Oct

Travel Tip: See Chicago in Close-Up

by Joyce McGreevy on October 14, 2019

Chicago at night features surprising little details of America’s best big city, prompting the travel tip “slow down and focus.” (Image © by Jennifer Kleiman)

Chicago’s sweeping views are mosaics of historical detail.
© Jennifer Kleiman

A Big City’s Surprising Little Details

Poet Carl Sandburg called Chicago “The City of the Big Shoulders.” America’s third biggest city is known for big sights—as a few little details will show:

First skyscrapers? Sorry, New York. They started right here in the 1880s, soaring from 10 to 110 stories in nine decades.
That body of water to the east? It’s massive Lake Michigan, more of an inland sea.
A “world-dazzling” wheel that rivaled the Eiffel Tower? George Ferris engineered it for the 1893 World’s Fair. We know it as the Ferris Wheel. Today’s version at Navy Pier is a Chicago icon.

Face it, Chicago knows BIG. (Crown Fountain Millennium Park)
© Joyce McGreevy

Best Big City

This month, for the third year in a row Conde Nast crowned Chicago “America’s Best Big City.” Typically, travelers are in a big, big hurry to see it all. From Millennium Park to Willis Tower to the Architectural Boat Tour, Chicago’s big attractions draw big crowds.

But too big a rush makes for one big blur. So as a former local, here’s my travel tip: Slow down and focus on Chicago’s surprising little details.

Consider the Loop, for example, the heart of Chicago’s downtown. Only 1.5 square miles, it’s a world of magnificent architecture, parks, and public art. Seen close-up, it’s a detail lover’s dream, a mosaic of urban history. Here’s a sampler of Chicago’s best reasons to dwell on details.

Holy Cow, It’s Past-Your-Eyes!

Among the most photographed sights in Chicago is a cow.

The bronze cow sculpture at the Chicago Cultural Center tops travel tip lists in Chicago, America’s third biggest city. (Image © by Neil Tobin)

You may take the bull by the horns, but there’s good reason to look this cow in the eyes.
© Neil Tobin

This big bronze bovine stands right outside the Chicago Cultural Center. You can’t miss it.

A family pose with the bronze cow sculpture at the Chicago Cultural Center, a popular attraction in the Conde Nast “Best Big City.” (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Visitors hoof it to see Chicago’s bronze cow.
© Joyce McGreevy

Ah, but there’s something most visitors do miss. Eager to get their photo and moo-ve on, they typically overlook two little details:

A surprising little detail, Chicago’s Water Tower, in the eye of the bronze cow sculpture at the Chicago Cultural Center evokes the travel tip “slow down and focus.” (Image © by Neil Tobin)

Etched in one eye is an image of the Chicago Water Tower.
© Neil Tobin

An etching of a Picasso artwork in the eye of a cow sculpture evokes the travel tip “slow down and focus” on surprising little details in Chicago, (Image © Neil Tobin)

In the other is an image of an untitled sculpture by Picasso.
© Neil Tobin

Oh, I see: The tiniest detail can be a rich repository of history.

Built in 1869, the Water Tower is one of the only buildings that survived the Chicago Fire of 1871. (The notion that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow started the fire, however, is bull.)

Chicago’s Water Tower is linked to a surprising little detail in a sculpture outside Chicago’s Cultural Center that in turn inspired the travel tip “slow down and focus.” (Public domain image Afries52 [CC BY 3.0]

Here’s how to house a humble standpipe, Chicago-style.
© Afries52 [CC BY 3.0]

As for the Picasso, some people had a cow when it arrived in 1967. Chicagoan Gwendolyn Brooks, the first black author to win the Pulitzer Prize, anticipated the mixed response in a poem she delivered at the unveiling:

Does man love Art? Man visits Art, but squirms.
Art hurts. Art urges voyages—
and it is easier to stay at home,
the nice beer ready. . . .

