On the road again...

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Welcome baaaack to another Collova & Parker adventure!!!

We departed from Southfield Detroit around 9:00am Saturday morning and arrived in Chicago Illinois at 2:30pm having stopped only for lunch and gaaaaasoline (hehehe).

For lunch we stopped in a quiet little place (somewhere in Hicksville) called Kalamazoo. We don't even know where the hell that was but we estimate it was somewhere between Detroit and Chicago (hehe) and then it was back in the SUV, cruise control on and all Interstate Hwy.

After five hours of driving it was good to finally arrive at the Crowne Plaza where two humble little rooms awaited us.

Chicago dominates the state with its cloud-scraping skyline and world-class museums, restaurants, jazz clubs and let's not forget home of the Chicago Bulls!!! The traffic in Chicago is bumper to bumper and the outskirts of the city paint a picture of pollution. Overall its an amazing city.

First evening Nigel felt like Italian cuisine, so we asked the concierge (who by the way couldn't help us quick enough cos of the $20.00 tip we gave him earlier just for bringing our bags up to our rooms, cos that's what they get apparently...) if he knew any good Italian restaurants downtown and he suggested we try Vivo's the hottest joint in town...apparently.

So we did, and it was probably one of the best meals we've had in a while.

The most interesting part of the evening happened on the way to Vivo's as the cab pulled up at the traffic lights, Nigel and I were in the back talking as we saw a young hoodlum running out of a supermarket store after "forgetting" to pay for an item...Welcome to Chicago ey!

8:30am Sunday morning we drove to the nearest Kingdom Hall 2 miles from our hotel. Five congregations share these two kingdom halls (two levels) one of which is a small French congregation.

We just happend to walk into Lincoln Park congregation, and we were greeted by so many brothers and sisters. A visiting brother gave the talk and the congregations PO took the watchtower.
The meeting was so full of life, white teeth grinning everywhere...it was great!

We ventured downtown for lunch and some sight seeing. Millenium Park hosts some great art exhibits including a huge bean...that's right a great big bean (checkout the Millenium Park photo)

Next stop, the Tower...apparently the Sears tower (which we went up) was the world's tallest building untill the Malaysians decided to build the Petronas Towers which is now the tallest from ground to structural top, however the Sears still boasts the highest roof occupied floor. It has 103 floors and an elevator which will get you to the skydeck in 70 seconds flat (Maaaaaadre Miaaaaaa).

I must admit that I just can't seem to get the hang of all this tipping (flicking Benjamins left, right and centre) but its what is expected, so all I can suggest to those of you who've never visited the states and are planning to, is save up cos alot of money leaves your wallet with nothing to show for (once again Maaaaaadre Miaaaaaa).

That's all for now, but yooooouuuuuuullll cooooome baaaaack now yoooouuu heeere! (lol)

Next stop Milwaukee Wisconson.

Simone

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Comments

[tony]

tip please!!!!!!!!!!!
im sure you are a happy boy in the states giving tips, that cocodrilo!!!!! must be having migranes everyday by now he must be on morfine ,the pain of pulling $20 bucks must hurt maaaa al meno you take $20 and $1000us plus extras bengono ogni settimana nel cesttino o well almeno u having to work and have fun not like noi the amharest of this system ok simo look after yourself and dont smash like i did mr ventura mr ventura car ciao