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Published: October 2nd 2007
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Nabil
aka The Bug, the cutest kid in Chicago After 2 dull days driving through Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois, we came to the end of our USA travels, back where we started 6 weeks before in Chicago. We were tired, sweaty and very happy after driving 11,000 miles, seeing some incredible sights and getting a really good taste for life in this great country.
Approaching Chicago from the West, across seemingly endless plains, we became aware of a huge and stunning city rising majestically from the horizon. The massive Sears Tower (443m / 1454ft) is surrounded by equally beautiful, if smaller, buildings. The city has always prided itself on incredible architecture and even invented the steel framed skyscraper.
To the East, the city is bordered by the turqouis, placid waters of Lake Michigan. In summer, this lake and the long line of beaches that are within the city, are a haven for locals and tourists alike. In winter, the lake turns angry and frequently freezes in stunning shapes built by high winds and storms.
The feeling of order and structure to the city streets is due to the devastating fire of 1871 which prompted a complete rebuild of most of the city. The fire is supposed
to have been started by Mrs O'Leary's cow kicking over an oil lamp in a barn, with the resulting fire speeding through the city, consuming the wooden framed buildings and leaping over the river before dying out on the North side of the town.
Since it started life as a center for transport and trade, Chicago has grown quickly and is now an incredibly diverse city with the inhabitants speaking over 50 languages between them. This makes a visit here absolutely fascinating; there are old neighborhoods famous for their original settlers like the Irish and the Italians. As a result, throughout the city great cuisine is on offer. We had an excellent Cuban meal with MJ and Margaret, Brazilian steak with Stu and CK and the best pizza outside of Italy itself with Todd and Laurie.....
There is a darker side to Chicago too, this was the home to infamous gangsters like Al Capone during the 1920s who made their money running and selling illegal booze during the years of prohibition. Thankfully those days are gone and liqour is widely available in most parts of the city! To prove this, I had a huge night out with Munaur,
Mustaque, Sakid and a few of their friends, arriving home at 2.30am to proclaim my love to Wendy before heading downstairs for more whisky.... Romance is alive and well!
Since we both love Chicago, we decided to stay a week here before heading on to the next chapter in our adventure. We spent the week hanging out with friends, visiting new places and seeing some great sights. I lived in this fascinating city for 5 years so it was brilliant to be a tourist in one of my favourite cities.
We stayed most of our time with Mun, Maura and Nabil; Nabil is now 4 months old and getting much bigger every time we see him, he is an angel and we both loved playing the easy role of uncle and aunt.
Maura's mum and dad let us take over their fancy condominium on the 49th floor of an apartment block by the lake for a few days so we could be close to the downtown sights. It was the perfect base for us to do some running (Chicago has 18 miles of lakefront tracks open to the public for recreation) and visit the beaches. The small
Wendy downtown
With the Wrigley building behind beaches at the edge of the lake provide great areas to hang out and for a spot of hemp frisbee. Thanks to Frank and Celia for letting us stay!
Wendy's friends Stuart and CK (from Canberra but now living in Toronto) came down to Chicago for the weekend and we all had a fab time catching up and doing a few touristy things. We wandered about downtown taking it all in. A novel way to see the city is by Kayak on the Chicago river, so we spent an entertaining 3 hours splashing our way past all the incredible architecture.
The city of Chicago try hard to put on fun, and usually free, activities for the residents throughout the summer, so we found ourselves watching a 1940 movie with MJ and Margaret and friends at a huge outdoor movie theater in the park, a great night. The movie "The Awful Truth" was very funny and had the girls in stitches with it's old fashioned sexist view of relationships. MJ and I took careful notes.
We also took part in a free Pilates class in Milennium park one Saturday morning. I never realised how difficult this weird looking
exercise could be; it's all about strengthening your core apparently..... which would be fine if you have a core at the start to strengthen! Wendy didn't quite succeed in persuading me to do the 10am dance class - a man has to draw the line somewhere.
Finally, as it was the end of our road trip, we took Argie in for a well earned wash and scrub up. The guys at the car wash were horrified...
For our last night in Chicago we cooked a meal for Mun, Maura and Beth, finished off with Scottish Scones baked from an old family recipe (found on the internet....). After a sad farewell to our friends, to Argie and to the US of A we headed off towards Europe.....
Turtles on Tour A weird fact : Chicago is known as the Windy City not due to the weather, but because it is full of long winded politicians...
When we arrived, we stayed at Munaur and Maura's house. Maura was away on business and Munaur and Nabil were staying with family for the night. For the first time in weeks we had a whole house to ourselves! Unfortunately, as we
were getting comfortable in the luxury of their gorgeous home, Munaur came home to pick up something he had forgotten only to catch us wandering about the house in their bathrobes.... Lucky escape if you ask me ....
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