It has been many years since I was in Chicago and I looked forward to revisiting the Marshall Field Department store and a boat tour on Lake Michigan. But Marshall Field just had a name change to Macy's and is now part of the Federated Conglomerate. Chicago's shoreline was pointed out to me on the boat tour as being awash with the greenery of the 10-acre lakefront park that surrounds three of the city's main museums: the Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum of Natural History, all built on the southern section of Grant Park. Grant Park is also the home of the Art Institute of Chicago. Fran Bolson, President of the Greater Woodfield Convention and Visitors Bureau (representing Schaumburg), my knowledgeable guide made certain that I got to see Millennium Park during my visit to Chicago. I saw the modern sculpture "Cloud Gate" (known by the locals as 'The Bean') in the park and when I faced 'The Bean' and Lake Michigan, the image of the Chicago skyline came to my view. I did not get to see the Plensa Fountains spouting water from the faces of prominent Chicagoans (as if the faces are spitting) as this is a winter phenomenon when the outdoor restaurant is closed and a skating rink takes over in its place. It seems that this Mayor Richard M. Daley, the son of the much maligned Mayor Richard J. Daley decreed that no buildings could be built on the shoreline without a portion of dedicated to greenery. Actually the first steel-framed high-rise building was constructed in Chicago in 1885 and has been known for the skyscraper and are located in the downtown area, in the Loop and along the lakefront and Chicago River. The tallest buildings are the Sears Tower, which is also the tallest building in North America and the John Hancock Center.I always thought that Chicago's nickname "The Windy City" was derived from the cold winter gale winds. However, I learned that this nickname was given to the city because of the talkative Chicago politicians. It seems that the phrase was created by New York newspapers in the 1880s during a national debate over which city would host the 1893 World's Fair, making reference to the long-windedness of the city's supporters. But it has also been reported that the Cincinnati Enquirer used "Windy City" to describe Chicago political boosters in 1876 as a bunch of "windbags." Thus climate had nothing to do with a description that seemed to gain favor with Chicagoans who turned the obvious intended slur into a compliment of the city's new life and vitality following a quick recovery from the devastation of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The cause of this fire was also disputed and it seems that Mrs. O'Leary's cow was not the guilty party. "Wild Onion" and "Garlic" is the literal translation of the name Checagou (pronounced "She-ka-Gan) given to the area by the indigenous Potawatomi tribe of Native Americans. Over the years as European explorers and settlers came West, they adopted the name of the Chicago River spelled as "Chetago"or "Shikago". The name stuck, but the spelling changed to present day "Chicago".I attended the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs Exhibition at the Field Museum. It is nearly three decades ago that a traveling exhibition of Tutankhamun's treasures was shown at New York's Metropolitan Museum. I could hardly wait to get the special tickets for the showing. Then. Now there are no plans for the exhibit to come to New York. It started its current tour in Los Angeles and many Long Island snowbirds got to see it in Ft Lauderdale this past winter and can see it in Chicago now through January of 2007. There were long lines at the Field Museum with admission on the hour unless you had advance reservations which I was fortunate to have through the concierge desk at the Renaissance Schaumburg. Included with my ticket (total cost $43.)was the audio guide narrated by the noted Egyptian actor Omar Shariff. There was very little new that I can remember from my last visit to the tomb of King Tut at the Metropolitan . This is attributed to the fact that he started his reign when he was nine-years old and died in his nineteenth year. Glittering gold objects found in his tomb and in other tombs made for a very interesting display, but it was the study of the mummy and how they preserved King Tut's body organs was of particular interest to me, especially when I leaned that they removed the brain through the nasal cavity. They also concluded that the young king died of natural causes. My visit ended with some shopping at the well-stocked gift shop of books, pens and Egyptian beads and other sundries with nothing made in the ubiquitous China.Copyright by Marcia Abramson
