Chicago – the Windy City
After a short flight with American Airlines from Seattle we landed in the Windy City aka Chicago home of the Deep Pan pizza, ER, Jerry and Oprah studios and the city that invented the skyscraper. And a lot of other things that i cant seem to remember at the moment. It took a while to get out of the airport – Chicago O’Hare is one crazy huge airport – think Heathrow but less oragnised and more walking – it took me 10 mins to get to the baggage claim area and another 15 mins to get outside to the airport express stop for downtown. I decided that as i wasnt sure about travelling on the ‘El’ (the train) in the evening i would get the shuttle which took an hour and a half in crazy busy rush hour traffic. Eventually got to the hostel which is huge and checked in and found my room.
As my poor stomach was realising that it hadnt eaten since early this morning i wandered out of the hostel and guessed my way to the nearest place for food – not too bad picked the road that lead me to the exchequer bar and restaurant which was less than a 10 minute walk. Ordered the deep dish pizza in smallest size which was like a huge pie – man i ate two slices before giving up – well at least i know dinner in sorted for next two nights now!!
On saturday i woke up to heavy snow and the ground was covered by few inches. I decided to brave the weather, bundled up in as many layers as possible and wandered up State Street past Macys and their infamous christmas window displays and down Washington Street to the German market and walked around checking out the stalls which were arts and crafts from not only Germany but also Peru and Poland bizarrley. The rest of the day was spent warming back up in the hostel. A fun filled day i know but it was silly to be out in all that snow!
Sunday dawned bright and clear – the snow was on the ground but they are so efficient here in Chicago that the roads and most of the sidewalks had been cleared. This would not be the same in England – the traffic cops were out in force helong out the traffic and clearing the roads i was impressed but i guess they are well used to it by now. I caught a bus from State Street to the museum of Science and Industry which was out of the downtown area. The museum has an exhibition at the moment for christmas around the world with over 80 trees decorated by ethnice communities here in Chicago representing how the holidays are celebrated in a variety of countries.
Wandering around i stopped to check out a huge model railway depicting the journey from Seattle to Chicago which was kind of cool and also a Fairy Tale castle exhibit. The museum is definately geared towards kids and families and i was impressed with the amount of interactive stuff they had that kids could take part in and learn. One of the coolest parts of the museum was Earth revealed. Among the topics explored through the sphere are Earth’s climate, weather, currents, and geophysics; land use patterns; the human impact on the planet; and Earth as a habitat for life. It was very informative and i think my favourite part of the museum along with the different xmas trees.
Having had my fill of a couple of hours in a museum i headed back onto a bus that would take me to the top of the Magnificent Mile – a mile of stores and shopping centres with everything from Niketown to Ralph Lauren to Saks 5th Ave. I skipped all this and headed to the Hancock Tower – 2nd tallest building after the Sears Tower. I decided to go up here and not the Sears Tower so that i could have a view of the Sears Tower as part of the skyline and plus it was cheaper. We whizzed up 94 floors in 40 secs – an ear popping speed. At the top i was greeted with an awesome view of Chicago and the lake and out past the suburbs. It was a fairly clear day so you could see for miles – i definately picked the right day to come. Its definately not for the faint hearted as you can lean on the glass windows and see the street below. I walked around the floor for a while taking pictures from all different angles. After about 45 mins i was bored and well you can only look at a view so many times right!!! I headed back down in the elevator a little nauseated at the thought of going down 94 floors and then i was back on ground level and dodging the falling ice hurtling from the buildings. I wandered back down the street and into the water tower plaza – one of the shopping malls on the street . It was full of shops that in no way could i afford to shop in so headed back to the hostel. My evening was spent reading and on the internet.
On monday i had a boring morning doing laundry and other mundane tasks and then in the evening i met up with a group of people from the hostel in order to go to the hockey game. We were going to watch the Chicago Blackhawks v Florida Panthers. According to our wonderful guide Metin, hockey was declining in popularity and a couple of years ago they had even moved to a smaller stadium because they werent filling the seats. So for a bargain price of $15 i got to watch one of the original teams that started in the NHL. It was actually a pretty boring game not the best i have seen and no major fights to liven it up. The Hawks were dominated and lost and i took the opportunity to chat to some of the guys. We left the game and headed back to State Street where a couple of us wanted to grab something to eat and have a beer so headed on the metro to a bar. The guys went their separate ways after and i caught the train back to the hostel and it wasnt as scary as i thought it would be. I arrived safe and sound back to the hostel to my sauna of a room – they insist on having the heating on full blast which you cant turn down and the windows dont open so we were sweltering. You would never have guessed we were in Chicago in winter thats for sure.
On tuesday it was blue skies again and i headed down to Michigan ave to the Art Institute and waited for half an hour for it to open. I spent the time chatting to a guy from Philly who was in Chicago on a layover. He was a Quaker and spent a lot of the time talking about politics and history and a little time talking about how much he liked England. Although every American i have met says the same – they always love the english. I wandered down to the Cultural Center and then up to Michigan Ave north and then walked back down State Street over the river and taking various photos.
My last day in chicago was spent over at Navy Pier a place full of amusements and bars and restuarants. Most were closed down but i can imagine this place in the summer time. At the end of the pier there are some great views of the skyline and the haze added to the mystique of it which was cool.
In the evening i packed up my stuff knowing that i had to leave mega early and was going out to the pub quiz tonight. We left at 6.30pm and again Metin was our guide and took us on to an Irish pub that seemed miles away. I sat with a couple of guys from Ireland, England and Australia and we did pretty well – well we had the luck of the Irish on our side and Andy was pulling out some great guesses. The first couple of rounds we did really well and then the questions became impossible to know – things that foreigners wouldnt know so we ended up doind really bad. But it was fun and after we headed to a couple more pubs and it ended up just being Andy, Graham and myself staggering back to the hostel at 3am and i have to get up at 6am. Nice. It was a cool way to spend my last evening and i have really enjoyed Chicago. Its a cool place and not as scary as i thought it would be.
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