Looping The Loop: spring fever hits the Windy City before a busy summer

It’s been 40 minutes now.

Forty minutes of looping around The Loop trying to find the entrance to the Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park in order to check in — after a nine-hour drive at that. Nerves became a little frayed under such conditions and The Loop, the fitting nickname for Downtown Chicago, is trying patience, worse than I90’s lengthy tests.

The GPS keeps returning the car to this dark underground roadway, from which we keep emerging. Round and round, again and again — the car has already driven along delightful Lake Shore Drive so many times it knows it’s own way there.

On this fifth loop around, the picturesque stretch has lost its charm. Then, as despair and exhaustion reach breaking point, instead of adding the hotel name, an address is tapped in instead — and bingo. Not a minute too soon we are finally pulling into the semicircular drive, welcomed by a very understanding valet. Live and learn — AI trains us, not just the other way round.

And so, deep breath, the poor automobile is off for a deserved rest. The human needs something similar, too — and that is soon happening. A beer and a bite in the hotel’s Columbus Tap — a sports bar type place with a surprisingly tasty Beyond burger, and lots of local beers to choose from — caps a long travel day nicely.

A busy city

This towering, multilayered, madcap city sat by the once mighty, much abused Lake Michigan, which stretches into the distance, creating a veritable third coast, awakens from its bitter winter’s lull with a fabled St. Patrick’s Day parade in March. But this coming summer sees Chicago in the spotlight as host the 2024 Democratic National Convention in August. Oh, and the NASCAR street race will rev through the city again that month; while the annual Lollapalooza takes over Grant Park for a weekend of music too. It is followed by Riot Fest in early September — yet another music jamboree.

The Loop reverberating to the sounds of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, one of Lollapalooza’s headliners last summer, was a sharp contrast to a springtime wander through soothing Grant Park. Late spring sunshine in full glow, a different sound of music emanated from the stage at the eye catching Frank Gehry designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, which is home to the annual 10-week classical Grant Park Music Festival, featuring the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Grant Park Chorus, along with guest performers and conductors. This was a lunchtime orchestral rehearsal and anyone was free to sit and listen; what a treat. The Grant Park Music Festival runs mid-June through mid-August, usually; and concerts are free, too (201 E. Randolph St. grantparkmusicfestival.com).

This early spring sees Expo Chicago, the International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art, now part of the London-based Frieze, at the Navy Pier’s Festival Hall, Apr. 12-14 (expochicago.com).  Set by the lake, the Navy Pier includes a fun fair and other traditional attractions, as well as theaters. Some might call it a tourist trap. Before setting off the Navy Pier, still undecided, a chat with a woman and her young son exploring the beautiful Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago on Michigan Avenue was the decider. The woman said they live in the condos overlooking the lake near to the Navy Pier: Mom: “Only tourists go there.” Son, countering mom’s put-down with a more considered approach: “But it’s a lot of fun to visit sometimes.”

Quite the opposite to the pier’s colorful fun, one of the most beautiful places in Chicago is Millennium Park’s wildflower garden. There are no superlatives to describe the respite this place offers to all beings: spring buds and brave early blooms lead to summer’s untamed beauty of plant-life left to be, and become a place buzzing with red admirals, peacocks, and monarch butterflies fluttering amongst bee and fly laden flowers.

But, it is likely Millennium Park’s shiny sculpture The Bean that is a bigger draw — it’s a selfie heaven for the camera clique, this beautiful artwork, reflecting and refracting, and oddly calming in that.

Skyscrapers and wildflowers 

Chicago is better known for its skyscrapers than its wildflowers — this is where up-up-upward mobility in building was birthed. Every city has a high tower experience now, but, among the oldest, the Skywalk at the Willis Tower just turned 50 and is still a landmark. Formerly known as the Sears Tower, this was once the tallest building in the world, but tallest kept getting taller and now it’s simply historic — and tall. Step out onto its new glass floor, if you dare.

Chicago recently added another supertall: The St. Regis Chicago, a sleek, spindly 101-story skyscraper, designed by award-winning architect Jeanne Gang. This is now the third tallest building in Chicago, the 10th tallest in the United States, and the tallest building in the world designed by a woman.

Back deeper in The Loop, the Langham Chicago is set in a 52-story landmark tower, built in 1971 as IBM's regional headquarters, and the last project designed by renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the father of Chicago’s modernist skyline.  Or is that post-modernist? With a touch of brutalism?

