Top time in Chicago

GO CHICAG0:The best way to see this city is from the top of the nearest skyscraper – and there are plenty to choose from. After all they've been building them high in Chicago since 1885, writes ORNA MULCAHY.

AT A GUESS the anti-fur lobby doesn’t cut much ice in Chicago. It’s freezing here in spring, not much different to winter when temperatures plunge below zero and the wind blows down from Canada. Women swoosh up and down the Magnificent Mile of Michigan Avenue wearing furs that sweep down to their toes and wrap tight around their ears. Footgear is fur-lined and flat.

Pavements are dashed with salt so snow doesn’t linger underfoot, but it gets you in the face instead. Locals stand well back from the intersections until the little man goes green, protecting themselves from vicious cross winds. Businessmen stride along in fluffy earmuffs; out-of-towners wonder where they can get a pair.

The earmuffs look incongruous. This is a masculine kind of town, a wide-shouldered city, someone remarked – where men in big overcoats still wear hats and shoulder their way out of steak houses, sometimes with cigars clamped between their teeth. There’s a solidity to the folks of this town, home of the deep-dish pizza and of colossal steaks that overshoot their plates.

America’s third biggest city is the business centre of the American Mid-West, and it’s got political clout too. The new mayor, elected last month, is former White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel who takes over from Richard M Daley, who along with his father led Chicago for over four decades between them.

Okay, so Chicago didn’t get the Olympics it longed for, and a lot was riding on it, including Irishman’s Garrett Kelleher’s dream of building the 150-storey Spire skyscraper, more of which later. Still, the city has a huge tourist and conference trade that fills its big hotels all year round. Room rates are a lot less than New York and the shopping is better, so it’s no surprise to hear Irish chatter among the rails at Filene’s Basement and Macy’s. It takes longer to get to Chicago – flight time from Dublin is around seven-and-a-half hours and it’s an easy run in from the airport, either by train or by taxi (around $40).

Try to plan a visit when there isn’t a huge conference going on. Room rates fall away when you don’t have to compete with 3,000 dentists or rheumatologists from all over the world. January and February are good months if you can take the cold, with some excellent offers in well located hotels. And cold weather is best if you like to explore on foot. Chicago summers are notoriously hot and humid, although natives will tell you that it is the best time to visit, when cafe tables move out onto terraces and pavements and the city turns to the lake and to its parks.

Lake Michigan is a huge presence. The second biggest of North America’s five great lakes, to Irish eyes it looks just like the sea without much of a tide. Ireland would sink into it, a few times over, or so they say. It’s vast and eerie in winter; in summer the shore is packed with sunbathers and swimmers, yacths, boats and windsurfers.

To fully appreciate Chicago, visitors need only look up. Street level is fine – it’s an immaculate city of wide well-kept boulevards that in summer break out with tubs of colour- coordinated flowers and banners announcing the latest exhibitions at the Chicago Institute of Art or the Field Museum. Swathes of public space include the must-see Millennium Park with its Crown Fountain, two 15m glass towers projecting images of Chicago citizens onto a long reflective pool, and its Cloud Gate sculpture reflecting the city’s skyline.

The skyline is epic. Ever since the world’s first skyscraper was built in Chicago in 1885, the city has been building them high and beautiful. After the city was virtually razed to the ground by fire in 1871, it came to be a playground for millionaires and architects wanting to make their mark. Look up and you’ll see gilded cages atop spindly towers, flying buttresses, gargoyles, storey-high lettering advertising the original owners and purpose of some of the greatest early 20th century buildings in the world.

For the best view book a hotel room on a high floor. From my room on the 26th floor of the city’s latest skyscraper – the 92-storey Trump International Hotel Tower – I can see the Jewelers’ Building, a 1926 confection that once featured a car elevator that would take occupants as high as the 23rd floor, to protect them from being robbed en route. The coupole at the top was once a speakeasy for Al Capone. At ground level, there’s an Irish bar where you can get decent fish and chips, under the gaze of Lady Lavery who looks down from pictures of old pound notes on the wall.

Breakfast at Trump is in its Sixteen restaurant overlooking the grand clocktower of the Wrigley building, built by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr to headquarter his gum company in the 1920s and modelled loosely on the Giralda tower of Seville’s Cathedral combined with French Renaissance details.

Beyond it is the fabulous Tribune Building, the result of a competition the Chicago Tribune sponsored in 1922 for the most beautiful building. It’s a gothic fantasy with fragments of the world’s great monuments embedded in it – the Coliseum, Taj Mahal and the Berlin Wall.

Nearby, the twin corncobs of Bertrand Goldberg’s Marina City stand out on the Chicago River, and the question you have to ask is how scary does it feel to reverse into the parking spaces that appear to have the flimsiest barriers protecting the cars from dropping off the edge. It has apartments, shops, a theatre, the House of Blues jazz venue and an ice skating rink.

The Willis building, formerly the Sears tower, may not be the world’s tallest building anymore, but it’s still worth a visit to the Skydeck on the 103rd floor (the building has a total of 108 storeys). My own favourite is the John Hancock tower with its black banded façade, its giant Xs bracing the 100-storey building, protecting it from wind.

