A Weekend in The Windy City.

I booked my ticket to Chicago pretty much as soon as I arrived in the U.S. - I originally planned to visit my friend Hannah at her campus in Iowa City, but Chicago has the nearest big airport, so that's where I needed to fly to - and it only made sense to fit in a bit of sightseeing along the way!
 

Needless to say, I was HUGELY excited! I've just finished my eighth week of the very long fall semester, so this long weekend would be a nice break - after, it's only a month until Thanksgiving, and another month until Christmas!
 

This was actually my first time ever flying alone. I surprised myself my managing to negotiate the Muni, the BART, and SFO airport, all before 10am (but not without an incredibly overpriced Chai Latte).

 

 

A particularly foggy day in SF.

 

Crop circles?!

 

And so I arrived in Chicago! O'Hare is notorious for being one of the busiest airports in the world, so I was a bit nervous about losing my way. Luckily it was pretty easy to catch one of the blue 'L' trains right to LaSalle station, the nearest station to where we were staying, at the HI-Chicago.
 

 

Arriving in O'Hare...

 

...and on the L.

 

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised by the hostel - it's new and huge, and only one block on each side from State Street and Michigan Ave, the two main streets in Chicago. I even managed to beat Hannah there - oh public transport, you joker.

 

 

 

 

Reunited!

 

 

As it was already pretty late (though I wasn't that tired, because Central Time is two hours ahead of the West Coast), we headed straight out for a deep-dish pizza, true Chicago-style!

We went to this place a couple of blocks away, the Exchequer Pub, and inside it really was like being in a village pub in England. They were showing the baseball playoffs on TV too, and it was a Giants game - it was a very strange mix of all of my worlds!

 

 

We set off early the next day for some fun in the Windy City - but not without a little trip to the doctor's office first. Han had had an allergic reaction to her medication for shingles, and was left looking like she'd had collagen done overnight! Luckily she was still up for fun, just as long as I pouted alongside her!

 

 

 

We spent the rest of the morning strolling through Millennium Park, which was just beautiful - and definitely more autumnal (ie. freezing) than SF.

 

We also saw the famous sculpture 'The Bean' and had a LOT of fun snapping away.

 

The inside of the bean!

 

We then walked all the way up Michigan Ave, or the Magnificent Mile as it's known.

 

Me: 'So is that the Sears Tower?'

Han: 'No, it's that one. Oh wait, maybe it's that one. Well, it's around here somewhere...'

 

 

Hannah had booked to have lunch at the restaurant on the 95th level of the John Hancock Center, The Signature Room - it was a lovely surprise! I think it's better than the Sears Tower (actually, it's now been re-named the Willis Tower, but I have no idea why - it's nowhere near as catchy) because although it's a tiny bit shorter, it has great views - you can see the whole of the Magnificent Mile, Navy Pier, and Lake Michigan. Plus, this way you get to see the Sears Tower in the skyline!

The Sears Tower is the black skyscraper on the right!

 

We shared Calamari and Mussels for starter...

 

 

...and then we both chose the Tempura Battered Walleye Sandwich (basically a fish finger sandwich).

 

 

 Thanks Hannah's Dad for paying for us!

After lunch we rolled (as opposed to strolled) back down the Magnificent Mile, shopping and chatting, before picking up our bags and catching the Megabus for our next part of our adventure.

 

 So long Chicago!