Around the city

One of the most interesting ways to find out which it is, and about The Loop’s mass of buildings is to take the First Lady Architecture River Cruise Tour, which not only navigates the Chicago River — the only river in America that flows backwards, but, in partnership with the Chicago Architecture Center, the cruise guide gives the backstory to the structures that already pack The Loop, and what’s to come.  The dock is located on Chicago's Riverwalk at Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive. (112 E. Wacker Dr., cruisechicago.com).

A CityPASS ticket discounts several downtown big attractions, including the Art Institute of Chicago, where major works by Monet, and Matisse, and Picasso, and Pollock are joined by the lower level Thorne Miniature Rooms gallery featuring exquisite tiny living (111 S. Michigan Ave., artic.edu); and the Field Museum, named in honor of its first major benefactor, Marshall Field, the department-store magnate. Now one of the largest natural history museums in the world, one where visitors may meet Spinosaurus, the latest dinosaur in an amazing collection (1400 S. DuSable, fieldmuseum.org).

CityPASS also saves on admission to Skydeck Chicago and the city’s other vertigo testing observation deck, 360 Chicago at the top of the former John Hancock Center —  an unlovely black faced building built in 1965 — officially renamed 875 North Michigan Ave. in 2018. One thousand feet above the famed Magnificent Mile shopping stretch, TILT, a mechanized window, does exactly that, high above the street.

Skydeck Chicago includes an interesting history recalling how the city was defined by a devastating fire  — the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed most of the city, spurring the Great Rebuild that is the basis of this multilayered concrete and steel mass. There’s more on all that at the Chicago History Museum’s exhibition "City on Fire: Chicago 1871,} which runs until October 2024. It’s a family friendly, interactive, multimedia exhibit incorporating recorded stories from survivors of the fire (currently not discounted by CityPASS).

There is yet another defining layer to The Loop besides up, down, and the bit in-between. Sitting in Miss Ricky’s American Diner in the Virgin Hotel (yes, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Hotel), or standing in the glass walled lobby of theWitt hotel on State Street, a layer so definitive of downtown Chicago is in full view: With great regularity, the elevated train trundles by, just overhead, both a part of the past and of the future, while being of great use in the now.

Sweet dreams in the heart of The Loop

Fairmont Chicago — Millennium Park welcomes guests with its “inner circle” lobby bar, a great spot for a drink and some people watching; and the Columbus Tap, a casual eatery, but with good Fairmont culinary standards. Tucked in the basement,  Leaf Spa is a hidden gem, excellently staffed, and with a fun make your own scrub bar — guests may take their concoction home (from $215 per night, 203 N. Wabash Ave., fairmont.com).

Virgin Hotel, Chicago was the first property in the Virgin Hotels Collection brand. Opened in 2015, Miss Ricky’s American Diner has an Italian inspired dinner menu and all-American breakfast one — and train spotting! The clubby Cerise rooftop is the spot for drinks and far flung urban views. Rooms — a mix of mod dorm and airline inspired decor — are blessed with gorgeous Red Flower toiletries in the spacious showers (from $199 per night, 203 N. Wabash Ave., virginhotels.com/chicago).

St. Regis Hotel Chicago, from bottom to top, is a treat… or retreat. Opened in 2023, this luxury hotel standing so very tall where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan, includes the 11th floor Miru restaurant where, each evening, there’s the “Champagne Sabrage” ritual on the adjacent terrace. Located on the tenth floor, the St. Regis Spa has purposeful pampering. Rooms are pricey, but for all the right reasons (from $700 per night, 401 East Wacker Drive, marriott.com).

The Langham, Chicago retains the brand’s excellent Chuan Spa, where guests can indulge in signature Chinese medicine inspired wellness treatments, adjacent to  the pool and fitness center. Dine at Travelle on the hotel’s second floor; or relax in Pavilion, a gilded cage where “Afternoon Tea with Wedgwood,” the brand’s signature afternoon tea is served  (from $625 per night, 330 N. Wabash Ave., langhamhotels.com).

TheWit Chicago, a Hilton property in the Theater District, recently glammed up from the lobby to ROOF on theWit lounge, which has a glass retractable roof for those highly changeable seasons. The Spa @ theWit’s Flow massage uses expert hands to work travel worn muscles and joints with customizable modalities, and the State and Lake Chicago Tavern is a casual sports bar and restaurant (from $186 per night, 201 N. State St., hilton.com).

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: From skyscrapers to rock concerts, Chicago is a town with everything