To find out more about these great buildings you can take one of the many tours offered by the Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) on foot, by bike and bus, or better still by river. The river tour starts just below the Trump Tower and meanders past some extraordinary buildings, including the original Marshall Fields emporium, once the largest building in the world, and an unlikely looking prison with its exercise yard on the roof. You’ll also be shown the site of the Spire skyscraper designed by Santiago Calatrava for Irish developer Garrett Kelleher, which is no more than a hole in the ground, doomed by the recession.

For a more offbeat experience you can explore Chicago’s gangster past, in the back of a blackvan that’ll take you to Capone’s haunts. Alternatively you can see the city through the eyes of a notorious serial killer, as featured in the best-selling book The Devil in the White City. Check out weird.chicago.com for details.

Or take a stroll down Motor Row, considered to be the largest, intact early “automobile row” in the US. At one time it was home to more than 100 different car-makers, including Buick and Cadillac, all being sold from extravagant marble- floored showrooms designed by the city’s top architects.

Some visitors will never get this far, the shopping is that good. Michigan Avenue is the Magnificent Mile, with all the big designer names and stores in a row. Head off down the side streets and the shopfronts become more interesting and quirky. Bloomingdales Home Store is in an old temple with an ornate ceiling and merchandise to match. The service here is immaculate and everything comes boxed and ready to travel.

Don’t be alarmed by the number of little girls strolling with their fur-clad moms, clutching big dolls in their arms. Chicago has the second largest outlet for the famous American Girl (the biggest is on New York’s 5th Avenue) – 4,830sq m of space selling the historical dolls and accessories, and outfits for both the dolls and the little girls. Weird but true.

* Chicago Architectural Foundation tours, caf.architecture.org.

* For detailed tourist information visit explorechicago.org

Chicago where to . . .

3 places to stay

Value: James Hotel, 55 East Ontario St, 00-1-312-337-1000. jameshotels.com. Well-located contemporary hotel just off Michigan Avenue with larger than average rooms, free Wi-Fi, friendly staff and a popular steak restaurant on the ground floor. Don’t fancy steak? Nip around the corner to Pizzeria Uno, and its sister Pizzeria Due for typical Chicago deep-dish pizza. Doubles start at around $140 ).

Mid-market: The Drake Hotel, 140 East Walton Place, 00-1-312-787-2200, thedrakehotel.com. Chicago’s grand old hotel overlooks Lake Michigan on one side and the chic end of Michigan Ave on the other. Lavish, busy lobby with steps leading up to a grand lounge where Chicago ladies take afternoon tea to the strains of the harp. Large high-ceilinged rooms and spacious bathrooms. Rooms from €149 .

Upmarket: Trump International Hotel Tower, 401 North Wabash Ave, 00-1-312-644-0900, trumpchicago.com. Chicago’s newest skyscraper sits on the Chicago River just steps away from Michigan Avenue and with amazing views on all sides. The hotel rooms are in the lower half of the tower, with apartments above. Rooms are extra large and high ceilinged, with luxury bathrooms. Suites have working kitchens for longer stays. Free Wi-Fi. One of the best places to have breakfast in the city is Sixteen restaurant on its 16th floor overlooking a cluster of stunning buildings. There’s a swimming pool and spa. Doubles from around $280 .

3 places to eat

Value: The Grill on the Alley, Westin Hotel, Michigan Avenue, 00-1-312-255-9009, thegrill.com. A bar to the front gives way to a series of dark-panelled rooms, the biggest of which has cosy booths. Stiff white napery and heavy cutlery lend a sense of occasion to a reasonably-priced meal that should include steaks and burgers, classic fish dishes such as sole on the bone, creamed spinach and good fries.

Mid-market: Merlo on Maple, 16 W Maple Street, off N Lincoln Avenue, 00-1-312-335-8200, merlochicago.com. Think that the best Italian food has to be in Italy? Maybe not. This townhouse restaurant serves delicious food based on Bolognese cuisine at reasonable prices. Think carpaccio, ossobuco, and taglioline dressed with black or white truffles. Staff are discreet and helpful when selecting food and wine. .

Upmarket: Gibsons Steak House, 1028 N Rush Street, 00-1-312-266-8999 gibsonssteakhouse.com. A bit of a tourist trap and an expensive one at that, but who could resist having a steak in the room where Barack Obama used to meet his pals over a 24-ouncer with superb crispy onions and fries. Throw in a dirty Martini or two and you’ll blend right in with the locals. The fiercely effficent waiting staff expect hefty tips, particularly in the bar where they’ll eyeball you if you leave a dollar or two instead of $10.

Shop spot

Michigan Avenue has all the big name boutiques and stores including Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Bloomingdales as well as Tiffanys and Ralph Lauren. Across the road, next to the John Hancock tower, is the Water Tower shopping centre which has Macy’s on the ground floor and Abercrombie, American Eagle and Hollister on the 6th floor with plenty in between. The American Girl doll shop is also on the ground floor.

Night spot

The John Hancock tower has a 96th floor cocktail bar that isn’t particularly wonderful for drinks or service, but the view is stunning. It stays open till after 1am at weekends and there’s a Sunday brunch till 2pm.

Get there

Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) operates daily flights from Dublin to Chicago.