People looking at a painting at the Art Institute of Chicago exemplify the travel tip “slow down and focus.” (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

At the Art Institute of Chicago, visitors are a study in the art of focus.
© Joyce McGreevy

Reading Between the Lions

Housing 300,000 of the world’s greatest artworks, the Art Institute of Chicago is clearly a place to slow down and focus. Those who do will notice fascinating little details even before they step inside.

For instance, two lions have guarded the entrance since 1894. Visitors choosing a lion to photograph often comment that they’re identical.

Only they’re not.

Sculptor Edward Kemeys loved animals and was famous for sketching them in the wild. Would such an artist turn lions into copycats?

One lion growls and prowls. The other, Kemeys noted, “stands in an attitude of defiance.”
© Joyce McGreevy

Ever Wonder “Y”?

Like animals in camouflage, some intriguing Chicago details hide in plain sight. Curiously, the most prolific detail may be the least noted—though many visitors unknowingly photograph it.

The Chicago Theater sign features a surprising little detail, prompting the travel tip “slow down and focus” in America’s Best Big City. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

“Hidden” in this popular landmark is another Chicago icon.
© Joyce McGreevy

Can you see it?

Zoom in.

It’s the Y shape behind CHICAGO.

Why the Y? It represents the three branches of the Chicago River, which splits north and south at Wolf Point.

Once you notice this symbol of civic pride, you start seeing it everywhere—on buildings, bridges, and even staircases:

The Chicago Cultural Center interior features surprising little details, prompting the travel tip “slow down and focus” in this Conde Nast Best Big City. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Spot the Y symbol in mosaic above the Y-shaped staircase in Chicago’s Cultural Center.
© Joyce McGreevy

Eyes Up

It’s funny how pixels on a few square inches of phone screen can commandeer our attention. Meanwhile, 1.6 million of Chicago’s most spectacular details often go unnoticed—even by locals, reportedly.

What—where?

Start at the former Marshall Field & Company, now part of a national retail chain. Built in 1873, it was once the world’s biggest department store. Today, its five elegant stories still dominate State Street.

Enter at street level and walk through a warren of cosmetic counters until you reach the center.

Now look up.

The mosaic ceiling by Louis Comfort Tiffany at the former Marshall Field, Chicago (now Macy’s) inspires the travel tip “slow down and focus” in America’s Best Big City. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Feast your eyes on the largest ceiling ever built with favrile glass.
© Joyce McGreevy

Little details of a mosaic by Louis Comfort Tiffany at the former Marshall Field, Chicago (now Macy’s) dazzles visitors who heed the travel tip “slow down and focus”. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

The iridescent glass was created by Louis Comfort Tiffany, who patented the process.
© Joyce McGreevy

Tiffany’s mosaics enchanted early 20th-century Chicago. Today you can follow the “Tiffany Trail” to 14 venues.

An Urban Mosaic

“In the Big City, large and sudden things happen,” wrote that master of surprise, O. Henry. True, but seen close-up, a big city’s little details can suddenly enlarge your sense of place.

That’s why my travel tip for Chicago is slow down and focus. Some of the city’s biggest surprises are found in the smallest details.

Shadows cast by ornamental ironwork links small details to the history of America’s third biggest city at the Chicago Cultural Center. (Image © by Neil Tobin)

Details of Chicago’s Cultural Center evoke the landmark’s rich history.
© Neil Tobin

Thanks to Jennifer Kleiman and Neil Tobin for their stunning images of Chicago.

Comment on the post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy Comments

On Foot/The World's Art & Design/USA

Oct

Is Paris Disappearing?

by Meredith Mullins on October 7, 2019

Let’s not lose the magic of Paris life.
© Meredith Mullins

Change Comes to Four Cultural Icons

“Panta Rhei” wrote the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. “Life is flux.”

This prescient philosophy, from more than 2000 years ago, is more commonly known as “Change is the only constant.” A truth in 500 BCE and a truth today.

