Although I consider myself a native Chicagoan, it’s been a good few years since I visited the city. So today was my first chance to go to Millennium Park, mayor Daley’s intended legacy to the city.

The Frank Gehry-designed Pritzker Pavilion is thrilling and I (unlike my sister) thought Anish Kapoor’s Cloudscape enjoyably reflected and distorted both the many visitors around it and Chicago’s non pareil skyline. But the best part of the park, I thought, was the Crown Fountain, designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa.

Two large towers show people’s faces, with expressions that change slowly: eyes closed, then mouth open, then lips puckered. But the delightful part is that at an unexpected moment, a huge jet of water shoots out of the mouth. In the hot, sticky weather of a Chicago summer (like today), children jostle for position to be under the cooling torrent. When the mouth jet finishes, the children hurry to stand right next to the tower because a waterfall erupts from the top.

Apparently, the people who planned the park have been startled by the popularity of the fountain. Anyone with kids could have told them that it was a guaranteed hit. I know that if my boys come to Chicago in the summer, they will happily play for a few hours in the Crown Fountain.