Sears Tower - Chicago

One of the main attractions of this Windy City is Sears Tower. People across the World come here to see the sky rise building which is standing at 1,450 feet and 110 stories high. Sears Tower is the tallest building in North America and the third tallest building in the world situated in 233 S Wacker Dr. Chicago, IL 60606. contact: (312) 474-0090.

The Skydeck is the tourist tour of 103 floor of this tower. The view of the city is amazing from The Skydeck of Sears Tower. The sea shore of Lake Michigan and the high rise cityscape is something fabulous to watch. It is well maintained and all information is available in the viewing floor (103) walls. Before they take you to 103 floor, they show a short video on the history of this Tower. 1.3 million Tourists visit the Skydeck annually.

Though it a famous tourist attraction, the official website project it as a business location. This site tells that

Sears Tower, completed May 3, 1973, rises to a height of 1,450 feet and is one
of the most recognizable landmarks in the Chicago skyline and in the world.
Sears Tower held the record for the world’s tallest building for 25 years until
the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia were built in 1998.

Wikipedia tells the history as
In 1969, Sears, Roebuck & Co. was the largest retailer in the world, with about 350,000 employees,Sears executives decided to consolidate the thousands of employees in offices distributed throughout the Chicago area into one building on the western edge of Chicago's Loop. With immediate space demands of 3 million square feet (279,000 m²), and with predictions and plans for future growth necessitating even more space than that, architects for Skidmore knew that the building would be one of the largest office buildings in the world .

The view of the city in night is awesome. I love this happening city for its glamour which is truly reflected from Sears tower.

Comparative analysis of European cities – I have seen so far

This is my perception of the cities I have seen. The parameters of measuring these cities can vary and also can be rated in different way depending on the choice of the evaluator, opportunity of seeing all places and personal experiences he has. But to me this is the rating as of now. It never means that Malmo or Bergen is not my favorite place; I like all these cities, but wile measuring with big Cities they got less point. So there is nothing against nationality or people or place. For an example, if we consider the Natural Beauty, Norway is the best place to me I have seen so far. But the Cities are rated in different parameters and came down the list.

The Parameters I have considered here is Cultural Heritage, General Appearance, Place for Living, Touristy Attraction, People and Language. Paris and Athens are best in Cultural Heritage close to London, but as a mega city London is much better to me (personal conception). As a place for living I am much more comfortable with Copenhagen and London. But as a place Copenhagen came in 6th position, rather Stockholm is the best city in Scandinavia, so far I feel.

Click in the following Picture to see the detailed list.

City Country Rank Total point

London UK 1st 42
Paris France 2nd 37
Stockholm Sweden 3rd 35
Berlin Germany 4th 34
Athens Greece 5th 32
Amsterdam Netherlands 5th 32
Copenhagen Denmark 6th 30
Oslo Norway 7th 28
Arhus Denmark 8th 25
Birmingham UK 9th 21
Bergen Norway 9th 21
Munich Germany 9th 21
Malmo Sweden 10th 19

This is the comparative analysis of 13 cities of 8 countries I have been so far. I have not included some small cities of places like Skayen, Randers, Roskilde etc in Denmark, and Fusen, Potsdam in Germany, or Britan in UK or Aegina in Greece. This is the comparison between relatively bigger towns and cities.

Amsterdam and Berlin is also very interesting cities in terms of Touristy Attraction. I enjoyed these trips because of their different tests and culture. Some of the Museums in Amsterdam are wonderful like Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank Museum, Rembrandt House, and Rijksmuseum.
Berlin has its own significance for controversial historical place, especially from Second World War.

The best way to see a city is either take a canal cruse (if possible, like I took in Amsterdam, Stockholm, Copenhagen) or go as high as possible like in a telephone tower or top of sky rise building (In UK- London Eye, In Stockholm, Berlin – TV tower, In Copenhagen City Church). A conducted tour can also help to know the places better.