Passing the Jackson subway stop one afternoon, I was stopped by an international couple, 20-somethings carrying enormous backpacks, apparently making a grand tour of the US. They said they were looking for the hostel, and after I gave them directions, they started to leave. The man paused though, looked at me directly, and said, "Thank you. You are very kind."
I had to wonder where they'd come from that my simple gesture meant that much. Chicago is not an international tourist mecca on the scale of London or New York, so it's a treat running into travelers from far flung places. Since this particular couple had just come up from a Blue Line stop, I figured they'd just arrived in the city from O'Hare, which meant that their first real glimpse of downtown was one of my favorite scenes: Dearborn Street, facing Van Buren.
The stretch of Dearborn street south of Jackson to Printer's Row is popular among architectural tours, as evidenced by the little tour groups weaving through the Monadnock Building (possibly the world's first skyscraper). Across the street, the Fisher Building, the Manhatten Building, and the Old Colony Building form a row of historic landmarks, and offer an impressive sight on a scale somehow more accommodating to humans than the massive buildings forming the modern, undulating skyline of today's Chicago.
I may do a 'blog tour' of Printer's Row sometime, but in the meantime I found this great introduction to that surprisingly charming neighborhood just south of the Loop.
