Millennium Park

　　Chicago's Millennium Park is a highly acclaimed center for art, music, architecture and landscape design, and is often a top attraction for tourists. Cloud Gate, Crown Fountain, J. Pritzker Pavilion and BP Pedestrian Bridge are the four most representative buildings in Millennium Park.

　　1. Cloud Gate

　　This iconic sculpture was brought into reality by Indian-British artist Anish Kapoor. Officially named “Cloud Gate” the Bean has been molded in the shape of a drop of mercury right before it hits the ground. Its reflective stainless-steel surface makes up the backdrop for millions of tourists’ selfies each year. If you are trying to grab a photo by yourself in front of the Bean, you will have the most luck at sunrise.

　　2. The Crown Fountain

　　A truly ornate park would be remiss if it didn’t include a fountain, and Millennium Park homes an art installation unlike any other in the world: The Crown Fountain. The idea for this sculpture was to put up a fountain that would represent the people who this park was built for. The faces of over a thousand different Chicagoans flashes up on the two LED screens facing each other. If you can visit the park during the warmer months of the year, you might even be lucky enough to see these faces partake in a spitting contest, a local favorite for the population under ten.

　　3. J. Pritzker Pavilion

　　The J. Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park may be the last of the sculptures mentioned, but it is in fact the largest. This sculpture has more function than its counterparts as it is a concert venue. The legacy of Open, Free, and Clear resonates throughout the Great Lawn during the summer months when you can enjoy the free concert series put on by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. When the engineers were designing the pavilion’s sound system, they were sure to incorporate technology that would make sure that the sound quality was the same across the Great Lawn, so that no matter where you are standing, you can enjoy the concert equally.

　　4. BP Pedestrian Bridge

　　The BP Bridge (properly known as the BP Pedestrian Bridge) runs from the Millennium Park to Daley Bicentennial Plaza both within Grant Park, Chicago. The bridge was designed by Frank Gehry (the architect for the Guggenheim Museums) in deconstructivist style. The bridge is 935 feet (285 metres) long and snakes around, forming a sound barrier for traffic noise from Columbus Drive.