Having a job which involves quite a bit of traveling, it’s inevitable that at some point you’ll find yourself away when you’d rather be at home. Case in point, on my 30th birthday (roughly at the time of the dinosaur extinction) it was Saturday of the weekend I spent in a client’s office on a 40-odd non-stop working marathon feverishly trying to meet a deadline, and at some point I thought “This is a pretty depressing way to ‘celebrate’ birthday”.
I mention that because it just so happened that my birthday came soon after arrival to US. In all honesty, it’s been a while since I considered birthday celebrations a big deal (and I suspect that higher the number will be, less importance it will have), but still, the thought of spending that day all alone, thousands of miles away from friends and family is hardly something one can look forward to.
By the way, shouldn’t birthday celebrations get merrier and wilder as the number of candles on the birthday cake increases (in a spirit of “I’m still here”), rather than other way around? Looking at it from a different perspective though, imagining elderly ladies and gents being hauled away by ambulance because the consumed alcohol clashed with their heart medications, perhaps it’s better that the things are the way they are.
So, having in mind that birthday as such is not a big deal anymore, I had no plans for some improvised celebration, not even a half-decent dinner. However, since my birthday would start, taking the time difference into account, some time around 6 PM Sunday, walking around and looking at the Chicago skyline I thought I might as well treat myself with a nice view of the city. After all, we are talking about US city here and, if there is something there is no shortage of in Chicago, it’s skyscrapers.
Few facts: Chicago boasts two of the tallest and 4 out of top 10 tallest buildings in US (New York has only 3 in top 10). Out of those two tallest ones, one is the Sears Tower (known nowadays as Willis Tower) while the other one is already mentioned Trump Tower which I passed by every day on my way to work. Weirdo that I am, for reasons unknown even to me, I chose John Hancock Center to satisfy my yearning for heights. That one is some 40 meters shorter than Empire State Building and whooping 100 meters shorter than Willis Tower. I have to say it was a mystery to me why I went for the JHC and being unable to think of a reasonable explanation I decided it must be because I made that decision spontaneously, without much thinking.
Having location sorted out, I thought it would be ideal to get there around 5:30 PM for two reasons. One, it was around sunset time which guaranteed pretty spectacular views and photos and two, as mentioned earlier, due to time difference, 6 PM in Chicago would be beginning of my birthday.
Cheapskate that I am, even for my birthday I decided not to go to the official observation deck but to a bar which is just one floor below and doesn’t cost 20 $ to get in.
Congratulating myself that not only did I think of some way to mark my birthday but will be able to save some money along the way too, I showed up there as planned enjoying the fact that dusk was just slowly setting in when … it turned out that I’m not the only cheap bastard in Chicago. On the contrary, in the corridor at the entrance to the bar (if one can call enormous place, probably occupying most of the entire floor, a bar) there was a long queue of people waiting to be seated.
There are very few things I hate more than queuing up but in this case it was even worse because sun was setting down and with each passing minute of waiting in that overheated corridor there was less and less light for good photos. Next 30-ish minutes I spent between “this is pointless, I might as well leave” and “I should have just a bit more patience”, sprinkled with unhealthy dose of nervousness. Even more frustrating was the fact that I was sure that, being alone, I could probably be seated pretty quickly, but it took forever to find place for all those groups and couples ahead of me.
Once it was finally my turn to be seated, as suspected, I was immediately taken to the seat at the bar which was OK, but there was one small problem – the view of the entire city of Chicago was behind my back. Less than two meters behind me was floor-to-ceiling glass wall with spectacular view of the city. Given I was already half-crazy because of all the waiting, being so close and not really be able to enjoy what I came here for was not an option so as soon as I got the ordered beer, I managed to find a seat by the wall.
And then, pure pleasure. True, due to the whole waiting thing good part of the sunset was already gone but since it was a beautiful, cloudless day, there were still traces of sunlight at the horizon so I managed to catch few minutes for frantic photographing. Sunset or not, the view was spectacular. Few years back Branka and I went to Empire State Building and it was nice but not as nice as this, simply because there I was, sitting at the edge having only half an inch of glass between me and the abyss.
When the sun finally completely set and I exhausted all the photographing angles, I was finally able to relax, wish myself a happy birthday and finish by then already warm beer.
By the way, looking into it later, it turns out that the John Hancock Center was built the same year I was born so my spontaneous decision to go there was more than spot on.
Coincidence? Probably.
Sixth sense? Who knows?
