Seen from a distance, out along the Museum Point land-spit, next to the observatory and past the aquarium, the skyline of Chicago is recognizable for the Sears Tower, and, while not exactly easily seen here, the Hancock Tower. The density is nice; the canyons created by the buildings remind wacky New Yorkers of home, and, while you can't really see from here, the streets are just wide enough to let in some sunlight.
The name "Chicago" comes from shikaakwa or shikaku, depending on the scholar you research, and means in its aboriginal form either "swamp that stinks like wild onion or garlic" or, simply, "wild leek". The swampy area that houses the dense downtown area was covered in ramps back in the day, which in turn lent its name, or stench, to the area as the French traders started fur trading outposts along Lake Michigan, and wrote down what they heard the natives say.
Chicago, in terms of population, is third in the country in both strict city limits, around 2.84 million, and greater metropolitan areas, around 9.57 million. It's behind, in both cases, New York City and Los Angeles. Interestingly enough, Chicago is one of the three American cities with population over one million and population density over 10k per square mile; NYC and Philadelphia are the other two. To contrast with a city we visited last month, Oklahoma City, ranking 31st in the nation in the strict city limits population at slightly over 540k, while sporting a population density of just over 833 per square mile. This is the lowest in the top fifty, and is one of two that's under one-thousand people per square mile, the other being Dallas. Sacramento is above 4k per square mile. OKC is probably one of the largest cities-by-area in the country.
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