In a city like Paris, the process of change can affect the visible cityscape, as well as its cultural icons. We are the witnesses as we go about our daily rhythms of sitting in our beloved cafés, taking the bus, getting the news, and, yes, finding a restroom.

In quotidian life, we face the modern renditions of places that were once part of the cultural heritage of Paris—transitions from the past to the future.

Layers of history
© Meredith Mullins

I feel nostalgia for bygone eras, even as I continue to walk on cobblestone streets and admire the buildings and bridges of past centuries.

And that makes me ask, “Is Paris disappearing?”—a question worth contemplating as I sit for a while in a sidewalk café.

Paris Cafés: A tribute to a slower pace of life
© Meredith Mullins

Leisurely Café Sitting or Fast Food?

Paris is not Paris without its iconic cafés. Parisians and visitors will never give up sitting on the rattan chairs, sipping an espresso or verre de vin, and watching the passing parade or talking with friends. Café sitting is the ultimate way to embrace a slower pace of life.

McDonald’s takes over a 19th century Haussmann building.
© Meredith Mullins

However, it is easy to notice that fast food has taken hold in the City of Light. From McDonald’s to Subway to Chipotle to Bagelstein to Burger King to Starbucks, a different kind of cuisine and culture is gaining popularity. It seems that some folks cannot get enough of America’s fast-paced habits.

The McCafé is not quite the same as the classic sidewalk gems.

Thank goodness, President Macron has recently allocated funds to keep the traditional cafés alive. It would be sad to see these testaments to the spirit of community disappear.

Is a Starbuck’s coffee really as good as an espresso at a sidewalk café?
© Meredith Mullins

A Bus Stop is a Bus Stop is a Bus Stop . . . Not

The Paris bus stops are a welcome sight, some so conveniently close to each other that you can see the next one from the one you’re standing in.

But, as with many things, modernization came to the Paris bus stops. In 2015, the shelters were converted to a futuristic design, complete with streamlined roof (some with solar panels and some with planted greenery), charger stations, and a goal of energy efficiency.

Sleek new bus stop design
© Meredith Mullins

In addition, the city added exterior signposts that indicate the buses that serve the stop and show how many minutes until the next bus. You know from a distance whether you have to pick up the pace or be prepared for some Godot-like waiting. The signs are illuminated at night, which makes them easy to see.

Form did not exactly follow function, however, as the new roof design does not protect bus patrons from the elements. You can get rained on, snowed on, or gusted by wind.

The new bus stop design provides little protection against wind-blown elements.
© Meredith Mullins

The old bus stops were a homey little cocoon with three sides—such an inviting shelter that many a vagabond called them “home.”

The city promotes the new “open” design, however, as more accessible for people with prams and for people with disabilities.

There’s more to come. The “Bus Stop of the Future” is in development. As new “community spaces,” these shelters will offer bus ticket sales, coffee, music, book borrowing, information on the neighborhood, bike rentals, and more. The RATP (Paris Transportation Administration) will begin to introduce these structures soon.

The legendary news kiosks, brimming with print material and souvenirs of Paris
© Meredith Mullins

All the News that Fits

The newspaper kiosks of Paris are legendary. The dark green color and the carved metallic dome with a delicate spire make us sure we are in Paris (or, at least, watching a Paris film). Newspapers, magazines, and postcards burst forth from the tiny doors and spill onto the street.

Where else but here would you buy your Le Monde for the day’s news or your L’Officiel des Spectacles for all the events in Paris for the week.

Now, one by one, these traditional kiosks are being replaced by structures made of recycled glass and aluminum. The green color is similar to the legendary green, but the domes are a thing of the past, leading critics to call the new design a soulless “sardine can.”

The change is primarily to improve the working conditions of the news vendors and to allow more walk-in space for the patrons.

It’s a new world.
© Meredith Mullins

The structure can be heated. The enclosed space protects the vendor (and the merchandise) from the elements. It’s more like a shop, with shelves, so vendors don’t have to unpack their magazines and papers every day and repack them at night when they leave.

