Monday, June 13, 2005
Day 18: Cleveland to Chicago
June 13: Very hot and humid once again... we drove along the East-West toll road to Chicago, while travelling through Ohio, Indiana and then into Illinois.
Seeing Chicago was brilliant! My initial thought was again, I'm finally here! It's strange - within an hour, I decided I loved the place and that it felt like home. The people, the streets, the culture, etc. Shame it gets so freezing cold here in winter (as bad as -40C).
We did a brief city tour of Chicago when we first arrived (by bus), and saw many tall buildings including the Water Tower (where Oprah Winfrey lives), John Hancock Building, Sears Tower (tallest tower in the US), Michigan Ave (known as the 'magnificent mile' for all it's shopping), Navy Pier (with a replica of the first Ferris Wheel in the world), and more.
Caught a taxi to my cousin's place (whom I met for a first time) to settle in and leave my bags before returning to town to have dinner with the group. We went to "FoodLife" - food court where you get given a credit card and just order whatever you want - soup, salads, stir fry, burgers, potato, sweets, etc and then pay at the end. Interesting concept.
We then headed to the Sky Lounge on the 96th floor of the John Hancock Building (third tallest building/tower in Chicago) to get a great view of the city, and to have a drink for those that were happy to spend $10 a pop.
Jason, a friend, also met up with us there. We then headed off for a coffee and to check-out the brand new "rock n roll" McDonalds which opened last week - did you know the first McDonalds opened in Illinois 50 years ago? - before meeting up with the gang at the Excalibur Club. Very touristy so we didn't stay long. Instead, Jason gave me a tour of the city - we went passed the lake, beach, Lincoln Park, Wrigley Field (very famous, where the Chicago Cubs baseball team plays), Rush St (lots of nightlife) - before dropping me home.
Seeing Chicago was brilliant! My initial thought was again, I'm finally here! It's strange - within an hour, I decided I loved the place and that it felt like home. The people, the streets, the culture, etc. Shame it gets so freezing cold here in winter (as bad as -40C).
We did a brief city tour of Chicago when we first arrived (by bus), and saw many tall buildings including the Water Tower (where Oprah Winfrey lives), John Hancock Building, Sears Tower (tallest tower in the US), Michigan Ave (known as the 'magnificent mile' for all it's shopping), Navy Pier (with a replica of the first Ferris Wheel in the world), and more.
Caught a taxi to my cousin's place (whom I met for a first time) to settle in and leave my bags before returning to town to have dinner with the group. We went to "FoodLife" - food court where you get given a credit card and just order whatever you want - soup, salads, stir fry, burgers, potato, sweets, etc and then pay at the end. Interesting concept.
We then headed to the Sky Lounge on the 96th floor of the John Hancock Building (third tallest building/tower in Chicago) to get a great view of the city, and to have a drink for those that were happy to spend $10 a pop.
Jason, a friend, also met up with us there. We then headed off for a coffee and to check-out the brand new "rock n roll" McDonalds which opened last week - did you know the first McDonalds opened in Illinois 50 years ago? - before meeting up with the gang at the Excalibur Club. Very touristy so we didn't stay long. Instead, Jason gave me a tour of the city - we went passed the lake, beach, Lincoln Park, Wrigley Field (very famous, where the Chicago Cubs baseball team plays), Rush St (lots of nightlife) - before dropping me home.
# posted by mishij @ 7:40 AM 
