Chicago's Millennium Park with Flat Stanlina
Flat Stanlina was so surprised at all the people playing outside, even if it was so cold. My friend Jenny took Flat Stanlina and me to Millennium Park. When we arrived there was a man polishing the ice rink with a special machine called a Zamboni. The Zamboni machine smoothes flat the grooves that the blades on the skates make into the ice. Soon after the ice was polished, many kids and adults skated. Some people skated fast or even backwards. Other people skated slowly and did not have good balance. A few people fell down, but they got back up again. It was fun to watch them and listen to the music.
Flat Stanlina asked me what that giant shiny bean was. We walked up to see the sculpture called “Cloud Gate.” It was created by British artist Anish Kapoor, and the sculpture was installed at Millennium Park in July 2004. It has a reflective surface that shines like a giant fun house mirror. But Flat Stanlina was right, the sculpture does look like a giant Bean. (In fact, most people here have nicknamed the sculpture ‘the Bean’.)
The lights from the skyscrapers (very tall buildings) nearby looked cool in the reflection of the Bean. The world’s very first skyscraper, Home Insurance building, was built in Chicago in 1884. Chicago is famous for its many skyscrapers like the Willis (or Sears) Tower (see picture below from the summer), the John Hancock building and the Trump Tower. Many of the world's important architectural works (architecture is the art of designing buildings) are in Chicago.
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