Many of the kiosks will have refrigerators so they can sell cold drinks, and some will have bathrooms for the vendors.

What will happen to the old kiosks? You can buy one if you want to own a little bit of Paris. Contact edouard.rayer@mediakiosk.fr for details.

Kiosk for sale?
© Meredith Mullins

It’s also nice to know that a few of the old-style kiosks will remain in place—preserved for history (and for filmmakers and tourists seeking selfies).

The Last Pissotière

Paris is famous for its elegance and style, but it must also be noted for the practical transition that has taken place in the development of public restrooms.

For many years, the public pissotières were a staple on the streets and boulevards, from three-stall rotundas to monolithic solo spaces. All were deftly designed to ensure the privacy of key body parts.

They were as much a part of the Paris landscape as the cafés and news kiosks. (Women, of course, were more discreet, using the toilettes in cafés.)

Now, the pissotières have been replaced by stainless steel ovals, with a forceful gush of water to clean them after each use. They are omnipresent (and free) . . . and a bit frightening if you have a fear of being flushed into oblivion.

The modern Paris public restrooms
© Meredith Mullins

The last pissotière on the rue Arago is the lone survivor, a functioning, gurgling reminder of a bygone era.

The last surviving pissotière, fondly called a “battered rattle-trap” by writer Henry Miller
© Meredith Mullins

The Future of Change

More Paris changes are coming, especially as the city prepares for the 2024 Olympics. But, as some of the critics of past and present cultural changes have voiced: The city needs progress but also needs “guardians of the spirit of Paris of days past.” A disappearing Paris, erasing history and customs, is not the goal.

Long live the spirit of Paris.
© Meredith Mullins

My “Oh, I See” moment: Let’s move forward, but let’s treasure the past and those cultural icons that are rooted deeply in heritage and customs.

Vive les cafés, les kiosks, les arrêts d’autobus, et la dernière pissotière.

Thank you to MessyNessyChic for information about how to buy a news kiosk.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 8 Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Cultural Symbols/France (Paris)

Sep

Growing Up “TWA”

by Joyce McGreevy on September 30, 2019

A vintage TWA poster about aviation heritage evokes travel inspiration. (Image in the public domain)

Originating as a mail carrier, Trans World Airlines became a global passenger service.
(public domain)

When Travel Inspiration Took Flight

There once was a boy named Wally and an airline called TWA. The boy and the airline are gone now. But just as a jet leaves behind a contrail, a bright cloud-path that draws your gaze across the sky, the boy and the airline left a legacy.

Oh, I see: This is about a different kind of travel inspiration. The way our journeys influence the journeys of others, helping them navigate their way.

Overcoming Strong Headwinds

One day the boy looked skyward and imagined what it would be like to fly. He dreamed of becoming a pilot, seeing the world, learning other languages.

This was during the Great Depression. Nobody he knew in Ohio was doing such things, and even his teacher doubted the value of learning other languages.

But the boy held fast to his dreams.

A young man at a piano will one day become a TWA pilot and a source of travel inspiration to his children. (Image © McGreevy archives)

By 19, Wally was a B-24 captain in World War II. The B-24 had a tendency to blow up and it happened to him over the Pacific. Treading shark-infested water all night, the young man held fast to dreams.

He survived and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Kindred Navigators

Meanwhile in Arizona, a young woman held fast to dreams. Growing up, she traveled the world—through the pages of books.

After the war, these kindred spirits met. Two weeks later, they married. Wally became a pilot for TWA. Forty years later, Helen and Wally had traveled the world and navigated life’s challenges together.

Among their fellow passengers were my siblings and me.

A Trans World Airlines pilot in the cockpit evokes travel inspiration. (Image © McGreevy archives)

This Is Your Captain Speaking

The stereotype about parents who are pilots is that they’re never home.

