When you go to the AT&T Plaza in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago you will see the public sculpture called Cloud Gate. This is commonly known as "The Bean" by local residents thanks to its shape and was created between 2004 and 2006 by a British artist born in India named Anish Kapoor. It is made of stainless steel plates that have been welded together and is something to see for anyone visiting from Arlington real estate or going for a walk downtown during their lunch break.

The design is said to be inspired by liquid mercury and you can see a distorted view of the Chicago skyline when you look into the surface from a few feet away. It weighs over one hundred tons and is 33 by 66 by 42 feet in size. There are no visible seams on the polished sculpture and it has become a popular place to take pictures for those visiting from Lindsay Ontario homes to as far away as China. You are able to walk around the structure as well as under the twelve-foot arch.

The Bean is the centerpiece of one of the best tourist areas that the city of Chicago has to offer - Grant Park. In the winter you can come and skate on the ice rink and those from CFB Kingston or elsewhere who are interested in art can visit the Boeing Galleries to the north and the south. You will also find the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, which is a band shell that has hosted such acts as the Decemberists and the Chicago Children's Choir. This is also the home of the Grant Park Orchestra and the Grant Park Music Festival.

When the Cloud Gate sculpture was first presented to the public it was incomplete. The project had run behind schedule and it was shown before it had been polished. It was planned that it would be covered again until it had been completed by public appreciation for the piece was so high that the plans changed. This was in July of 2004 and millions of people from Rosedale homes to local residents saw the structure before it was deemed finished by Kapoor in August of 2005. The officially unveiling was the next year in May of 2006.

The total cost of the project was about $11 million and all of these funds came from corporate and private donations. This shows how dedicated the residents of this city are to show off everything that we have to offer. The Chicago Jazz Philharmonic even played a piece by their bandleader Orbert Davis dedicated to the sculpture called "Fanfare for Cloud Gate". If you're a Richmond Hill dentist in the area for a convention or a family on summer vacation, you should definitely add this location to your itinerary.