Tag Archives: skyscrappers

Chicago!

A quick update from Chicago –

I arrived in Chicago from SF on Friday, and what a drastic contrast in the weather! *collar up*.

This is my first time in Chicago, but knowing it’s a big metropolitan area I was expecting it to be somewhat similar to NYC – opportunities for beautiful skylines! Prior to my trip I did some research on viewpoints of the city, and stumbled across Virginia’s awesome blog on where to take the best skyline pictures of Chicago and it can’t be more helpful (check out her San Francisco post too!). Following her recommendation, I went to The Signature Lounge today after briefly seeing the butt-like giant bean Cloud Gate (it was actually quite fun to photograph, but it was too touristy to be fun – I’ll leave the rant to another post) in hope of taking some nice sunset photos/night shots.

I was extremely lucky given this is said to be the warmest day in Chicago for weeks (18 Celsius!) and the wind was mild to minimal. I got to the John Hancock Building a little bit later than I hoped, it was 4.30 which was when exactly the sun was setting. Having read Virginia’s blog I decided to go straight up to the bar/lounge on 96th instead of the observatory to avoid queues and waits. And guess what, I was just in time to catch one of the most amazing sunset views of Chicago, in the ladies lavatory! Apparently there’s no secret that this was a great viewpoint of the lounge, by the time I got there the toilet was quite crammed with people taking photos (and very few actually using the toilets). But I’ve managed to find a spot to snap a few photos quickly – the sun went down in just a few minutes, so I was quite satisfied with the decision to come up right here! The post-sunset view was also stunning, many people just ended up standing there and watching the sunset – one of the ladies even pointed out that they really should set up a bar in the toilet instead. :p

Can  you imagine this is a view from the loo?

Can you imagine this is a view from the loo?

After I was done with the signature lounge, I decided to to take a look at the observatory deck anyway – the bar got a bit too busy and this sunset was too good to miss. So I went back up to the 360 Chicago and got utterly stunned by the view from there. It was not very busy up there and I even managed to find a suitable box to rest my camera on for 10 second exposure shots 🙂 The only annoying bit is that sometimes you can still see the glare of the glass panel – I’ll have to find a way to photoshop them out. But generally, it was a very nice and relaxing time spent looking at the city of Chicago slowly lit up under the dramatic skies.

Post-sunset glow of Chicago city

Post-sunset glow of Chicago city