In reality, pilots’ hours were strictly limited so Dad was home a lot. And I don’t mean presiding from an armchair like the all-knowing, do-little dads on ’50s TV. Our dad was “all in.”

In postwar America, Dad also eschewed macho stereotypes at work. Unlike the godlike pilots of Hollywood movies—men who uttered lines like I run a tight ship!—Captain “Mac” McGreevy was proud to part of a crew.

Back then, we could tag along behind the scenes, meeting everyone who kept TWA planes in the air: mechanics, meteorologists, flight dispatchers, gate agents, baggage handlers, maintenance workers, flight attendants, and engineers.

Each worked with wide-awake focus so airline passengers could sleep peacefully at 30,000 feet.

The wallet I.D. card of a TWA pilot displays the qualities that made Trans World Airlines popular with passengers and beloved by TWA alumni and families. (Image © McGreevy archives)

A Storied Airline

Growing up as part of the TWA experience was special. This was a storied airline that achieved many firsts. First coast-to-coast scheduled flights, first transcontinental non-stops, first airline to have pilots file a flight plan, first to trade piston aircraft for smoother, quieter, roomier, all-weather jets. Even the first to offer fresh coffee and in-flight movies.

TWA was glamorous, too. Your chances of sitting beside a movie legend, even in Economy, were good.

A 1970 photo of Cary Grant, shown with the writer Joyce McGreevy at age 15 on a Trans World Airlines flight, evokes TWA’s golden age as a nexus of travel inspiration and glamour. (Image © McGreevy archives)

Hub, Sweet Hub

Every TWA hub was home.

Home, because whatever the airport call letters, wherever the country, Dad had flown there and made friends. Home, because the TWA Terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) felt like an extension of our house. Home, because everyone in TWA uniform was a role model, such was the bond we shared and the example they set.

Imagine having family in every city of the world.

Up, Up, and Away!

Each TWA terminal was also a portal to new worlds. The “flight path” of Dad’s TWA years literally broadened our horizons.

A 1960s photo of travelers, including the writer’s family, at Versailles evokes travel inspiration and memories of TWA’s golden age. (Image © McGreevy archives)

Just don’t call it free travel. I did that once.

“No,” Dad said gently, “Your mother and I earned it.” In an era when homemaking went largely unrecognized as work, it was a telling comment: In every endeavor, Dad saw himself as a partner or crew member, never solo.

That perspective traveled with him. Dad related to every culture he visited. He and Mom introduced us to new languages, foods, and friends, to multifaceted ways of looking at life.

Hard Landings

Dad passed away in 1996. The airline outlived him by only five years. The beautiful TWA Terminal at JFK became an abandoned shell. Each loss amplified our grief.

Oh, but the legacy.

Two generations have followed Dad’s flight path of inspiration—they included pilots, an aviation photographer, a flight attendant, a NASA engineer. Some have pursued international studies and travel writing. Many are connected by friendship or marriage to families around the world.

TWA Today

TWA lives in memory, too. On aviation websites and private Facebook groups, TWA alumni worldwide post about their years of service to “a wonderful airline, where every cabin was first class.” They share TWA stories, post vintage TWA commercials, discuss aircraft, and support a TWA Museum.

How many defunct companies do you know that still inspire such love?

A collection of Trans World Airlines memorabilia is a source of travel inspiration and happy memories for the daughter of a TWA pilot. (Image © Margie McGreevy)

Purpose of Visit: Celebration!

And the abandoned terminal at JFK? Saved from the wrecking ball, gloriously restored, and given new purpose.

Soon four McGreevy sisters will return home—to the new TWA Hotel at JFK. There we’ll raise a glass to our favorite TWA captain. Given the upcoming TWA Employee Reunion, we plan to share stories with TWA alumni and will then update readers on OIC Moments. Stay tuned.

Until then, “Thank you for flying,” TWA. Your travel inspiration takes flight within me still and helps me navigate my way.