keep the air quality good for a city of its size (about 8 million people).

Not only that, but they have ensured that there is nothing but parkland between the city and the lake for the 12 miles north and south of the city centre.

While I was there I went running in the morning a few times - watching the sun rise over the lake was a spectacular experience, so I took the camera along with me one time:

Meigs Field

I also went bike riding alongside the lake front one Saturday. There used to be a small light aircraft airport right next to lake called "Meigs Field". It was where you would start in Microsoft's Flight Simulator... Mayor Daley had been campaigning actively to have it shut down for years. Finally, after the September 11 attacks he won the battle (presumably because having an airport, even a light-aircraft, so close to the city would make it easier for someone to get away with crashing a Learjet into the Sears tower or something like that). Now it has been turned into some relatively dull parkland - the one thing that Chicago actually has in abundance right next to the lake

So anyway,  I rode my bike through what used to be Meig's field and was interviewed by some ABC news journalists who were running a story about all of this. I told them I didn't like what had happened. You used to be able to ride or rollerblade to the Chicago Planetarium and watch the planes land right over your head. Noise pollution wasn't a problem - it was only a small airport and nobody actually lived that close to it. Anyway, here is a shot from Meig's field - I was trying to be creative and have the wild flowers they have planted there make a dramatic statement and stuff like that... clearly it didn't really work:

Here are the other pictures I took:

Well, I suppose at some point I should take some pictures of London and where I live currently, just for balance. Watch this space. Until then,

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