Day 53: Chicago

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Today was a bit of a strange day. I woke up early (for me) to head to Lincoln Park Zoo. I got there around 10am to find that alot of exhibits were not available due to the cold. I guess it's fair enough, I'm sure Rhinos and Ostrich don't really like Chicago's weather. I can't complain though, the zoo is free, so you get what you get and that's it. It wasn't the greatest zoo to be honest, but I did get to see some Kangaroos that made me miss home a bit (which is strange because I never see them at home anyway). The monkey exhibit and the reptile enclosure were pretty good, and lunch (a chicken pesto panini) was good, but the rest was a bit "meh". I still managed to kill 4 hours here though, and it was free apart from lunch, so it was a half day well spent.

After the zoo I came back to the hostel just to chill out a bit, did a bit of washing and uploaded some photos to facebook. At 5.30pm I headed out to the John Hancock Observatory to see Chicago by night. It was spectacular. I think I liked it better than NYC, simply because of the contrasts. Out one window is the skyline, which is amazing. Out another window you can see the suburbs and the freeways that just go on forever, and out another windo, you just get the vast darkness of Lake Michigan. It really was nice. There is a nice Lavazza coffee shop at the observatory, and I wanted to get a coffee and just sit and take it in, but the register was down so I couldnt get one. I guess they have never heard of a blackout sheet for emergencies. Anyway I didnt spend too long up here because I had tickets to American Idiot at the Oriental Theatre. The show was based on Green Day music (I'm sure you could guess that though). It was totally different to the other musicals I've seen though. The storyline was really flimsy, and I felt it was just there to tie the songs together, which is OK since the songs from the "American Idiot" album were meant to tell a story anyway. The music was amazing though, and the way they arranged and sang the songs was really great. They finished the show by playing Good Riddance (Time of your Life) to the crowds delight. It was a really good way to end the show, and my time in Chicago.

Tomorrow I head to LA, the last stop on my amazing trip.

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