VERY INTERESTING NUMBER 50: CHICAGO

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about

CHICAGO

Learn fun facts and stats about the Midwest’s biggest city — from record-breaking firsts and celebrated Chicago natives to interesting tidbits and fascinating city history.

• Chicago rests on 234 square miles of land.
• Chicago is the third largest city in the U.S. and is home to an estimated 2.7M residents.
• Chicago is comprised of 77 community areas.
• Chicago’s nicknames include: The Windy City, City of Big Shoulders, The Second City, The White City, and The City That Works.
• Chicago’s motto, urbs in horto or “city in a garden,” was adopted in the 1830s and alludes to the city’s impressive and historic park system.
• Chicago’s downtown area is known as “The Loop,” which refers to the area encircled by the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) elevated (‘L’) train tracks.
• The CTA operates the nation’s second largest public transportation system. On an average weekday, 1.6M rides are taken on the CTA.
• Chicago is known as the United State’s railroad capital, with more major railroads serving the city than any other place in America.
• Downtown Chicago’s underground pedestrian system, known as the Pedway, consists of tunnels and overhead bridges that cover roughly 5 miles and link more than 40 blocks in the Central Business District.
• A unique downtown Chicago feature is its multi-leveled streets, the most well-known of which is Wacker Drive. This double-deckered street comprises an upper-level riverfront boulevard and a lower-level roadway for commercial and through traffic.
• There are 135 hotels with 43,881 hotel rooms in the Central Business District

And as always have a chilled day from the viking.