At least I think so. I haven't been to very many of the cities of the world, so my decision to name Chicago the greatest of them all is not very scientific. But Chicago can also be stubborn and opinionated, so at least let me make my case.
Consider this. It's September and I'm out of shape and reluctantly dragging ass through a 5k beside my equally reluctant boyfriend, telling myself that the faster I run, the faster I get this thing over with so I can eat a hot dog. And then we turn a corner, finding ourselves jogging slowly along the lakefront. And this isn't just any lakefront, it's Chicago's lakefront, just south of the Loop. At sunset. The colors reflected on the water, splashed onto glass windows, feel like the most beautiful, heart-stopping sight we've ever seen. Pink and blue and purple vibrate over the water, interrupted only by gently bobbing sailboats. The glow off the buildings is a soft sunflower yellow, and running isn't so bad anymore.
Consider this. It's September and I'm out of shape and reluctantly dragging ass through a 5k beside my equally reluctant boyfriend, telling myself that the faster I run, the faster I get this thing over with so I can eat a hot dog. And then we turn a corner, finding ourselves jogging slowly along the lakefront. And this isn't just any lakefront, it's Chicago's lakefront, just south of the Loop. At sunset. The colors reflected on the water, splashed onto glass windows, feel like the most beautiful, heart-stopping sight we've ever seen. Pink and blue and purple vibrate over the water, interrupted only by gently bobbing sailboats. The glow off the buildings is a soft sunflower yellow, and running isn't so bad anymore.
I can feel the crowd of runners feeling it with me--a collective hush and skipped heartbeat. I'm speaking through someone else's voice when I hear a fellow runner behind me say, reverently, "This is why Chicago is the greatest city in the world." The euphoria lasts long enough that I barely even care when the free hotdogs come with ketchup. I still feel it now.
Many of my friends from college left Chicago after graduation, scattering to New York, Boston, Washington D.C., and San Francisco. I wish I could brush them off with my big Chicago shoulders--"Your loss!"--but I do miss them. And when they visit and, I can re-experience the first impressions that made Chicago feel so big and grand and wonderful when I first moved here for college.
One evening not long after the 5k, I met a visiting friend at Ghirardelli for ice cream and then walked down Michigan Avenue for old time's sake. I remembered my fellow runner's comment on greatness as she expressed that nowhere else has a downtown quite like Chicago. Boston has quaint walkable neighborhoods and New York does tall and crowded very well--another kind of impressive--but nobody does magnificence like Chicago. It doesn't just have tall buildings--it towers, it imposes. And yet, walking along the sidewalk, even in a crowd, there is space for you here.
Now it's October, and I am going out of my way to step on as many crunchy leaves as I can. My new neighborhood, Ravenswood, with its abundance of tall old trees, is an excellent venue for leaf crunching. I baked delicious pumpkin bread in my apartment's full size oven, and last weekend Cam and I carved pumpkins to display in our window. And sometimes I look around--at kids running to the school near my apartment, at Burberry's plaid building and the Tribune Tower, at the wonders that are Gene's Sausage Shop and Cafe Selmarie in Lincoln Square, at the beautiful and delicious sushi at my new favorite, Fin Sushi Bar--sometimes I look around and I am so in love. And I never want to leave Chicago, because Chicago is the greatest city in the world.
One evening not long after the 5k, I met a visiting friend at Ghirardelli for ice cream and then walked down Michigan Avenue for old time's sake. I remembered my fellow runner's comment on greatness as she expressed that nowhere else has a downtown quite like Chicago. Boston has quaint walkable neighborhoods and New York does tall and crowded very well--another kind of impressive--but nobody does magnificence like Chicago. It doesn't just have tall buildings--it towers, it imposes. And yet, walking along the sidewalk, even in a crowd, there is space for you here.
Now it's October, and I am going out of my way to step on as many crunchy leaves as I can. My new neighborhood, Ravenswood, with its abundance of tall old trees, is an excellent venue for leaf crunching. I baked delicious pumpkin bread in my apartment's full size oven, and last weekend Cam and I carved pumpkins to display in our window. And sometimes I look around--at kids running to the school near my apartment, at Burberry's plaid building and the Tribune Tower, at the wonders that are Gene's Sausage Shop and Cafe Selmarie in Lincoln Square, at the beautiful and delicious sushi at my new favorite, Fin Sushi Bar--sometimes I look around and I am so in love. And I never want to leave Chicago, because Chicago is the greatest city in the world.
