• Home
  • About
    • Where has GhettoIFE gone?
    • For PR’s and Agencies (Changes and Corrections)
    • Privacy Policy
  • Snapshots
  • Trip Reports
  • Travel Plus…
    • … Technology
    • … Photography

Economy Class & Beyond

You are here: Home / Trips / ORD Fall 2024 / TRIP REPORT: An Unveiled Bean – There and Back Again

TRIP REPORT: An Unveiled Bean – There and Back Again

02/12/2024 by Kevincm

TRIP REPORT – An Unveiled Bean
There and Back Again

There and back again trip report header - Image, Economy Class and Beyond

It’s time to greet a Chicago Icon, one that I haven’t seen up and close for some time (thanks to construction work). It’s time to head to Cloud Gate… or The Bean.

In this adventure

  • Let’s have a Melancholy Introduction
  • To the 2:40 Coach and Heathrow Terminal 3
  • Lounging in Terminal 3 with Cathay Pacific and American Airlines
  • AA99 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare (Main Cabin)
  • Into the USA and The Holiday Inn/Staybridge Suites, Rosemont 
  • Airplane Art Extra from the Holiday Inn/Staybridge Suites, Rosemont
  • Hyatt Regency O’Hare
  • Airplane Art Extra from the Hyatt Regency O’Hare
  • An Unveiled Bean – Seeing Cloud Gate after works at the Plaza
  • Did I mention I hate suitcases? The Hunt for a Replacement
  • Exploring The Loop from Above with the Chicago L
  • Random Food Adventures in Chicago 
  • Off to O’Hare Terminal 3. Wait. T3? With the American Airlines Flagship Lounge
  • BA296 Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow (World Traveller)
  • Coffee and the Coach
  • One step forward

During the past two trips through Chicago, one of Chicago’s icons has been covered up – Cloud Gate- to a point, with construction work being done in Millennium Park to improve the experience and the area’s accessibility.

Well, it can’t have looked any worse than last time.

a close up of a fence

a group of people in a park with trees and buildings
One of the better views….

a large reflective object in a city
Cloud Gate in March this year, throw a fence gap. 

Cloud Gate (or The Bean) is a sculpture by British artist Anish Kapoor, which sits in Grainger Plaza at Millennium Park as one of the centrepieces of the place.

Since its dedication in 2006, then there has been additional work, with the City of Chicago initiating work last year for accessibility improvements, including ramps and new steps, replacing pavers, and waterproofing  – hence the last two trips Economy Class and Beyond have been to Chicago, Cloud Gate has been kept under wraps.

After being behind fencing for most of a year, the sculpture was reopened to the public on 23rd June  2024.

So, it’s time to take a look at the new plaza. The good news, there are ramps. The bad news – is there’s still a fair number of steps – least of all for those who want to climb up to Granger Plaza, without wanting to go around the sides to enter the park (and that’s if security lets).

a walkway with trees and a metal sphere in the background

a group of people walking on a sidewalk
Good luck getting up these stairs if you have accessibility issues. 

a group of people walking in a city
New ramps. Some steps though

a group of people walking down stairs in a city  a group of people standing around a large silver object with Millennium Park in the background

It’s still a fun object to practice photography with – the beauty of pictures and objects – is they don’t tend to move around – allowing you to practice framing, positioning, timing and so on, without too many obstacles.

You can’t account for people though sadly.  Ad that’s something you’ll have to account for when taking your photos (to be honest, it’s rare to find the plaza empty unless it’s late and freezes your body to the bone cold.

One of the places I enjoy shooting is upwards, under Cloud Gate. Again the mirrored surface and curves give some nice effects.

a close up of a metal object

If you want to try something different – throw some light on the matter. I used the on-camera flash in this Canon R50 just to add a little sparkle, with the flashlight bouncing around.

a reflection of people in a metal bowl
We’ll come back to this concept… in the night. 

And you won’t be the only person trying for different shots under The Bean – consider it a hall of mirrors. Depending on where you stand, you’ll get different parts of the park and the city reflected in it. You can spend a good hour finding an angle and reflecting on your life.

a group of people standing around a large reflective object   a group of people standing around a reflective object with Millennium Park in the background  a group of people standing around a large silver object in Millennium Park

One thing that has persisted for the past few visits is the addition of extra security checks – meaning you have to go through a checkpoint to enter the park.

A fact of life I supposed – they want to remove a few undesirables, as well as things like pepper spray.

Don’t ask.

Let’s do a bit of nighttime photography. If you’re the kind of traveller who thinks tripods are a “meh. Next time” thing (eg, me), there are places for cameras to rest for those who enjoy long-exposure photography.

a city street at night
About 3 seconds for this exposure. 

a street with trees and buildings at night
Trying to get a moving L train, as well as moving traffic can be an art on a Sunday night. 

Night is where this sculpture still shines, as it swallows light, and spits it back at you.

a group of people in Millennium Park

a group of people standing around a large reflective object in Millennium Park

I tend to shoot with a much more restricted shuttler length, as I want to preserve handhold ability over shakey pictures when it comes to processing. But I like the underexposed look.

a group of people standing on steps in front of a large reflective object a group of people standing on stairs near a reflective object

Going back under the navel of The Bean, I decided to add light – not just the highlights that were there – but coloured lights. Addressable RGB lighting has a lot to answer for, especially in some of the unicorn-vomit computer setups). But it really pops here with different lighting profiles.

a blue and orange light swirls

a purple light in the dark a blue and yellow light in the dark

And the thing is… it is still as popular as ever – be it in the afternoon or 7 pm.

 

a group of people standing around a large reflective object a group of people in a city at night

Overall

It’s wonderful to see people take a sculpture like this to heart – and make it part of the city and visitor attraction. Having one of your city icons boarded up for 9 months or so isn’t a good look – but if the improvements are worth it – which they seem to be, with the new accessibility bits installed… even if accessibility from South Michigan Avenue can be a little challenging.

It’s a shame they removed a lot of the older seating areas – which are now occupied by sometimes open/sometimes closed food huts if I were to see a downside.

But if there is better accessibility, I’m all for it.

Next:

Did I mention I hate suitcases? I might have done so a few times. Let’s go shopping for a new one…

To the off-rack shops!


Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond. Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, in-depth coverage, unique research, as well as the humour and madness I only know how to deliver.

Our Social Media pool has expanded. You can find us across most networks as @economybeyond on BlueSky, Threads  Mastodon and Instagram!

Also, remember that we are part of the BoardingArea community, bringing you the latest frequent flyer news from around the world.

Related

Filed Under: ORD Fall 2024, Trip, Trip Reports, Trips

  • Bluesky
  • Email
  • Instagram
  • Mastodon
  • RSS
  • Threads

Recent Posts

  • TRIP REPORT: AA90 Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow – Spring Transatlantic Adventures
  • Etihad Airways to launch a new service to Charlotte, NC
  • Delta Air Lines renames their seating products… bringing the joy of segmentation
  • Braathens Regional Airlines renews their maitenance agreement with ATR Aircraft
  • TRIP REPORT: Back to O’Hare and the American Airlines Flagship Lounge – Springtime Transatlantic Adventures

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive email updates daily and to hear what's going on with us!

Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2025 Economy Class & Beyond All Rights Reserved.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Economy Class & Beyond with appropriate and specific directions to the original content.