Chicago Tourist

Due to the new family member in our household, we went on a little tourist binge in Chicago yesterday. Can I just say that Mag Mile on a Sunday is not somewhere I'd normally want to be? The crowds, the tourists, the FANNY PACKS. Uck.

Anyway, despite the slow walkers, it was a present day to be had downtown.  We went up the Hancock Observatory and enjoyed the view of Chicago and four other states! We attempted the audio tour but we got a little too distracted by the view. The voice for the audio tour was ROSS FROM FRIENDS! So that made it a bit more exciting...that and you know, learning a bit more about the city I've lived in for four and a half years.

Some fun facts about the Windy City:

• At 23.5 miles, Chicago's Western Avenue is the world's longest street. It also has more car dealerships than any other street in the city -- 62 total.

• Harold Washington Library (The Chicago Public Library) is the world's largest public library with a collection of more than 2 million books.

• The World's largest cookie and cracker factory as well as the world's largest ice cream cone factory are located in Chicago. Nabisco (cookie and cracker factory) is located at 7300 S. Kedzie Avenue on Chicago's south side and Keebler (ice cream cone factory) is also located on Chicago's south side at 10839 S. Langley Avenue.

•  Chicago River is the only river in the world that flows backwards.

•  The food-loving Chicagoans make for America’s “fattest” city - 2006

•  Roller skates rolled onto the scene in 1884 in Chicago. 

•  The Twinkie was invented in Chicago in 1930. 

I've reported murders, scandals, marriages, premieres and national political conventions. I've been amused, intrigued, outraged, enthralled and exasperated by Chicago. And I've come to love this American giant, viewing it as the most misunderstood, most underrated city in the world. There is none other quite like my City of Big Shoulders.

Irv Kupcinet, who began Kup's Column in 1941