“She is novelty; for she is never the Chicago you saw when you passed through the last time.” – Mark Twain

I traveled this week to Chicago for a work conference, and touched down just before the clouds opened with rain.

After a steamy start, Chicago turned into a beauty — cloudless skies and gleaming buildings and a gentle breeze coming in off the Lake.

I lived in Chicago one summer when I modeled for Elite. The events I attended this week took me by the places I used to frequent, including the agency, which was on Superior–the same place where Cindy Crawford got her start.

One event that I’ll never forget from the months I lived in Chicago happened while my parents came up to visit. They’d parked their car on the street near the building outside the models’ apartment. That Sunday afternoon, I looked out the window from the 5th floor, and saw someone working on the passenger door of the car. That person was breaking in to the car. By the time I reached the sidewalk downstairs, the man was in the car, driving, turning left.

That wasn’t the last time I saw the car, though. The police did find it, stripped down — a shell of what it had been, sitting cock-eyed along a residential alley in Garfield Park.

Chicago isn’t an easy city, but she can be beautiful.

I enjoyed being there this week, walking the trails I walked long ago, seeing the sights and hearing the sounds of a city still thriving alongside the Lake.

Have you been to and/or lived in Chicago? What is your favorite part?