Chicago: Concerts and Hemingway

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Back on the road, the journey continues to Chicago. Skyscrapers instead of lakes, stores instead of fields, the city girl is back in the city... Following the Bible's architectural walking tour and enjoying some coffee in the park, the day goes by. As dinner time approaches I make my way to the hostel, expecting a noodles-with-whatever-is-in-the-free-food-shelf dinner. Yet, just as I put the water on the stove a lady comes up to me asking if I was here for the free dinner. Telling her that I wasn't she asks me if I wanted to get free dinner. Well, obviously you don't say no to that! Hence I find myself at a table with local kids who participate in a program (what exactely they do I am still not sure of). My "pay" is answering questions about Austria and opening up the cultural horizon of the Chicago kids.

The next day brings yet another walking tour, as the hostel offers them for free. Again I realize that I am not an architecture buff, yet the two hours are well spent seeing the, often surprisingly beautiful, insides of public and financial buildings. Deciding that I can sleep when I am dead, I start walking towards Navy Pier, a walk of about an hour (or so I thought). Unfortunately I underestimate the heat (I thought Chicago was the windy city?!) and only make it about 3/4 of the way. Happy about the flip-flops I bought (not yet knowing that they will cause me pain) I chill in the Millennium Park where concerts take place every day in the summer. The whole park is filled with people around blankets, on chairs, having picnics; in other words having a good time. The jazz is good, the atmosphere great, the sandwich tasty.

First thing on the agenda of the next morning is finding a rental car to drive down to Dallas. Yet, this dream dies pretty quickly when the lady tells me how much it will cost. Deciding that I don't want to spend 2000 Dollars, I look for the next car rental place which the guy from the hostel has pointed out to me on the map. Once more it turns out that not all maps are correct, instead of a car rental company I find an optician at the address... After going to the fountain that has been described to me as beautiful by the kids I decide to go on a spontaneous trip to Oaks Park, a suburb of Chicago and home to Hemingway's birthplace. Back in Chicago I head to the park once more to enjoy Beethoven's 9th in a lively and awesome atmosphere. The walk to the Greyhound station later that night is a little creepy as the area gets more deserted as I get farther from the center. Thanks to a nice lady in the subway I find my way there eventually and meet Stefan from Prague, who is going to study in Kansas City for a year and is going to take the bus to St. Louis as well.

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Photos

The Chicago prison
even the prison is of architectural interest...

the fountain
love and marriage, love and marriage,...